Although most of us who use Macs acknowledge that they tend to last longer than product of most of their competitors, we also have common concerns abo

Apple’s longevity by design

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2024-07-04 08:00:03

Although most of us who use Macs acknowledge that they tend to last longer than product of most of their competitors, we also have common concerns about their longevity. macOS upgrades and updates may be free, but they’re also time-limited such that each version is only fully supported for one year, then provided with security updates for a further two years. There are also concerns over the related question of upgradability, in that most modern Macs are stuck with the same memory and internal storage from the day they’re manufactured until they go for recycling. Some see these combine to result in built-in obsolescence.

Apple has just broken its long silence on these matters, in a white paper titled Longevity by Design, where it argues its case mainly about iPhones, of which it claims there now “hundreds of millions” that have been in use for more than five years. Although I suspect its estimates for older Macs are less precise, it’s a shame that it gives no comparable figures.

In many respects, Apple presents a compelling case, illustrated by its approach to liquid ingress in iPhones. Early models incorporated little to prevent this, and repairs as a result of liquid ingress were common. Apple’s engineers set out to make iPhones resistant, came up with solutions involving changed components, sealing gaskets, and more, and tested them extensively. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were the first models to incorporate full liquid ingress protection, and as a result repairs for liquid damage fell 75%. This protection remains a high priority in iPhone design and testing, although curiously no comparable effort has been put into protecting iPads.