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Don't worry, based on Apple's past behavior the iPhone 7 will get security patches after it stops getting the latest OS.
For macOS, Apple does have the unofficial -2 support. But for iOS, they don't. iOS12 was the last iOS that still get some patches here and there. Even when Apple said they would kept iOS14 alogside iOS15, they lied and ditched iOS14 after just 1 update.
 
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Any good lawyer would never tell Apple to make a promise like that. Apple will use good faith to support as many older devices as they can, but when they reach a point where the user experience suffers too much to stand behind them, they stop supporting.

That's the most customer-friendly way they can do it while not painting themselves into a corner and holding back innovation to cater to old devices.

Other companies provide guarantees e.g., for Google Pixel 6, they guarantee Android version updates until at least October 2024 and security updates until at least October 2026. I don't see why Apple couldn't do something similar.
 
Stage manger is simply moving views around for apps already in their multitasking state. It's just a different view transition from the current grid view with the ability to group some apps and move the apps between each other. There's literally zero valid reason Apple can't implement this. I do something very similar within a custom app I wrote for work.
It’s also allowing 8 apps to draw on screen at one time. (Not to mention that it’s holding those other apps on the side in memory for as long as it has enough resources to do so.) It’s the memory management that makes all that possible, the changes to UIView and to the window manager, as well as all the other supporting technologies (like changes to drag and drop). It’s not just a view transition, and, as a developer myself, I’m surprised you as a developer would boil it down to such.

I don’t want it to sound like a personal attack, but I’m legitimately curious about your educational and professional background as a developer, if just because it doesn’t seem like you have a lot of experience with system internals or with back-end development (nothing wrong with that, we need front end experts, too). Not that I have a whole lot myself, but I have enough to recognize some of the back end changes they’ve had to make to support Stage Manager. (I mention educational because I had to take some fairly low level classes for my BS, even a course on assembly language and one on graphics primitives, and it doesn’t seem like my school was unusually rigorous in its required classes for computer science.)
 
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Apple is the industry leader, sure. But let’s push for 10+ year support windows. Obsoleting perfectly good hardware isn’t good for anyone in the long run, even if it makes business sense right now.
I guarantee 100% that that if Apple let people upgrade their ten year old iPhones to the latest OS, all we would hear is complaints about how Apple intentionally slowed them down.
 
It’s weird to see hundreds of comments from consumers telling other consumers they should be happy their phone got even ~4+ years of support and take what they were given, rather than supporting the idea that maybe it’s time to start thinking about longer support windows.

Apple is the industry leader, sure. But let’s push for 10+ year support windows. Obsoleting perfectly good hardware isn’t good for anyone in the long run, even if it makes business sense right now.

Frankly, this matters even more on the Mac side where some of the Intel hardware being obsoleted this year is not that old at all.
Yeah, it's very scarry for mac users. Ventura only supports down to 2017/2018 macs. That means, it's possible for Apple to just drop all consumer intel macs by next year since M1 was released in 2020.
 
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Other companies provide guarantees e.g., for Google Pixel 6, they guarantee Android version updates until at least October 2024 and security updates until at least October 2026.
Apple doesn’t offer those guarantees (about the only time I remember them guaranteeing anything in terms of major releases was the OG iPad, which they guaranteed two major releases for), but they usually exceed industry standards for hardware support.
 
Other companies provide guarantees e.g., for Google Pixel 6, they guarantee Android version updates until at least October 2024 and security updates until at least October 2026. I don't see why Apple couldn't do something similar.
Apple is already giving every 3 year old phone updates to iOS and 5 year old phone security updates. In fact the 5 year old phones are still getting iOS updates too.
 
Other companies provide guarantees e.g., for Google Pixel 6, they guarantee Android version updates until at least October 2024 and security updates until at least October 2026.
I mean, Apple provided five years of OS updates to the iPhone 7 and people are still complaining. Can you imagine if Apple said they only guaranteed three years of OS updates like Google is with the Pixel 6.

Google guarantees three years by saying it; Apple guarantees three years by doing it.
 
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Exactly. There’s a delicate balance between dropping support too early (Android) and supporting it for too long and it becomes unbearably slow (iPhone 3G and 4S). While I initially expected it to get iOS 16, I still think 6 years of support on the iPhone 7 (plus probably 2 extra years of security updates just like iOS 12 got) is pretty fair and reasonable.
People don’t remember the iPhone 3G.
And this was after only two years of updates.
How far we’ve come
 
I guarantee 100% that that if Apple let people upgrade their ten year old iPhones to the latest OS, all we would hear is complaints about how Apple intentionally slowed them down.
I don't think we hear much complaints from iPhone 6s/7 users about iOS slowing down, other than the early buggy days of iOS15 (or if they had battery issues). And 15.5 is actually quite good on my 7+. Ever since the 6s, with performance cores and nvme storage, the iPhones can really cope well with iOS upgrades.
 
Yeah, it's very scarry for mac users. Ventura only supports down to 2017/2018 macs. That means, it's possible for Apple to just drop all consumer intel macs by next year since M1 was released in 2020.
The first 16-inch MBP could end up being such a bad deal in hindsight, unless you really need an Intel Mac.
 
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Spoken like a true Apple executive! Why? If the phone still works, and is capable, why should anyone be forced to upgrade? Not everyone needs the greatest and latest.

If the iPhone 7 still allows these users to text, review their social media, etc, then that's great.
You do realize people can do everyone of those things you mentioned on iOS 15 and have better battery life right?

It’s simply a business decision to not appropriate resources to a 6yr old iPhone. And if they do develop a stripped down version of iOS 16 then people would scream bloody murder on deliberately sabotaging the battery life and forcing users to upgrade. Most of the features are focused on ML and older hardware simply can’t keep up without severe impact on the battery. But security updates on the other hand could be supported for another two years if they wanted to.
 
I mean, Apple provided five years of OS updates to the iPhone 7 and people are still complaining. Can you imagine if Apple said they only guaranteed three years of OS updates like Google is with the Pixel 6.
I agree that despite this, Apple is still better than the majority of smartphone manufacturers. But that gap is narrowing. Samsung is already promising 4 years of Android upgrades and 5 years of security patches for their flagships. That's not too far off from Apple, especially for consumers who don't buy their iPhones at launch date. To compete, Apple needs to do better, or they will lose that advantage very quickly.
 
People need to get over it, no device will receive support forever. Apple isn’t forcing them to do anything, they will still work on the current iOS software, which is very good.
Just because a device does not get an update does the equate with a device ceasing to work. I still regularly use an iPad mini 2 that is running 12.5.5
 
Does Apple have an official written policy regarding iOS updates? If not, perhaps they should e.g., "we guarantee at least six years of iOS updates from launch date..." That way people can have some sort of expectation at purchase time. Yes, there may still be complaints about some iPhones getting more updates than others but as long as Apple met the minimum, that's all that should matter.
A good rule of thumb I’ve found is five years of software updates, two more years of security updates.
If you get any more than that, which includes the iPhone 7 which got six years, you’re lucky.
 
Remember when you had to Pay for software updates? iPhone 7 users aren't being "forced" to upgrade. It's a 5 yr old iPhone as of this fall. Their phone works fine right now on iOS 15 and will continue to do so even if they can't upgrade to iOS 16. Keep your tech longer people. That excitement building up to get the latest iPhone? Fades pretty quick after you've transferred settings and swapped your iPhone/iPad out and resume your normal daily life. Don't sweat the small stuff. My Macbook Pro is a late 2013 and still performs great (can't update software). iPhone is going on 3 yrs old...still great. W/ the processor improvements year over year and new features just announced, this shouldn't be a shocker.
 
Yeah I’m 100% in the camp of ‘get over it’. Apple’s operating system support is unmatched. And in more recent years it’s gone above and beyond itself. There’s plenty of of Apple devices that people can complain about - this is not one of them. Series 3, anyone?
 
Likewise. Things aren't so bad on the iOS side, 6 years of major OS updates and 2 years of security updates is a very good run for any OEM/OS.

On the Mac side though, it was a bloodbath. I expected the AS transition would accelerate things but seeing the 2016 MBP in the list was still a big surprise.
Yeah I can't believe it honestly. Intel are going to get dropped faster and faster, which is rough as Apple still deem it fine to still units.

I bought a 2017 12" MacBook as a floater - it just got under the radar on this as well. Which isn't surprising, she isn't very powerful....
 
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Apple doesn’t offer those guarantees (about the only time I remember them guaranteeing anything in terms of major releases was the OG iPad, which they guaranteed two major releases for), but they usually exceed industry standards for hardware support.
Apple is already giving every 3 year old phone updates to iOS and 5 year old phone security updates. In fact the 5 year old phones are still getting iOS updates too.

This is not about Apple not exceeding industry standards but rather setting expectations for iPhone customers at time of purchase. Some people may be willing to pay "extra" for an iPhone because they expect to get 7 years of iOS updates but may end up feeling disappointed or cheated when it's only 6 years. If Apple put 5 years, 6 years or whatever in writing then customers would know what to expect instead of leaving it vague. If other companies can do it, I don't see why Apple can't.
 
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