ipad_proWith every new iPhone or iPad model Apple announces, the company will also introduce a host of new software and hardware features that will make upgrading as tempting as possible, such as a larger screen size, higher screen resolution, higher megapixel camera, more RAM, Touch ID, Force Touch, and so on.

However not all of us can afford to upgrade on an annual basis, so the question is, how long could we realistically keep our iPhones or iPads for before they actually stop working, or become unusable to the point where an upgrade is necessary? Turns out that we actually have a number, and that number is 3 years.

This is based on an FAQ Apple published to its website last week in which the answer to the question of, “How does Apple conduct its Product Greenhouse Gas Life Cycle Assessment?” resulted in Apple more or less hinting that they only expect their iOS devices to last 3 years, while their OS X and tvOS devices will last 4 years.

According to Apple’s answer, “To model customer use, we measure the power consumed by a product while it is running in a simulated scenario. Daily usage patterns are specific to each product and are a mixture of actual and modeled customer use data. Years of use, which are based on first owners, are assumed to be four years for OS X and tvOS devices and three years for iOS and watchOS devices.”

Note that this doesn’t mean that your iPhone/iPad will suddenly die on you after 3 years. We know people who have kept their devices around for longer than that, although admittedly by that time many apps are incompatible with it, and iOS updates are no longer supported. Also your mileage might vary depending on how you use your device, but as least we now know how long Apple expects their products to last.

Filed in Apple >Cellphones >Computers >Tablets. Read more about and .

Discover more from Ubergizmo

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading