“If you’re holding an iPhone 5, an iPhone 4S, or worse, an iPhone 4, then things are about to get very bad for you, because Apple is preparing to release not only iOS 8, but a new iPhone model (or two) as well,” Andy Boxall reports for Digital Trends. “Some people want you to believe Apple is intentionally destroying its older products, but don’t listen to them. They’re the same people who think the British Royal family are lizards in disguise, or that planes deliberately spray us with noxious chemicals to make us sick. The notion of Apple purposely slows down old phones in the run up to a new launch is ludicrous.”
“Apple’s supposed love of killing older devices with its latest software is a story that comes up almost every year. In 2013, it was a piece in the New York Times that caused a stir, and the year before, it was Microsoft’s then new Head of Mobile, Terry Myerson who got everyone thinking Apple was out to hobble their phones using some heinous, Machiavellian technique,” Boxall reports. “Two-year old phones aren’t dinosaurs, but they’re certainly worried about any meteors headed their way. This year, it’s Harvard Ph.D student Laura Trucco who has kickstarted the conversation. She found more people search for ‘iPhone slow’ on Google right around the same time as Apple launches a new model. While she doesn’t take this as absolute proof of any devilish doings, rags like the Daily Mail certainly aren’t as cautious.”
“Apple, and every other tech firm, designs software to run on the latest hardware. It tailors its software to work on older devices, quite generously too, but that’s not the point,” Boxall reports. “Which would you prefer, software that pushes the brand new model you paid $600 for really hard, or a please-all, watered-down version that keeps those too cheap to buy the new phone happy? App developers do the same thing. They write apps which take advantage of new hardware, therefore older phones struggle. You don’t have to download them.”
Read more in the full article – recommended – here.
If anything, Apple is guilty of allow “too” old of iPhones work with the latest iOS version. Like the recent IP4 issues with iOS7
And if Apple didn’t, it would have been the same planned obsolescence comments. Doomed anyway.
BUT THEY ARE LIZARDS IN DISGUISE!!!!
Not a very good disguise. 😉
LOL!
Spend 15 or 20 minutes watching “What in the world are they spraying” in Youtube, 10 years ago there was no lines in the sky becoming clouds after an hour!!!!
I saw a video on YouTube saying that if you sprinkle vinegar on the ground, those nasty chemtrails will clear right up. You should try that!
Or just, you know, stop being such a gullible retard.
Aircraft engines pull in massive amounts of air, which naturally has water molecules in it. The combustion of the jet fuel vaporizes the water, and because a jet engine has at most a 6 foot internal diameter, concentrates the water vapor into a small column, and depending on the humidity and temperature of the atmosphere in the particular area, the resulting column can hang together behind the plane for several minutes. Simple
It’s more to do with the water that is produced by the combustion of the jet fuel, but yeah, it’s just water.
Oh. Is that why they won’t let you downgrade? Lol
If you own an older iPhone you do not have to upgrade the iOS. The only caveat is that some services may be updated and may not be fully functional on the older systems.
I prefer having the option to upgrade the OS if possible. Apple makes it easy. With my last non-Apple phone it was never upgraded until it literally stopped working. I had to take it into the store and wait for them to fix it. Never had any notification or warning.
Apple supports it’s phone customers in a way no other manufacturer does.
> Apple supports it’s phone customers in a way no other manufacturer does.
That’s because Apple treats iPhones (and other iOS mobile devices) like they are computers (Macs). Other phone makers treat their phones like, well, phones. What you buy is what you get for the life of the product.
When it comes to smartphones, I’m at the “trailing edge” of technology. I just bought a (used) 32GB BLACK iPhone 3GS ($80 total cost), to use with my GoPhone (pre-paid) account, which costs me as little as $25 every 90 days. I use it like an iPod touch that can make phone calls. It only runs up to iOS 6.x, but I think it’s great. I was surprised by how WELL it performs (for the apps I use). My previous iPhone was the original model (it still works), which only ran up to iOS 3.1.3.
Rather than “cripple” older iPhones, I think Apple “enables” them as much as possible.
For the consumer, it is a matter of ‘how much tech’ do they want.
My wife and her elderly mother both use hand me down iPhone 3GS and have no complaints. Why, with all the upgrades would they choose to stay with 3GS?
Email, phone, text, weather and an occassional web search are just fine thank you.
Not everyone wants to spend the money or time to “keep up.”
Well said and my sentiments exactly.
I don’t buy a new car every year and certainly not going to buy a new phone or computer, either.
Not sure of the details that federal law requires for car parts manufactures to produce and stock parts, for what, 20 years or thereabouts?
I’m calling for a federal law to do the same for tech companies. Regulate their obsolescent market practices that are more in line with hardware survival rates.
While I am at it …
Dear Jony-
Why can’t I buy an iOS skin that looks like Steve’s master stoke iOS6 design to work on my iOS8 upgrade.
Hmmm?
Now, who is thinking different … 😉
I know this is true because it happen every time I update my phone close to the release of the new one. I DO want the latest updates when they are available and for the most part they are great. At some point though if you keep upgrading your phone will feel sluggish and like me you will feel that either they are doing it on purpose or they don’t really care. I would tend to believe in the latter. Oh well iPhone 6 here I come.
It’s not “Apple purposefully hamstringing older devices to force upgrades to new hardware,” though. It’s “Apple is providing customers with older hardware the CHOICE to have the latest software.” That choice that YOU, the consumer, makes is a trade-off: you are making the decision to accept a slightly-less-enjoyable software experience because you want your older hardware to continue running.
That’s not on Apple. Apple is being quite generous in giving you the choice that YOU, the consumer, makes by continuing to support hardware that is several generations out-of-date.
Again: you, snapper, made that choice.
I would love for you, snapper, to dig into Apple’s code and make it so that people using older iPhones could have the benefits of the latest version of iOS without the decrease in speed or battery life. I betcha Apple works very hard to strike a balance between acceptable performance and including enough important new features on devices running the three-year-old processors.
Now quit your kvetching.
” … you are making the decision to enjoy a slightly-less-enjoyable software experience …”
And Apple has absolutely nothing to do with the downgrade in performance. Is that what you are selling?
Even though the hardware is quality BUILT and will OUTLAST the software upgrades for decades … just wonderful.
Dear Delusional Doc-
Windows XP is the best example, albeit with flaws, of software working on older computers for almost 15 years.
And Almighty Apple is incapable of such a feat on a three year old revolutionary iPhone? With all their idle cash and the best and brightest in tech? They have not figured out a way to keep older phones humming along without hobbling performance?
Are you kidding me!?!
Now quit your fanboy blind spot.
?????
Let us review that example. Windows XP is still working on older computers, as you said. Exactly the same way, iOS 4, 5, or 6 is still working on older iPhones.
Unlike Microsoft, which does NOT allow older computers to run the “latest and greatest” Windows 8, Apple offers their users an option to use an ancient mobile phone with the most recent version of the OS. Because that phone is missing some hardware features of the newer models, some of the functionality of that latest iOS will be missing, but it will work.
Replacement cycle (and the rate of obsolescence) for mobile phones is generally about three times faster / shorter than that for desktop PCs. Today, iPhone 4 is four years old, but it is capable of running the latest iOS. In desktop years, it would mean slapping Windows 8 on a PC from 2002 (the year when XP was released).
Almost no other mobile device manufacturer (or mobile OS maker) allows older hardware to upgrade to the newest OS. The few that do only go back by about a year or so. I’d like to see ANY Android phones released in 2000 run JellyBean, let alone KitKat).
The older iPhones can keep humming without hobbling performance on their existing OS for 20 years (if the hardware and battery survives). Much like that PC from 2002 can continue to run XP. Try upgrading it to Vista and tell me if it is still humming along.
Listen to yourself: still working?
Great, but for how long and how productive?
Apple devices rendered obsolete at the moment of a press release, not exactly progress IMHO.
?????
Exactly HOW does a press release render Apple devices obsolete? If you have an iPhone 4s with iOS6, exactly HOW did it just get obsolete when iOS 7 was announced (or released)? And how will it become obsolete when iOS 8 is announced? You can choose whether you want to upgrade or not, but the device will continue working either way. Just like Windows XP (from your example), only better; at least Apple will continue to provide options to upgrade to the newest OS for a few years (which you can’t on old Windows XP machines).
More importantly, let’s compare it with others. You have a Samsung Galaxy S3 (came out around the same time as iPhone 4s), running Android Gingerbread (2.3). Over the years, Samsung has provided upgrades up to ICS (Ice-cream Sandwich, 4.2), which is two versions behind the current (Kit-kat, 4.4). Keep in mind, though, that if you bought this device from an American mobile carrier (which vast majority of US Samsung owners did), you likely didn’t get any of this updates, and if you did, it was months (if not years) later, and only for older versions. Vast majority of Samsung owners are sill running Gingerbread, not by choice, but because there was no other option.
This is why Android apps are all simplified and watered-down versions of iOS ones. An iOS developer has a choice to develop for about a seven different OS versions out there, or if pressed for time, just for the latest (iOS 7), utilising all the features it offers, which currently commands some 90% of all iOS devices. If you develop for Android, you can’t afford to develop for the latest version (barely 18%). Previous one (JellyBean) is just above 50% (if we lump all dot versions together); then you have Gingerbread (2.3, four versions behind), and IceCream sandwich. This colossal mess is nothing compared to the myriad screen sizes and pixel densities. Which is why a developer porting an iOS app chooses to eliminate all but most basic features and functionality for the Android version, to make sure he is addressing more than just 18% of the Android market (keeping in mind that only a small percentage of that market is willing to actually pay for apps).
???
Fine detailed examples of how OTHERS do it poorly. I DON’T CARE.
But now Apple can be added to the list.
What I care about is an iPhone that is ONLY two models old, still available for purchase, and the update cripples performance.
Unacceptable! Capish???
You’re insane.
Trying to make sense while being constructive critical with Apple fanboys is indeed, INSANITY.
GUILTY as charged. 🙂
What you’re not grocking is that Apple is at the top of the heap of what you’re asking, Android and Windows Phone don’t provide backwards compatibility to the level Apple does. If you don’t want to have a speed hit, the ONLY solution is to prevent new versions of iOS from running on iPhones more than 2 years old.
Either that or deliberately slow hardware and software development and allow competition to gain. That’ll go over well at shareholders meetings.
Your assumption is Apple cannot do this.
Are you sure?
Apple can do this. Cutting backward compatibility would make things easier on them. So you want your 4S to be stuck at iOS 7 and not be able to enjoy some of iOS 8’s benefits.
Well, if that’s all you want, let Apple continue as normal and never press the update button.
As a software I can tell you that the two places most time is spent on developing are correctness (i.e. handling all cases correctly) and optimization. Some projects are mostly the former, some mostly the latter, and some both.
When it comes to optimization, simple slow code can often translate into complex fast code. The more cases you attempt to cover the harder it is to optimize, the more likely their will be a bug, and the harder it will be to improve things next time around.
Given smartphone hardware is changing significantly annually, it is often not really a choice but a necessity to optimize for the latest, and simply ensure things work correctly on older phones.
This is really caused by how fast Apple is improving its phones. If/when hardware changes slow down, this will not be as much of an issue.
A similar thing happened with GPUs over the last decade in which hardware support for non-graphics scientific and numerical algorithms changed very rapidly from not-much-support, to essentially turing every GPU into a general purpose massively parallel processor. Optimizing for the latest support was a lot of work, optimizing for various levels of support (at least for me) would have been completely unworkable. i.e. many times the work, for not much gain since the older GPUs would be uncompetitive in terms of speed soon anyway.
You are a “software.” What is that?
@snapper
Would you prefer that all advancement stopped so your old phone would feel sprightly for another year or two? I’m sure Apple wouldn’t mind letting the engineers, R&D and marketing departments take a break for a while and the competition would certainly appreciate it.
You can post your recommendation at apple.com/feedback.
Old phones getting slower is “progress” how again? Apple is purposely crippling phones, knowing you can’t downgrade versions, so you HAVE to buy a new one to actually have a working phone.
Relative to newer phones.
Did that REALLY need to be spelled out?
Excellent point.
You need more aluminum foil on your hat.
To make matters worse, Apple not only slows the phone down, but then gives you no ability to downgrade it back to the faster older version.
You can always read the reviews before clicking the update button.
Is Harvard really giving out Ph.Ds in dumbass?
Not sure but Obama did go there.
Wow! Does this maybe reach a new low in the cesspool of drivel?
At least Apple provides updates for older devices. Android? LOL, malware much? Brick. And half of those dumbasses will purchase another piece of Android junk.
If you think your old iPhone can run the iOS made for the newest iPhone, you are probably a woman. The iPhone 5s processor is 4 times faster than the iPhone 4’s processor and the most current iOS is written for the faster i7 processor. If you upgraded the iOS on the iPhone 4 you are out of luck. For you women who don’t understand this, it’s like trying to drive a wind tunnel with a hair dryer motor… Get it?
Yes, James, we get it now, thanks to your engineering analogy.
Wow, you really must hang out with the wrong class of women.
For years cellphone evolution was slow, with a feature or two being added every few years and the handsets shrinking. Suddenly cellphones are smartphones (computers) and sedate evolution is replaced by the frenetic pace of Moore’s Law and further spurred by being among the latest hot new trends.
Some people understand this, some don’t, and the line cuts between techie and non techie, not male and female.
Hint: Avoid the short bus when looking for a date.
There is only one class of woman….moron. Don’t need them in government, the military, or anywhere else where logics, situational awareness, decision making or defense of any kind is needed. They’ve done nothing but fuck up our government, military, roads… You name it, they’ve fucked it up. Don’t try your political correctness with me. Get out in public and watch what’s going on in the world. I see people doing stupid things all day long, and almost exclusively, when I get closer, it’s a woman. Pelosi and Feinstein are wonderful examples. Clinton is another oxygen thief. Women are nothing but window dressing. It’s makes the country look diverse, which is a term endeared only by those who couldn’t get work to begin with. Diversity means there are people you are forced to have around that no one wanted around to begin with. Women lead that group. No one wants them in the work place, military, government or anywhere now that their fat ass dyke guild is forcing their way in where they can fuck everything up except women. We’ve got a Marxist Nigerian in office now destroying the country. Watch Hillary finish the country off, because we’ve allowed women to vote. When I see a female flight crew at the airport I skip that flight and catch another and you’d be well advised to do the same. They will get you killed. Being hired due to gender doesn’t work well when lives are at stake. How would any military member want to serve under Hillary Clinton after she got our Americans killed in Benghazi. You’d be a fool to go into battle with her at the helm. I sure wouldn’t.
1955 called. They want their opinions back.
I guess the short bus is your only hope.
Well said, James.
Be careful as your down votes indicate. The brain dead fanboys are out tour de force.
Anyone paying attention knows that it’s Android phone makers, not Apple, that is famous for selling you new phones with old OS’ that are never allowed to upgrade.
Unless you’re the Daily Mail, which never misses an opportunity to publish articles that are, in some way, critical of Apple.
In the supplement given away with the Sunday edition they even have a tech feature written by someone who is openly advocating the superiority of Samsung/Android, which is hardly the neutral position you would expect of a tech writer.
(Sorry, inadvertently gave this post one star; apologies for that).
But when do we get 4G support globally?
Daily Mail – now they really are lizards disguised as snakes.
As the article and others have stated, it’s the newer applications, updates, and software which slows down smart phones. Apple nor developers do this on purpose but write software to the latest hardware.
For example, I did not downgrade my iPhone 4S operating system from iOS 6 to iOS 7. My iPhone 4S and the operating system (iOS 6) looks better and performs better than those with an iPhone 4S who downgraded to iOS 7.
Bottom line – updates are not always upgrades.
Agree completely.
My friends and I have the 4S maxed out with storage and see ZERO IMPROVEMENT MOVING TO IOS 7. What is to be gained by a slower and confusing visually hideous OS?
Answer: NOTHING.
It is hard to believe commenters here on this forum are buying into Apple crap that somehow it is GOOD in the END. Bend over kind, maybe.
Good for LAZY engineers and marketing, but certainly not consumers.
Good for new phone sales now rendering a three year old Apple product crippled, WTF!
Owners should be marching with pitchforks and torches demanding Apple does better!
There are still people who are clueless and get their talking points for others (who often have some sort of an agenda).
iOS 7 brought significant new features over iOS 6. For those of us who use them every day, it would be inconceivable (and probably feel like human rights violation) to force us to go back to the old, positively archaic, ugly iOS 6.
When I upgraded iPhone 5 to iOS 7, the performance actually IMPROVED over iOS 6.
No other mobile maker gives you a phone that you can upgrade year after year. If you buy an Android today, the only way to get the new OS ned year would be to buy a new Android. How is this better???
You are not required to upgrade your phone’s OS if you don’t want to (which is apparently EXACTLY what you chose anyway). Your phone’s performance will NEVER degrade just by itself, if you don’t change the OS. If you do, it may or may not (depending on the age of your phone). The choice is YOURS, because Apple gives you one. Android (or Windows Mobile) owners wished they were so lucky…
As @Tim pointed out, a big difference exists between UPDATES and UPGRADES.
Updates from Apple mean CRIPPLING older devices. Upgrades from Apple mean BUYING NEW electronics. Simply unacceptable money making business model.
For all of Microsofts many flaws, they supported XP on various computer configurations built between 2001–2014. I’ve used XP successfully for over 10 years and only recently moved to 7 at work.
Almighty Apple can’t figure out a version of iOS7 to run efficiently on ONE phone model before the latest? Fat and lazy is one way to put it.
Android does not upgrade for the most part, we know that. The flaw in your argument is Apple does not truly upgrade, either. Read carefully: Apple updates and hobbles a two year old model at the same time.
You like the ugly iOS 7 and some new features, wonderful. I’ll stick with iOS 6 gorgeously illustrated icons directed by Steve himself and leave you in peace enjoying flat crayon outlines. iOS6 fills ALL my needs and how much better can it get? Example: Adobe.
Apple has it exactly backwards. They built a beautiful retina screen for lifeless icons … what a waste of excellent tech. :~)
Your argument is flawed. You say MS supported XP on various computer configurations, all the way up to 2014. That comparison is not relevant. We are NOT talking about Apple supporting iOS 2 on iPhone 5s (or Mac OS X 10.1 on MacBook Air 2013).
You say that Apple can’t figure out a version of iOS 7 to run efficiently on ONE phone model before latest. Well, that stands in contradiction with common experience (including my own): iPhone 5, when upgraded to iOS 7 runs better and faster than it did with iOS 6 (the one it shipped with). Even iPhone 4s runs extremely well with iOS 7 (and it is already three years old)! In all fairness, initial release of iOS 7 had performance issues on old hardware, but a subsequent update, which came a few weeks later, eliminated those issues and the performance of iOS 7 is now same as was iOS 6; meanwhile, you get significant new feature set, not to mention far superior, modern, more efficient and esthetically pleasing user interface (compared to iOS 6’s archaic, dark, faux-texture, 20th-century retro look).
I’m sure you truly believe iOS 6 fills all your needs, but I can tell you one thing (which you will hear from hundreds of millions of other iOS 7 users): after using iOS 7 for a few months, NONE of us would ever want to go back to the crippled, ugly, clumsy and dull interface of iOS 6. Not to even mention the new features of iOS 7.
I don’t know what you are smoking.
Your examples of performance issues are specious at best.
And the first time you claimed to speak for millions, now I know you are full of s*it.
The ugly iOS7 you mistakenly label as progressive and modern is actually a rip-off or derivative of the Bahaus design in the 1920s. Look it up before you make a fool of yourself.
SO TELL ME HOW HOW STEVE WAS SO AWFULLY WRONG IN THE DESIGN OF iOS6. You can’t. Classic art NEVER goes out of style. iOS7 was old and out off date in a week.
There are 800 million iOS users (according to Apple). 89% of the use iOS 7 (712 million). According to independent research, 97% of them rate their iOS experience a “satisfying” or “very satisfying”.
What I just did was give you the hard numbers that confirm what I’ve been saying al along: iOS 7 has truly a modern, elegant, intuitive and appealing UI; at least 600 million people seem to agree. And you know nothing about Bauhaus (not even how to spell it correctly).
And as for performance on iPhone 4s, there are benchmark tests that clearly demonstrate that the difference between iOS 6 and iOS 7 is minimal (i.e. what you’d normally expect when you upgrade an old system with a newer, more modern, more complex and more feature-rich). There are millions of iPhone 4s sold with iOS 7. Again, satisfaction rate with the iPhone is in the 90s.
You may continue to pound sand here, I’m done for the day.
Apple DOES purposely cripple devices.
eg.
#1 USB Superdrives do not work with Apple computers that have built in DVD/CD drives. Why… because they want you to spend ~$300 when the internal drive dies of perhaps buy a new computer
#2 FaceTime no longer works on iOS 6 devices, you are forced to upgrade to iOS 7. Why not just renew the certificate, Apple? Why force an upgrade? Not everyone can or should upgrade to iOS 7.
#3 Apple cripples the ability to run older versions of a OS even if a given machine model shipped with that OS. i.e. 2011 iMacs and other models shipped with Snow Leopard. Once Mountain Lion was released Apple updated the firmware in the EXACT same 2011 model computers disallowing them to run Snow Leopard.
I could come with more examples, but my point is that Apple DOES purposely cripple devices. I only need one example to prove my case. The USB Superdrive example is indisputable.
Apple didn’t cripple face time on older devices. Anyone who doesn’t have an iOS 7 capable device can run FaceTime just fine. I’d love to know who has an iOS 7 capable device that cannot upgrade to it. I know people running iOS 7 just fine on an iPad mini with A5 processor. Are there some who refuse to upgrade because they hate the so-called “flat” design? Sure. But that’s their problem not Apple’s. And it’s kind of silly because iOS 7 style design isn’t going anywhere. So either they never upgrade or they get an Android or Windows phone.
iPhone 4’s run horribly on iOS 7.
Some business and govt’t aren’t ready for iOS 7.
Thanks for reinforcing the point that not everyone likes iOS 7.
If you bought a phone running iOS 6 you should be allowed to continuing running that OS… AND all your pre-installed apps should continue to run. This is not the case with FaceTime.
To add to your excellent points. Even Apps are crippling iOS6. I recently went to upgrade a favorite free app and was told I need iOS7 to upgrade. Buh, bye …
This why we need a consumer protection law. Imagine if you buy an app and then can’t upgrade it until you EITHER buy a new device or cripple an older device? Totally unacceptable if this does exist, so far not in my experience.
I have an old iPhone 3 (no GS) that is still cranking along with its out of date OS and apps that won’t update – and it works just fine! The apps still have *exactly* the same functionality they did when I first installed them. Now that I have a newer *phone*, and use the old one just as an iPod, the battery is good for a solid week now, too. Absolutely *NOT* crippled.
Of course it is NOT CRIPPLED.
You did update the OS?
Duh ..,
Correction: Realize you cannot update the OS on a 3G, sorry.
If you were able to, indeed your older phone would be hobbling along.
We share stuck in time with older devices. Like the jack-in-the-box on the island of misfit toys …
Let us once and for all clear up one major fallacy here. The performance of the iPhone 4s (the model everyone seems to be referring to as the one where performance is supposedly “crippled” after upgrade to iOS 7) is now THE SAME on iOS 7 as it was on iOS 6.
One thing must be stated here, which goes squarely against Apple development team: when iOS7 was first released, iPhone 4s performance was noticeably poorer and slower than on iOS 6. Several weeks later, Apple released an update, which significantly improved the speed on iPhone 4s (as well as iPhone 4!). While they have their excuse for this performance problem (optimisation for old devices is always low on developer’s priority list), this should have been done weeks ago and released with the original iOS 7, not the 7.1 update.
People who bought iPhone 4, 4s or 5 before iOS 7 was released have two choices: one is to freeze their phone in time, hold on to the iOS 6, as well as all the apps they could get, that run under it, and make their peace with the fact that their phone will never get any better. If the phone meets their needs, and the apps are fine, then that’s great.
The other choice is to update their OS. By doing that, their phone gets most of the new features the the newer model has (without the need to replace the hardware), with the ability to get the latest apps out there.
You see, developers develop apps for the latest version of the OS for a reason: it gives them the features that the older versions my not have. In case of the iOS, there is another benefit: 90% of iOS users are running the latest version (iOS 7). For a developer with meagre resources, this is a no-brainer.
And for a user, there is absolutely no downside to upgrading the iOS 6 to iOS 7 — it is better, richer, UI is more modern and more efficient, and you essentially get a new phone without having to buy one.
Try that with any other brand.
Let us once and for all clear up one major fallacy here. The performance of the iPhone 4s (the model everyone seems to be referring to as the one where performance is supposedly “crippled” after upgrade to iOS 7) is now THE SAME on iOS 7 as it was on iOS 6.
I wasn’t referring to the iPhone 4S. I wrote “iPhone 4’s run horribly on iOS 7.” Meaning more that one iPhone 4.
I have had 100’s of customers come into my store complaining that their iPhone 4 is now useless after updating to iOS 7.
If I owned an iPhone 4S, I would update to iOS7, but you may as well throw your iPhone 4 away if you do the update.
“Some businesses and govt’t aren’t ready for iOS 7.”
Yes, some organizations aren’t properly funded or staffed to do their jobs, that’s true. Mobile technology moves more quickly than other types. It’s the reality of the marketplace. iOS 7 is more enterprise-friendly than iOS 6, so it makes sense to move forward as soon as possible. If they choose not to, then they accept the trade-offs.
“Thanks for reinforcing the point that not everyone likes iOS 7.”
There are other choices. Lots of Android devices out there, and Windows Phone if you want something different.
Software is the driver behind replacements.
Apple hardware just runs and runs – I have an SE/30, PB 145b, Blue iMac, iPhone 3gs, 4s, all in working order.
A mini-museum of legacy objets building up nicely!
As you correctly pointed out, software is the guillotine that beheads bulletproof hardware.
I’m calling for a federal law to be enacted to disable this purposeful crippling of perfectly good hardware.
Couched in terms like improvement, breakthrough tech advancements and on and on we all see it for what it is — make MORE money.
If you can buy first grade parts for your vehicle to run 20 years, you should be able to buy first grade, or upgrade, software for a reasonable amount of time longer than TWO years.
Unfortunately, Apple has become the worst offender following Android in software longevity. Shame on them.
So you want to mandate the crippling of hardware design so you don’t have to feel bad about your stuff getting old.
How selfish can you get?!
In the realm of smartphones, competition is fierce and technological advancement isn’t going to come to a screeching halt just to make you feel better. Sorry, but life doesn’t work that way.
Just go buy a feature phone and then you won’t have to worry about obsolescence.
Sorry to read you have a problem with reading comprehension.
Apple hardware is the greatest, bulletproof, stands the test of time and will continue to evolve.
But when the NEXT software update arrives, that bulletproof hardware at times is immediately rendered obsolete, brought to its knees and as useful as a box of rocks in the Mojave desert.
What part of this do you NOT understand?
That bullet-proof hardware remains such if you don’t install the new OS. In order to improve OS features and make their OS competitive, the makers of operating systems of all kinds (desktop or mobile) must leverage the most recent hardware features available. However, unlike Microsoft, or Google, who don’t care much if their latest OS can only run on the most recent hardware, Apple makes an effort to make their most recent OS compatible with hardware as old as five years (for iPhones; even longer for Macs). Anyone who expects that latest OS to be as fast as the previous versions on those old devices obviously has no clue how software works. When an OS brings additional features to the device, this comes at a cost, and most often, this cost is in performance. There is only so much optimisation the developer can do for the old hardware before it becomes too expensive with too little return. Google and Microsoft don’t even bother; Apple does, and on occasion, that optimisation can even bring improvements (my old iPhone 5 came with iOS 6; iOS 7 noticeably improved its performance).
So, if you have old, bullet-proof hardware form Apple, rest assured that the world can go upgrading the OS as soon as new versions are released, while you can stay with whatever version you hare using and the performance will remain the same as ever. Should you wish to access all the new features of the new OS, you will likely be able to upgrade to the new OS even if your device is five years old (or if it is a Mac, seven). Try that with Windows or Android.
As time moves on new technologies are developed that allow the creation of smaller, more efficient circuits. That’s why a company can increase processor speed, add memory, add storage, add new capabilities in smaller spaces and without requiring huge increases in battery power.
This is called progress. Sadly, obsolescence follows progress like death follows life. The iPhone 4 runs iOS 7, slowly perhaps, but try getting a Galaxy S from 2010 to run the current version of Android and you’ll see that it can only upgrade to 2.3 which came out in 2011, a year after the phone debuted.
Older computer hardware gets slower when it runs newer OSs until it it’s no longer supported. At that point you decide to live with it or upgrade. This has been going on for the entire life of the computer industry, why start letting it bother you now? It’s simply reality.
Exactly, that has been my constant experience, technologies outpacing products, emerging needs engendering new performance standards, expectations exceeding reality. Sort of like the men in my life.
Yeah, guessing I cannot see them keeping pace … :~)
I understand and get what you and Predrag are saying about software advancement.
You two are NOT getting what I am saying. So please pay attention.
Right now the iPHONE 5 is the latest and greatest phone. One older model, the 4S is also for sale.
Now, iOS7 update to the 4S most emphatically cripples and slows performance.
So the billion questions is: Apple cannot figure out a way to NOT allow that to happen? PUHLEEZE!!!
Take off the blindfolds and do not fear reality …
Once again, that is a fallacy. Performance of iOS 7.1 on iPhone 4s is about THE SAME as it was with iOS 6. There are benchmarks out there that show this.
When iOS 7 was first released, iPhones 4 and 4s had performance issues. These were cleared up a few weeks later with 7.1.
So, NO, iOS7 upgrade most emphatically DOES NOT cripple performance on 4s. What it does, however, is gives it significant new features (compared to iOS 6). Upgrading to iOS 7 is like getting a brand new iPhone without paying a dime.
Let us not forget: iPhone 4 was first released with iOS 4; iPhone 4s had iOS 5.
Bullcrap!
I know several people who have upgraded and the performance issue downgrade is real.
Your delusional fanboy defense is not surprising on this forum.
Reality is something you choose to deny.
The 5S is the latest and greatest, the 5C, an updated 5 is also for sale and the 4S is the freebie.
I update when my contract and Applecare run out so I ran a 4S with iOS 7 for a while and aside from aesthetics, the performance wasn’t too bad. At least not bad enough to start a political movement over it and bitch all weekend.
Do us a favor and switch to a BlackBerry. You won’t have to worry about updates ruining your experience, and even if they do, we won’t have to hear about it.
Because it happens way too fast with phones! Every 2-3 years is nuts, Computers run well for several years before they are too slow to handle latest O/S. That’s why! A PC from 2009 will run windows 8 fine – if you can stomach windows 8 that is 🙂 but it’s true…
Smartphones are still new. Give them a decade or two and the pace will slow down. 😉
If you buy a phone on contract, depending on the carrier, it pays to get a new phone when the contract ends or you’ll just keep paying for the phone even after it’s been paid in full. (Thanks AT&T)
Yosemite will, BTW, work fine on a 2009 MBP. Mavericks did some interesting things with memory management.
Guess my 3GS must be pre-dinosaur. But it has class. Yes very slow these days. It’s called progress.
I hope APPLE has done performance tests on their older devices and provides some guidelines informing the owners of the old hardware the potential performance as well as functions that will not perform.
Yes, they will get some negative articles. However, I believe most people are reasonable and will be able to see that the so called Anal-cysts that write half-truth are just a cyst and will ignore them and the news will die away. more importantly, those ambulance chasers will not have a leg to stand on and no one’s time wasted in the courts.
I won’t ever buy another Apple phone. When I made the last upgrade to my iPhone it turned into a brick. Would not deign to answer phone calls, web surfing in WiFi burned the battery in 20 min. And was very very SLOOOOOOOOOOW. In short, a brick. Couldn’t reverse the “upgrade” so had to scrap the phone. Won’t ever have that happen again.
Time to shut Apple down for good.
There was a problem with certain iPhones having a problem with early iterations of iOS 7. I had this problem and managed rectify it in a couple days with help from Apple.
The trick is to use Apple as a resource rather than a scapegoat, and realize that all their technical support personnel are not created equal so it pays to be persistent.
So all the Android handset makers who release new phones every 3-4 months but refuse to provide OS updates are serving people better? Amazing what conspiracy theories come up.
“Those too cheap to buy an new iPhone” – go fuck yourself Boxall. We shouldn’t need yo upgrade our phones every year or two that’s a BS racket! Planned obsolescence is a shitty fact and reality. Pisses me off as as customer…
I along with my provider (subsidy) give Apple how much for a new iPhone?? $800 or so which is enormous margin. And the thanks we get is we must buy a new one again in a couple of years. Wonderful
I’ll tell you exactly what the deal is with this debate!!! Point blank. If Apple would let you downgrade without TinyUmbrella and blobs than all would be good. Nobody would complain because they would always have the downgrade option. It is kind of like buying a new car and not being able to drive a used car ever again once you buy the new one. People do not like to be held back and pushed in a corner. Plus, what if the newer software that is released doesn’t impress you much, but maybe one of the features does impress you. You can’t ever get that feature because you have to select the entire package. ios7 should not be so heavy that it will not work with the iphone 4 processor. ios7 looks worse and doesn’t add any appeal except for animation. What if you think Apple is going backwards with innovation. I like speed myself and Apple is slowing things down with every update and at the same time making new apps only downloadable with the newest software that you must purchase a newer device to use. To many musts and can’ts for me to handle. I don’t need the new apps anyway. I like my iphone 4 on ios6, I wouldn’t trade it for a basketball looking tall but no width iphone 5s with it’s BS flat BS. I like ios6 and iphone 4. It is my money spot. Plus, their is no other excuse for Apple not allowing you to downgrade the software. Name a reason why Apple will not let you downgrade? Try hard?>.. C’mon… No reason except for control. If every version was better than the last, than nobody would want to downgrade anyway. And, don’t say computing reasons for the software downgrade because it is possible to downgrade after jumping through many aggravating hoops with SHSH blobs and so on. So it isn’t a safety feature. Plus, apple wants to implement NSA and Spyware and Security to help you also in with the new updates to help you, them, and others. But, it should your right to chose when and why you want to update and you should be able to backtrack if you feel like downgrading. Plus, Android does the same thing. It is control people for extra future revenue streams. POINT BLANK!!!