Apple: We promise five years of support

To abide by regulations, manufacturers are required to issue compliance declarations; Apple delivers its commitment through the company’s regulatory website, providing documentation related to Apple’s iPad, iPhone, Watch, TV, and Home products. In all the records I reviewed, the corporation states its intention to maintain assistance for these gadgets for a “minimum five years from the initial supply date.”

Our commitment is for five years

I anticipate that Apple’s intention behind the five-year assurance is to set modest expectations to exceed them. Critics of the company have already observed that the support assurance seems to be lower than the pledge made by manufacturers of Android smartphones such as Samsung and Google, both of whom appear to guarantee five years. However, that’s not entirely accurate — Google’s declaration of conformity contains various timelines, ranging from two years to seven, depending on the product you select. Considering the range of Samsung’s smartphone lineup, it’s feasible that the company provides varying support durations for certain products.

The premise that Apple’s five-year promise should be viewed as a minimum commitment rather than a maximum extent is reinforced by the fact that iOS 17 (the latest version of Apple’s smartphone software) supports devices up to six years old, including the iPhone XS. This approach was initiated by Apple several years ago, opting to make the operating system compatible with as many device iterations as feasible.

About Author

AndyC

Andy Curtis is an award-winning security consultant, researcher and public speaker. He has been working in the computer security industry since the early 1990s, having been employed by state and federal government, leading healthcare and banking providers across three continents. He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and is a regular voice on TV and radio explaining IT security threats.

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