Note
November 8, 2026
2 min read
Seven Years of Updates
By Cristiano Pierry
Software updates should help the things we already own stay useful longer. In some cases, they can even make them better.
We got our first Tesla in 2019. It still has the Hardware 3 computer that came with it. This week, we drove from Madison to Chicago using Full Self-Driving. I still had to supervise, of course, but what the car can do today is a long way from what it could do when we bought it.
That same Christmas, I bought my wife an iPad mini. Like the Tesla, it has received regular software updates over the years.
But the experience is very different. The iPad is now borderline useless. Apps take forever to load, and the interface is so unresponsive that she didn’t even want to bring it on this trip. She wants a new one.
Which leaves us in an odd position: buying another iPad feels like a strange way to reward this experience.
I don’t think Apple set out to make the iPad worse, and I don’t know exactly what’s causing it to be so slow. But I do think Apple could have done better. There’s no good reason an iPad should become this frustrating to use after seven years.
The Tesla has become more capable over time. The iPad has become something we want to replace.
Software updates should help the things we already own stay useful longer. In some cases, they can even make them better. Seven years later, I wish I could say that about both of these.
This writing reflects my personal perspectives on product management, AI, and content discovery. It does not represent the official position of my employer or any affiliated organization.