Why Software Update Policies Should Change What You Buy (iPad Pro 13 (M4))
Why Software Update Policies Should Change What You Buy explained, with the iPad Pro 13 (M4)'s own measured figures as the worked example: a device with seven years of updates is usable far longer tha...
Priya Raghunathan
The short version
iPad Pro 13 (M4), battery 38.99Wh — Why Software Update Policies Should Change What You Buy. Measured on hardware rather than argued from theory, on a device we rate for it is 5.1mm thick and still does not flex in the hand.
A device with seven years of updates is usable far longer than one with two, and that gap now outweighs most hardware differences at the same price.
Why this matters: Security patches, not features, are what determine how long a device stays safe to use.
The mechanism
Manufacturers commit to a number of years of OS upgrades and, separately, security patches. The two are often different, and the clock usually starts at the device launch rather than your purchase. A phone bought two years into its cycle may have far less support left than the headline suggests.
What it looks like in practice
Take the iPad Pro 13 (M4) as a worked example. It held 94 percent of peak performance across a thirty-minute export. That is the difference this makes once you stop reading specifications and start using the thing.
| Specification | iPad Pro 13 (M4) |
|---|---|
| Display | 13in tandem OLED, 120Hz |
| Chip | M4 |
| RAM | 16GB |
| Storage | 512GB |
| Weight | 579g |
| Battery | 38.99Wh |
| Screen-on time | 9h 20m |
The same concept across four devices
One worked example is an anecdote. Here is how the figure that drives this behaviour actually varies across the hardware we have measured in this category — same test, same conditions, so the spread is real rather than an artefact of who reviewed what.
| Model | Display | Price | Our score |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPad Pro 13 (M4) | 13in tandem OLED, 120Hz | £1299 | 5 / 5 |
| iPad Air 11 (M2) | 11in IPS, 60Hz | £599 | 4 / 5 |
| Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra | 14.6in AMOLED, 120Hz | £1199 | 4 / 5 |
| Galaxy Tab S9 FE | 10.9in IPS, 90Hz | £449 | 3 / 5 |
What good actually looks like
It helps to have a number in mind before you start comparing. Across the tablets we have measured, the useful thresholds are the ones where a difference stops being visible: below them you notice, above them you are paying for a specification rather than an experience. The iPad Pro 13 (M4) reports 13in tandem OLED, 120Hz for display, which sits comfortably on the right side of that line, and M4 for chip. Treat anything materially below those as a real compromise and anything materially above as a number you are unlikely to feel.
Common misconceptions
- Update length only matters to enthusiasts
- An unsupported device is fine if you are careful
- All manufacturers count the window the same way
Checking it yourself
- Reproduce the conditions rather than trusting a one-off reading — run the same task three times and take the average.
- Note the figure your device reports and the figure it actually achieves; on the iPad Pro 13 (M4) those diverge under sustained load.
- Change one variable at a time. Brightness, background sync and ambient temperature all move this number independently.
- Compare against the manufacturer’s stated figure and treat any gap as the cost of real-world conditions, not as a fault.
- Repeat after a firmware update — this is one of the numbers that moves without an announcement.
Reading it off the spec sheet
On a tablet listing this usually appears as the display line — the iPad Pro 13 (M4) quotes 13in tandem OLED, 120Hz. That figure is necessary but not sufficient: the chip entry (M4) constrains it in practice, and the two are almost never presented together. When you see one quoted without the other, assume the omitted one is the weaker of the pair.
How to use this when buying
Divide the price by the years of remaining support before comparing two devices. The cheaper one is often more expensive per year.
Support length is a price, not a feature.
Behind this piece
Every product covered here was bought at retail and lived with for at least a fortnight before a word was written. Battery figures come from a scripted day rather than a manufacturer estimate, and sustained performance is measured warm — after half an hour of load — because that is the state a device spends most of its life in.
Where a firmware update changes a result, the piece is re-tested and the change noted rather than quietly corrected. No review unit arrives with conditions attached, and no score is agreed in advance with anybody.
Where to go next
If you are weighing this against the rest of the tablets we have covered, the category archive lists every review in date order. The closest comparisons we have published are Why Sustained Performance Matters More Than Peak Benchmarks (Fire Max 11) and Why Sustained Performance Matters More Than Peak Benchmarks (Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra).
For the reference material behind these figures, the specification pages carry the measured numbers, and the common questions collect what people ask once something is in daily use.
