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Wouldn't last official sale date be a better indicator of true device support? For example if someone bought it in an Apple store on the last day available, how
by Y-bar 6y ago
Wouldn't last official sale date be a better indicator of true device support? For example if someone bought it in an Apple store on the last day available, how long period would they have received updates for?
For example in mid 2017 it was still officially sold by Apple in India (source: https://www.iphonehacks.com/2017/05/apple-iphone-5s-iphone-se-get-hefty-price-cuts-india.html https://www.iphonehacks.com/2017/05/apple-iphone-5s-iphone-s...).
- jtbayly 6y agoNo, because devices can be and sometimes are sold with software that is already out of date. The better indicator is how long software support is provided for a device from beginning to end.
- anamexis 6y agoWhy is that a better indicator? If I buy a new phone from the manufacturer and it's already unsupported, that's really bad. I don't care if it was supported for 8 years before I bought it.
- Jtsummers 6y agoHah. This bit us when I got my mother an iPhone SE (2016) to replace her iPhone 4 a year or so ago. I tried to restore from iCloud backup and it kept failing, and finally it dawned on me that the OS may have been out of date. Skipped the restore, updated the OS, and wiped the phone. The restore worked correctly.
- WrtCdEvrydy 6y agoOn the flip side, the Apple guys have a lot of patience to deal with my stubborn ass trying to activate an iPhone 4... the non-SIM servers were taken offline years ago so I popped in a SIM and off I went.
- Dahoon 6y agoSure but that doesn't change how long they supported after end of sale which wasn't in 2013 but at least until 2017. So ~3 years of software updates from end of sale. Still OK but not anything special.
- simonh 6y agoTo not be special, there must be many phones out there getting the same or better support. What are they? Who sells these many other smartphones that have had 3 or more years of updates from last sale? Certainly not the Pixel phones, they get 3 years support from first launch only, and they're supposedly the gold standard for Android software support. It's pretty much the reason they exist. Yet after last sale support for the 5S matched the Pixel's from launch support, and we don't even know that this is the last update the 5S will get.
- philistine 6y agoYou decided to count the days of support in a completely uncommon way that no one usually discusses but decided that three years was ok based on the common way people count, which is since initial release. You can’t have your cake and eat it as well.
- gruez 6y ago>Wouldn't last official sale date be a better indicator of true device support? well in that case many cheap android phones/tablets would have negative support periods, considering they don't release any updates at all.
- loeg 6y agoYes? That sounds about right.
- internet2000 6y agoWhich makes it kind of a pointlessly obtuse metric. To claim a device has negative months of support.
- loeg 6y agoSorry, I don't follow.
- lmkg 6y agoIt's accurate, though. When I am evaluating devices to buy, a metric I care about is "after I buy this, how long will it remain up-to-date with security patches?" And the answer to that question is "on the day that you buy it, it is already several months behind on security patches and will not improve." That metric is not the be-all-end-all of support, but is meaningful, and low or negative values have the correct interpretation in that context.
- maltalex 6y agoIt's not pointless at all. It accurately reflects the situation of buying a device off the shelf long after its official end of life.
- diebeforei485 6y agoApple uses this metric as well[1]. If something hasn't been sold by Apple for 5 years (but less than 7 years), it's considered vintage and you can still get hardware service and certain critical software fixes, though not necessarily any new features. The support for MacBooks is actually great. Certain Late 2013 and Mid 2014 Retina MacBook Pros, while considered vintage, will be receiving the Big Sur update[2]. 1. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624 2. https://www.apple.com/macos/big-sur-preview/ https://www.apple.com/macos/big-sur-preview/ (at the bottom of the page)
- ValentineC 6y ago> The support for MacBooks is actually great. Certain Late 2013 and Mid 2014 Retina MacBook Pros, while considered vintage, will be receiving the Big Sur update. I think it's more likely that Apple's new frameworks don't require any fancy hardware features that aren't available in the Late 2013 MacBook Pros.
- diebeforei485 6y agoIt's true that laptop computers have not changed as much over the years. This in large part because Intel CPU's and architecture have not changed as much, while iPhone CPU's have improved by leaps and bounds. I wonder how much this might change when Apple Silicon comes to the Mac.
- snazz 6y agoIt feels like smartphones are stabilizing as well. I don't see myself needing to replace my iPhone 8 for a while, even though there have been three more generations afterwards. An iPhone 5 felt much more outdated at the time of the 6s/SE.
- read_if_gay_ 6y agoHaving owned a 5S, 6 plus, and now XR, the all screen design is a much bigger upgrade than iPhone 5 vs. 6S in my opinion.
- JohnTHaller 6y agoComparatively, no. Android phones generally get a maximum of 3 years of security updates from launch, not from last device sale date. So, within mobile phones, it's more informative to compare it to their competition. It shows you just how much better Apple is at mobile device support compared to everyone else.
- anonunivgrad 6y agoSo use the last sale date for both. Your point makes no sense.
- kurthr 6y agoGalaxy S8 on sale at Walmart, Staples, and NewEgg. Likely falls off support in 3-4 months. So Android flagships are close to zero or even negative support time?
- TrueGeek 6y agoThis is what got me to finally switch to Apple. Updates take forever. I bought a Samsung off Amazon for testing and for some reason I still have to wait on T-Mobile. And then after a year, maybe two, there just aren’t anymore updates.
- jmnicolas 6y agoSamsung makes superb hardware but they're clearly not at ease with software, it always feels like an afterthought. If they were serious about competing with Apple software is where they should focus.
- JohnTHaller 6y agoThis is why I switched to Pixel. 3 years of full updates. And you can then switch to LineageOS if you'd like as well.
- anonunivgrad 6y agoThat sounds dangerous to me.
- swinglock 6y agoA range would be fair. For example "safe to use for 3-7 years" in the case of this phone by the sound of it.