Yay! More massive destruction of Mother Earth for throwaway toys!
The Ipad 2 especially was a masterpiece of durable design - that tablet lasted nearly a decade with two kids intermittently stroking it with their grubby hands, growing from toddlers to schoolchildren. Not throwaway!
Not because of all the fluff about mercury-free this and that: simply because they support their products for longer than anyone else. Much longer.
As a result, they hold their market value better, meaning they're more likely to be sold than chucked in a drawer or thrown away.
You can apply a similar argument to their laptops, although the community around old ThinkPads makes me wonder if Apple might be #2 in that sector.
Ah, but AirPods! You've got me, that's 14 grams of high technology which is only good for a couple years of enjoyment. Basically anything else Apple sells is designed for a decade or more of daily use.
There are millions of iPhones 4 still in use, mostly in developing nations. They still receive security updates. Show me another manufacturer which does this: you can't.
I would say that Apple devices are long lasting despite Apples best efforts to the contrary. In my country, India, at least, Apple charges absurd amounts for out of warranty repairs. 10 out of 10 cases i know, it would maker more economical sense to buy new rather than repair at authorized service centers. Sometimes the Apple service centers give the same advice.
Luckily the 3rd party networks provide good and affordable support for Apple phones at least. But Apple is fighting tooth and nail to shut these guys out. Pushing up the cost of repair with every new generation.
On laptops its worse. Apple is really pushing hard to shorten their useful life. Worst part is that they're setting the path for the rest of the industry to follow. Non-removable batteries, soldered RAM, CPU, SSDs, removing backward compatible ports, Use of adhesives, glass in place of screws - making repairs expensive and error-prone. List goes on and on..
Yay! Says nothing, though. The entire industry is helping to rapidly destroy everything of true value on this planet, for throwaway toys. So apple is rape lite?