this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2024
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They start to lock out old phones from new updates. We gave my grandma an old phone (an 8) but it only supports io16 so we can't enable 'senior mode'. Barely 7 year old device.
I mean yes, but also Android manufacturers are only NOW starting to catch up to Apple. Used to be you'd buy a flagship Android device and get 2 or 3 years. My Oneplus 7 Pro from 2019 (5 year old model) hasn't gotten a new major Android version since 12 which came out 3 years ago. That was my last Android phone (for now - I might go back eventually) and now with iPhones, I'll just give it to my mom when I get bored with it because she doesn't have a huge budget and the phone will keep getting updates for years.
When it comes to iPhones, Apple has never been about planned obsolescence, or at least hasn't been as bad as Android manufacturers. It's the stupid ass users who judge people based on having older models. Luckily those types are a minority of Apple users, they're just loud.
I think apple is doing some planned obsolescence with their software. I'm not sure exactly when, but I've been stuck on my current iOS version for more than a year. So 5-6 years of support? It's not very long for a trillion dollar company to support one of their main product lines.
The bottom line for me is that I just don't care about this area of tech. It anti-interesting to me. Handheld computer that can make calls, we've had them for 20 years now. Very cool, mostly unchanged. The screen is better. They still break when you drop them. There are a lot of apps now.
They started that a looong time ago.
That's what I mean - start, not started. It's annoying. Should be 10 year support unless the phone actually can't do things.