No iOS 5 for iPhone 3GS?

[MacRumors]

Eldar Murtazin, editor-in-chief of Russian mobile phone blog Mobile-Review today reported in a Tweet (via MacStories) that iOS 5 will not be compatible with the iPhone 3GS, limiting the next-generation operating system to the current iPhone and of course new models yet to come as far as the iPhone is concerned.

Just one comment. Apple iPhone 3Gs wont be upgradable to iOS 5.x. iPhone 4 will.

The information is unverified and it is unclear from where Murtazin obtained the information, but he does have a very solid reputation in the mobile phone rumor community. Murtazin does not, however, frequently report on Apple's plans.

iOS 4.0 was released last June with compatibility for the iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4, although some of the iOS 4 features were not available on the older hardware. That fragmentation continued until Apple finally discontinued support for iPhone 3G updates with the release of iOS 4.3 earlier this year, leaving that device at a maximum operating system version of iOS 4.2.1.

Limiting iOS 5 to a minimum of iPhone 4 hardware would be a significant shift toward high-end hardware requirements, particularly considering that Apple still sells the iPhone 3GS. iOS 5 has, however, been reported to be a significant reworking of the company's mobile operating system, and Apple may simply feel that only the latest hardware (relatively speaking) will offer a satisfactory experience.

Article Link: No iOS 5 for iPhone 3GS?

 

[miles01110]

Shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone.

 

[LegendKillerUK]

Shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone.

Not really. iOS devices thus far have got their release OS + 2.

 

[MacDawg]

Would be a big step to orphan all but the iP4
Fairly significant move

 

[tmofee]

kind of expected. my guessing is you'll have a 4S and probably an upgraded 3GS of some description with upgraded insides/cameras?

 

[Hellhammer]

Shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone.

The fact that Apple is still selling the iPhone 3GS makes this pretty ridiculous. At least 3G supported some versions of iOS 4, although it didn't get much of the new features and made it laggy as hell. Buy a brand new phone today and you won't be able to get the newest OS in few months. Well, I guess it is Apple's way to make money.

 

[German]

They are still selling the 3Gs.
So they should offer at least security updates, if that rumor will be true.

 

[JASApplications]

Would be a big mistake if they did. Tons of people still have a 3Gs including myself And it would be ridiculous if they're selling a phone that can't run the latest software!

 

[Ambrose Chapel]

Given how slow the iPhone 3G runs under iOS 4, I can't say I'm surprised. I bet iOS 5 will have optimizations for the A-class processors, and the A4 will be the cutoff.

 

[Gilj]

Well... It's my opportunity to sell my 3Gs and move to Android ^^"...

 

[baryon]

My iPod Touch 2nd Gen was much faster when I bought it than it is now. Maybe if Apple would not have allowed whichever iOS version I currently have on it to be updatable to the 2nd Gen Touch, then I would have been left with a much faster device.

I'm sure people would prefer a faster iPhone rather than a sluggish one that can do 2-3 more things.

 

[decimortis]

With my 3GS getting kicked in the balls by iOS 4.death, I wouldn't consider installing iOS 5 even if I could.

D.

 

[miles01110]

The fact that Apple is still selling the iPhone 3GS makes this pretty ridiculous.

Why is it ridiculous? They're still selling the iPod Classic which doesn't have any version of iOS. Never mind the hardware doesn't support the OS; because that's probably the same issue in this case.

Buy a brand new phone today and you won't be able to get the newest OS in few months.

...for a fraction of the price. People buying the 3GS already know they are buying an outdated phone in the first place.

 

[chrmjenkins]

The fact that Apple is still selling the iPhone 3GS makes this pretty ridiculous. At least 3G supported some versions of iOS 4, although it didn't get much of the new features and made it laggy as hell. Buy a brand new phone today and you won't be able to get the newest OS in few months. Well, I guess it is Apple's way to make money.

I agree. It's forced obsolence, nothing more. If an ip4 can handle iOS5, so can a 3GS. Their processors are from the same family of ARM cores and they share the same GPU IIRC. That's different than the comparatively slow 3G to 3GS.

...for a fraction of the price. People buying the 3GS already know they are buying an outdated phone in the first place.

Hardware yes. Last I checked, they had iOS 4 just like iphone 4 users.

 

[johnnymg]

Wouldn't surprise me at all.

iphone 3GS will likely be discontinued with the release of the next phone anyway. Don't get stuck on the past folks.

JohnG

 

[BlakeLiebenTH]

Would be a big step to orphan all but the iP4
Fairly significant move

Not really. Support for the original iPhone lasted until 3.0, support for the 3G basically stopped with 4.0, so why would we expect the 3GS to get special treatment?

We all knew this was going to happen.

 

[Xero910]

Given how slow the iPhone 3G runs under iOS 4, I can't say I'm surprised. I bet iOS 5 will have optimizations for the A-class processors, and the A4 will be the cutoff.

Exactly. Nailed it.

 

[LegendKillerUK]

My iPod Touch 2nd Gen was much faster when I bought it than it is now. Maybe if Apple would not have allowed whichever iOS version I currently have on it to be updatable to the 2nd Gen Touch, then I would have been left with a much faster device.

I'm sure people would prefer a faster iPhone rather than a sluggish one that can do 2-3 more things.

But then you get the issue of developers only creating for the newest OS release. It's not good for anyone. Stay on older, faster firmware and be restricted with app selection or upgrade to a modern, slower firmware but at least be able to have full app access.

 

[yetanotherdave]

The fact that Apple is still selling the iPhone 3GS makes this pretty ridiculous. At least 3G supported some versions of iOS 4, although it didn't get much of the new features and made it laggy as hell. Buy a brand new phone today and you won't be able to get the newest OS in few months. Well, I guess it is Apple's way to make money.

Right, the 3G got iOS 4, and people complained non stop about performance. Looks like they are trying to avoid a repeat of this.

We're not used to it in the fairly mature hardware world of laptops and desktops, where gains is software are significant, but hardware doesn't change too much. But at the moment, mobile hardware capabilities and development is outpacing software development. We can't expect the same amount of OS backward compatibility on mobile devices.

 

[LegendKillerUK]

Not really. Support for the original iPhone lasted until 3.0, support for the 3G basically stopped with 4.0, so why would we expect the 3GS to get special treatment?

We all knew this was going to happen.

Original iPhone went to 3.1.3 giving it nearly three years of life. The 3G got nearly two years going to 4.2.1.

 

[fabian9]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

The fact that Apple is still selling the iPhone 3GS makes this pretty ridiculous. At least 3G supported some versions of iOS 4, although it didn't get much of the new features and made it laggy as hell. Buy a brand new phone today and you won't be able to get the newest OS in few months. Well, I guess it is Apple's way to make money.

I agree. It's forced obsolence, nothing more. If an ip4 can handle iOS5, so can a 3GS. Their processors are from the same family of ARM cores and they share the same GPU IIRC. That's different than the comparatively slow 3G to 3GS.

...for a fraction of the price. People buying the 3GS already know they are buying an outdated phone in the first place.

Hardware yes. Last I checked, they had 4.3.2 just like iphone 4 users.

Not being able to install the latest and greatest version of an operating system does not make a product obsolete...

It still does everything and more than it did when it was purchased, so there really is no need to complain.

 

[Capt Underpants]

Laziness and planned obsolescence on Apple's part. It's going to piss a lot of people off.

 

[talkingfuture]

I was hoping I would get one more update out of my 3GS. This must mean a major update though rather than an attempt to force us into new hardware.

 

[coder12]

Doubtful, after all--they're still selling the 3GS.

 

[BLACKFRIDAY]

Why is it ridiculous? They're still selling the iPod Classic which doesn't have any version of iOS. Never mind the hardware doesn't support the OS; because that's probably the same issue in this case.


...for a fraction of the price. People buying the 3GS already know they are buying an outdated phone in the first place.

Exactly.

And people are well aware of the iOS life cycle by now.

3GS was released 2 years back. They have supported the phone enough and people should be done with it.

You can still buy some very old laptops which cannot run Vista. So this, is pretty OK in my opinion.