[MountainWalker]

Apple is a software company with a hardware delivery model. That’s why they support old iPhones with updates long after older Androids are long forgotten. Selling you music, videos and apps is a big business, so it’s in their interest to have as many working iPhones out in the wild and have them secured from jailbreaking, which costs them money, and nefarious hackers, who present their own form of business risks.

Of course, it’s also in their interest to sell you new $1000 phones and accessories. That’s why their batteries are sealed, headphone jacks are removed and have a proprietary charging port. That’s also why they don’t want you going to cheaper shops for repairs.

[adorno]

Apple is a software company with a hardware delivery model.

Actually, you have that backwards.

Apple is a hardware company, which has to offer software to support their devices. Providing the OSes and apps/applications and services, is also a way of keeping their customers locked-in to everything Apple.

The software company which also offers hardware, is Microsoft, but Microsoft does not attempt to keep their customers locked-in to MS stuff exclusively.

It's a good thing that Apple supports their phones for a bit longer than most Android phones, but then, for the price of one iPhone, one could pay for an Android phone and 2 years later pay for another Android phone, and still have some cash left over. IOW, I could purchase the latest-and-greatest hardware from the Android ecosystem, a couple of times (or more), and that hardware and software would be more up-to-date than what Apple would be offering.