Apple never advertised how long they would support updates, but recently published a 5 years policy [1]. It’s still bad since the device is well made and would easily outlast 5 years with battery replacement.
You shouldn't measure by the release date of the hardware, but by the last sale date of the hardware. In Apple's list of supported Macs, the "iMac Pro (2017)" is the oldest year. But that computer was sold until 2021! Makes Apple look more generous putting 2017 in that list instead of 2021!
One crucial difference is that with Android, lots of people are using those old phones with ancient Android versions, and so software tends to target them. So even if the phone no longer receives updates, the software on top can be up-to-date.
In the Apple ecosystem, app developers are much more aggressive about dropping support for older versions of iOS.
> Being better doesn't even mean being good (6 is small)
So far, it's 6 years (2018-2024), and probably it'll end at 7 years (assuming they drop its support next summer). That's the same number of years as Google and Samsung are currently supporting their flagship models, and it's many years more than e.g. my previous (unrootable) Huawei phone was supported. Compared to the competition, I'd say that number is good.
If we want to push up that number across all players in the market, then we need legislation as a forcing function. I'm all for that – especially legislation that would require manufacturers to allow easy rooting/jailbreaking when the official support ends so that third parties can provide unofficial support. (Like how you can install Linux on old MacBooks when they're not supported.)
> and it had no relation to the original point
I'm not sure how you interpreted the "iOS obsolescence program" then.
> Also you dates are wrong, measure from the last device sale, not the first
It's not wrong, it's a different measure.
If you choose to buy a 3 year old phone, you know that it will be officially supported for 3 less years, and should factor that into your (price)/(lifetime) calculation. I choose to only buy new electronics models (not necessarily the flagship) so that I can replace them less often, and then my measure is the relevant one.
> choose to buy a 3 year old phone, you know that it will be officially supported for 3 less years, and should factor that into your (price)/(lifetime) calculation. I
You don't know that since neither the period is known nor is its starting date. Also that's your own expectation, I don't buy that later customers should suffer more
> I'm not sure how you interpreted the "iOS obsolescence program" then
I interpret it as force-obsoleting well functioning devices via software limits. This interpretation does not depend on what Huawei is doing (by the way, another mistake in your comparison is that Apple sells premium devices and also has full control of both the software and hardware, which make it relatively easier to do better)
you don't need any legislation to stop justifying it with faulty comparisons
5-6 years of fully functioning hardware with official OS updates is much better than the Android phones I had before it.