1. No more security updates means using it is deeply risky
2. A closed ecosystem and App store bitrot combine to make installing anything new on it next to impossible. So, while it may be still useful as a pdf reader, it’s no longer useful as a general purpose computing device - but it COULD be if it was supported.
Make no mistake - most of these devices won’t be used as pdf readers - they will end up in the landfill. This is part of the business model, and we + the environment pay for it.
Fair point. I was talking about iOS devices which are much more locked down than macs. As i see it there are two issues with no-longer supported macs:
1. The security issue i mentioned earlier applies to macs. It’s a bit easier to mitigate because an older mac can run a newer non-system-linked browser. But e.g. firefox is dropping support for 10.14 (released in 2018) this year (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-users-macos-101...)
2. If you keep your os up to date as long as possible, new features will drag performance down to the point of being nearly unusable. So you’re forced to tradeoff between security+features and performance.
Of course, with a old mac you can always install linux to extend its lifespan… but that’s not thanks to apple
Web browser engine, and OpenSSL (or equivalent) patches alone are the main concern in userspace. Those codebases are a constantly moving target. Look at the stream of CVEs and security patches that Apple publishes. Almost every bug affects every product because of how much code is shared up and down the stack.
Apple is definitely not the worst in this regard, but the most recent version of iOS to support the iPad 3rd generation (the device we are discussing which is being used as a PDF reader) is iOS 9.3.5 (a security/bugfix release on August 25, 2016 which supports the WiFi-only version of the iPad 3rd generation) or iOS 9.3.6 (also a bugfix release on July 22, 2019 which supports the WiFi+cellular version of the same device - specifically, this was a fix to keep GPS working).
The iPad 3rd generation was released in 2012, so the 2016 9.3.5 iOS release gave 4 years of security/bugfix support for the WiFi-only version of that device.
Apple forbids everyone to put a newer SSL library on it, so it can't be used on networks. I think this is outrageous, to have a great piece of hardware, and not being able to use it.
When I still had my iPad 2 a few year back, I could not find any app that still run on it except for a few games for my cat. After that it became his iPad.
iPad 2 was released in 2011, "a few years back" is an entire decade. It received its last OS update in 2019, eight years later, which is not bad at all. Picture trying to use a PC from 1994 in the year 2008.
What are "most other devices"? I can't think of any electronics I own that are still usable after 10-15 years besides Apple hardware.
Your average PC build will be completely outdated after ~5 years, suffer some type of hardware failure, or have nearly all of it's software (BIOS, OS, drivers) dead and unsupported by then. It is then only usable by enthusiasts / developers, and ends up in a landfill otherwise.
> Your average PC build will be completely outdated after ~5 years, suffer some type of hardware failure, or have nearly all of it's software (BIOS, OS, drivers) dead and unsupported by then. It is then only usable by enthusiasts / developers, and ends up in a landfill otherwise.
This might have been true 20 years ago, it really no longer is. My main personal computer has a CPU that was released in 2014. I got it for free from a company that was getting rid of it, I guess they could justify getting better machines. I replaced the HDD with an SSD, but that's it. I don't know when the computer itself booted the first time since I'm not the first owner, but chances are that it's about 10 years old at this point.
I mostly use Debian, but Windows supports this computer just fine as well.
The main reason electronics become unusable these days is software bloat (e.g. going from Windows 10 to Windows 11), not the hardware, and a Windows PC still feels like it can last way longer than an iPad can.
Not that I disagree about hardware lifetime (also have an old machine running strong on Debian) but just FYI Windows 10 ends this year and Windows 11 doesn't support CPUs older than 2017.
A couple Android phones, cameras, audio interfaces, controllers, chromecast, NAS, multiple arduino-style developer boards. All devices I’ve owned where either the hardware died or software became unsupported during the past decade. The only survivors are a PS4 and the Apple ones.
An ipad 2 is not a PC. 2011 PCs were fine eight years later, in 2019, and they are still fine in 2025. Maybe they are too weak for the some of the latest eyecandy games (not really tho), but there is no planned obsolescence, an Apple that actively makes their past products unusable.
Make no mistake - most of these devices won’t be used as pdf readers - they will end up in the landfill. This is part of the business model, and we + the environment pay for it.