@Eagle928 @Catweazle I've read in multiple places the average life of a drone is 3yrs and that's not counting the ones that meet an unnatural end. Of course Autel will not reveal in advance when they will stop supporting firmware for x model; sometimes the manufacturer themselves don't know. Usually its right around the time when it becomes more costly to keep the development team writing code for a model that is no longer making them a profit than the customers that they will lose due to their lack of support for the older model.
Personally I just always sell my whole kit a few months after a newer model comes out; that gives me time to make sure the new model is reliable and the initial bugs are worked out, and I get rid of my current kit before it becomes obsolete. I typically recover about 40% of my initial purchase price and of course the equipment has paid for itself many times over with paying jobs.
The drone industry is just far too new to treat it like other more established industries. Drones at this point are developing so quickly as is battery technology that it is unrealistic to expect any kind of long term support or compatibility matrix. That's also why I try not to invest too heavily in an individual drone model. I don't buy ND filters, I don't buy useless accessories, additional chargers, etc. because I know its shelf life is limited.
For bigger jobs that need multiple drones or better cameras like the Inspire 2, I just rent the drone for the job and send it back when its done.