Thanks to carrier subsidies, many people have come into a new iPhone with the mindset that they will replace it in two years. This isn’t true for everyone, as some people either need want the latest and greatest as soon as it comes out, or have enough extra cash to afford buying a new device every year.
However, when it comes to iPads, people use them much differently than an iPhone. For some, an iPad is their only computer. For others, an iPad is a secondary device, useful when doing other tasks such as watching TV.
But because the computing landscape in the tablet world isn’t changing as quickly as the smartphone market, we can find ourselves still using an iPad that is a couple of years old. And why rush to upgrade your iPad when your iPad 2 more than meets your tablet requirements?
It’s quite likely this delayed refresh cycle that has lead to the decline in growth of iPad sales (and possibly even all tablet sales). While Apple is still selling an immense amount of iPads, the growth curve has come down faster than some expected.
Yet, Apple is still selling half of all new iPads to people who have never owned an iPad before. The iPad user base is still growing at an impressive rate.
It helps that Apple also supports their devices for many years. In fact, now that we know the list of devices receiving iOS 8 this fall, the iPad 2 has become the first (and currently only) iOS device to support 5 major iOS releases (iOS 4-8).
With continued security updates and support from Apple, there isn’t a rush to trade in that 3 year old iPad 2. And if you are someone that is satisfied in owning a device that works for as long as possible, you may even get a couple more years out of your iPad 2.
But perhaps you want to have a relatively newer device so that you can take advantage of most (if not all) of the latest that Apple is providing. You may upgrade every one or two years. (Personally, I don’t believe in upgrading yearly.
Very rarely does the next generation have a feature that I must have.) But with the latest advances in iOS devices, especially the recent inclusion of 64-bit processors in the form of the A7 chip, the devices you are currently using may still be in your hands several years from now.
Are you a current iPad owner? Tell us how often you upgrade your iPad!
