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Friday 15 April 2016 11:50 am

The rumours are true: Apple only expects its devices to last a few years

By: Emma Haslett

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Splashing £500-odd on a new iPhone every few years might seem like a bit of an ask – but at least if you're buying an Apple device, you know it's going to last, right?

Wrong. Today the company published new information on how it deals with old devices – and revealed that iPhones are built to die after just three years.

In a document entitled "More answers to your questions about Apple and the environment", the company said it assumes "years of use" for devices running iOS and watchOS – iPads, iPhones and Apple Watches – will be three years, while devices runing OS X and tvOS – so Macs and Apple TVs – will be four years.

Read more: This video makes you realise quite how much Apple has accomplished

The news comes a couple of weeks after Apple launched its pint-sized iPhone SE, which comes with many of the same specs as the iPhone 6s – but is almost £200 cheaper than Apple's biggest model, the iPhone 6S.

Last month Apple was criticised after users spotted iOS 9.3 update came with a bug which crashed iPhones and iOS

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