[grzm]

iOS support has steadily increased over time. "[iOS 12] covers five previous generations of iPhones, stretching back to the iPhone 5S."

https://www.fastcompany.com/90237242/take-apples-advice-dont...

Yes, as hardware improves and the OS and applications take advantage of this hardware, newer applications may run slower on older hardware. I'm not aware of any phone manufacturer or OS for which this isn't true. AFAIK, there is no other system that supports this level of backwards compatibility.

[badpun]

It shows that sustainability is not even an afterthought. Everybody is ok with throwing away perfectly working devices (i.e. devices that were blazing fast just a couple years ago and now, with some crippling os updates, take 10 seconds to open a PDF) just because they're 3-5 years old. Let's see if Apple really does change their policy on this. For premium, very expensive phones, it would be reasonable for them to be fully functional (with no slowdowns) for at least 5 years.

[grzm]

Would you care to provide information about how Apple compares with others in the industry?

[badpun]

I don't have this information. However, IMO the current Apple's approach suits a vendor of $300 phones, not $1000+ ones. If Apple really wanted to be the technologic leader in this field, the gigantic markup and the billions of dollars that they make on phones should be funneled into engineering excellence (stability, security, performance, device longevity) and not gimmicks (face recognition). Unfortunately, it seems that the market does not demand engineering excellence even from premium products.

[saagarjha]

I'm pretty sure the parent comment wanted you to talk about Android, where vendors ending software support and updates before the phone is even bought is the norm.

[badpun]

If they’re cheap, then it’s somewhat expected that they are crap. Not so for expensive phones (if what you described is the case for expensive Android phones as well, then of course they’re even worse than Apple).

[saagarjha]

Many flagships get one major update or so.

[vesak]

You have no idea what you're talking about, or you're maliciously spreading a lie. Apple consistently keeps old devices running, and running well, on old hardware.

Of the competition, only some environments running on Linux/BSD kinda manages to do the same. Android is just laughable in comparison.

[rimliu]

  > Everybody is ok with throwing away
  > perfectly working devices

People do that? All the iPhones I ever owned were passed on to someone. The oldest are not in the useable state right now I guess, but I hope they were given for recycling not just thrown away.

[dagw]

I don't know about throwing away, but I certainly know several people who have a drawer full of old smartphones they're never going to use again.

[ceejayoz]

You might encourage them to reach out to a domestic violence shelter or something. Plenty of folks would be ecstatic to have an old smartphone.