[SCdF]

Right, so still pretty bad compared to iOS: iOS10 just came out and supports the iPhone 5, which was released 4 years ago. I presume if they had some massive security issue they'd backport it to versions of iOS older than 10.

(I am no iOS fanboy, but honestly I'm sick of the android expectation of getting a new phone every 2 years, and they seem to be the only ones who are even pretending to give a shit with their old phone support. They still don't give as many shits as I'd like, but I cannot find their better).

[mkozlows]

Don't look at it from the time the phone started being sold, look at it from the time the phone stopped being sold. Android and iOS are very comparable then. The difference is that Apple keeps selling old models (at high prices) for three years.

[SCdF]

I get what you're saying, but it doesn't help practically with the idea what I don't want to buy a new phone all the time.

If I wasn't so wed to Android the right thing to do would be to buy whatever iPhone was new at the time and ride it down until they stopped providing updates. Especially because (anecdotally, of course) iPhone battery life seems to last much better over time than Android, so not only will I continue to receive updates for longer, but it will actually be a usable phone for longer.

[tamana]

I don't care when my device stopped being sold. I care when I bought it, how long it lasts. I appreciate that I get even more life from my phone if I buy it when it is new

[mikeash]

I don't think Apple typically releases security updates for older versions of iOS, although they do for the Mac. I don't see any iOS 8 updates available after 9 shipped, for example:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222

I believe your overall point remains valid, though. The most recent hardware that can't update to iOS 9 is the iPhone 4, which shipped five years before iOS 9, and was last sold 3 years ago.