Raise your hand if you have an iPhone, an iPad, an iMac, MacBook, or any other Apple product? Pretty much everyone? Yes, that's what I thought. Now raise your hand if that Apple product died, RIGHT after a new product or a new system was released? Exactly. Isn't there a problem with that? Shouldn't Apple products be long lasting and wonderful like the corporate robots have banged into our heads? Well apparently not. The following interview addresses such concerns from a corporate "robot" we, as the Apple generation, can wrap our heads around.

I talked with an employee (who wishes to remain nameless and mysterious) of Gadget Guru today regarding Apple iPhones and their lifespans.

Question 1: How many Apple products do your customers bring in on a weekly basis, for non-broken issues? Broken issues meaning those customers who need a button or a screen replaced.

Answer 1 (I've paraphrased the interview for length purposes): From about 100 customers per week, about 20 come in and talk to us, and about 10 to 15 people leave things in the store for further help. So I guess about 10%. But for the most part those people would go to Apple.

Question 2: Would you say that new systems make the older models slower? Is this something you have noticed?

Answer 2: Absolutely. When they come out with a new iOS, it's allowed on a certain model. But it's only allowed on certain models. So for example, when they came out with iOS 7, it was when the iPhone 5 had just come out. It was allowed on the 4 and 4s but it dramatically slowed down the 4. Then they came out with iOS 8, and the people with 4 can't even download it, and now the 4s is slowed down by iOS 8.

Question 3: Why do you think that is?

Answer 3: That's just hardware. They're creating software that's designed to be bigger and better, for the bigger and better phones, so the older models just can't run it as well. So they allow you to install it, knowing that it is going to dramatically slow down your phone.

Question 4: And then?

Answer 4: So now you have a really slow phone, and then they come out with iOS 8 and you can't even download the new software. So now you feel outdated and you have a super slow phone.

Question 5: And what is the most common solution for that, in your opinion?

Answer 5: Well, if you have an iPhone 4, don't upgrade the software from iOS 7 from 6 because 6 was what the 4 was designed with, and they ran well. If you upgrade to 7, you can't go back, so your phone is going to run slower. Or, upgrade your phone.

And upgrade we did, America.

Many people, I'm sure, noticed the phone (or product for that matter) running slower, went into Apple to have the product fixed, and ended up leaving with a newer version. Let's not forget, even though Apple is designing products that have revolutionized the technology world, they are first and foremost a business, and have a big stock of interest held in the purchase of their products.

That being said, Apple product developers, and product developers in general, are constantly learning and pushing the limits of what that little computer in your pocket can do. And as they learn that information, they share it with the world, and unfortunately it may require bigger and better hardware to get the job done.

So here's my advice to you: be careful before downloading that next update. Do your research and figure out what it's going to do to your product before just pressing "I agree." That way, maybe some of these problems can be avoided and you can have a phone that runs as faster than a cheetah with its tail on fire.