Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The only thing I know is this backlash won’t hurt apple in any way, shape or form. No PR damage. No sales loss. Nothing. This “backlash” won’t even last very long. Why Apple care? Throw out generic statement, call it a day and move on. Yes it sucks to not be able to have your seemingly still capable device to receive latest update, but it is what it is. As long as security update is provided smh (which I doubt), things should be ok.
 
And there’s the second childish personal attack from you. You’re wrong, I do both front and back end and it’s clear to me you don’t know much about iOS development since you don’t seem to grasp how views that are already present when you serious up can be rearranged to how stage a manger arranges them.

Yes there is a little more work than just translating views but it’s nothing any current iPad can handle.
But ultimately, what it boils down to is that, yes, granted, I’m assuming positive intent on Apple’s part while searching for a possible explanation for why the M1 iPads support Stage Manager and the prior ones don’t. I admittedly don’t have a lot of concrete info to use to bolster my assumption of positive intent. You, on the other hand, are assuming negative intent. That said, you don’t have a lot of concrete info to use to bolster your assumption of ill intent on Apple’s part, either. I don’t have strong evidence to support my assertion that the M1 is necessary for this feature, but you don’t have strong evidence to support your assertion that it isn’t. All we’ve got is our natural biases and confirmation bias, would you agree on that?
 
When my daughter was choosing a phone, I pushed her to get an iPhone8 over a 7, because it had a significantly more capable chip (Bionic over Fusion, GPU, Neural Engine). I thought it'd upgrade longer. Worked out as expected.

If you want iOS 16, get a new SE. Essentially the same form factor (within 1/100 of an inch), with a faster CPU and a bigger Neural engine.
 
but you don’t have strong evidence to support your assertion that it isn’t.

Yes I do. I don't think you're understanding that this is the same data that is already present when you swipe up on the iPad. Go get your iPad, open some apps, and swipe up. See that grid of open apps? I'm not sure how to make it any clearer. Instead of being in a grid its in a coverflow style layout just with groupings this time. A large part of what they're doing is manipulating UIScenes and what they're attached to. It's all stuff built into UIKit.
 
The phone will continue to work for many years to come and you will still be able to get batteries for it. Sure you don’t get the latest update, but Apple is under no obligation to upgrade old phones.

Keep using it until it dies and then buy a new phone. There have been 6 generations of phones since the 7 was first released and 3 generations + the SE since Apple stopped selling it. If you bought the 7 on the day it was discontinued you were at least 3 generations behind depending on how you count the different releases.

You can’t capitalize on a cheaper phone and then expect Apple to keep it around forever.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Student of Life
I still have my 6S as a backup and I'll still use it regardless if it doesn't get iOS16.. I still use my 2010 27' iMac on High Sierra which lost security updates over a year ago and it still works for what I use it for. Firefox still supports it so I could care less that Apple dropped it. These devices still work fine and receive security updates for a couple years. You just don't get the latest features and depending on the device, you don't always get all the new features anyway..
 
I don’t see what the fuss is about. The phone will still work and has more “features” than when u bought the phone. I never buy a phone for the features it may get 5 yrs from now.
 
They've done it in 2013 and 2019 with previous models but I think it's worse that a device they were selling late as last month won't get iOS 16 - the iPod Touch. Only came out Summer 2019. Bad deal.

Business smart but shady that they've discontinued support for the iPhone 7 yet the 5th Gen iPad which has worse specs receives it and 6th Gen iPad which has the same specs. A watch they currently sell won't even get WatchOS 9 lmao.
 
I love how it’s planned obsolescence when a company drops support for older hardware but it’s also planned obsolescence when a company tries to avoid dropping support for hardware and even potentially holds back software to prevent obsoleting older hardware. That’s how you can tell the argument is planned obsolescence and the facts have to be manipulated to support the argument.

It’s just that the arguments for the existence of planned obsolescence remind me so much of the sorts of conspiracy theories I saw back when I used Twitter. Evidence that could be used against it gets mangled to support it in some way, and any grain of truth gets wildly exaggerated, “see, my theory is true because this patently obvious thing is true” even if they aren’t connected. It doesn’t help that most of these sorts of ideas often have two layers, there’s the straightforward “okay, I can see how you’d use that term to describe this phenomenon” and then there’s the point where people go off the deep end and ascribe everything they like or dislike about the subject to that term, stretching the definition of the term past the point of breaking.

Well when over 50% of Apple’s income is from iphone sales, one would expected to do anything in their power to push more iphone sales.
 
Forced obsolescence. It's nothing new. Hardware has been so good for many years now, the only way they can force you to upgrade is by obsoleting it firstly from from OS updates then from security updates.

Deprecating major feature updates from an OS isn't new, Apple is not the only one who does it, and like others, Apple has made it a point to update previous versions of iOS with security updates for those devices who no longer support the latest version. Even then, any software company eventually ceases support for those OS.

People really should not be acting like this is the end of the iPhone 7, it's so dramatic. Not only will it continue to work just as well as it does now (supposedly. I don't have one, but everyone, including you, are claiming it's still great, so what's the issue?) it will continue to work well until the device itself is no longer useful, or major apps you care about deprecate support for iOS 15, which isn't going to happen any time soon.

There is quite literally a non-issue here. Again, unless the basis of this doom-and-gloom being "but the phone is still amazing!" isn't actually true, and y'all just want latest and greatest without having to pay for it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: You’re not me
This would honestly not be as much of an issue if Apple actually supported their older OS with security updates for a couple years. Otherwise I have to recommend to my grandparents to upgrade now and the iPhone 7 is honestly already overkill for them.
 
Yes I do. I don't think you're understanding that this is the same data that is already present when you swipe up on the iPad. Go get your iPad, open some apps, and swipe up. See that grid of open apps? I'm not sure how to make it any clearer. Instead of being in a grid its in a coverflow style layout just with groupings this time. A large part of what they're doing is manipulating UIScenes and what they're attached to. It's all stuff built into UIKit.
But it’s not just a different way of presenting what’s already there, except in the most technical, most reductionist of senses. That’s what I don’t get about your argument. Is the visible front end of Stage Manager just a different UIView subclass? Yeah, sure, that’s trivially easy to agree on. But is there a difference in behavior from the previous multitasking UI that’s not explainable just by manipulating UIScenes in new ways? I’d argue yes, particularly because Stage Manager supports far more applications running at a time than previously were possible. Was the previous limit a software limit? Yeah, of course. But was it a software limit caused by hardware limits? We don’t know, but I’d argue that it probably was. The presence of virtual memory usage in the M1 iPad Pro and iPad Air suggests to me that there could very well be hardware limitations that would cause the previous generation iPad Pro to fail to run the enhanced multitasking features associated with the Stage Manager UI, or at least fail to run them to Apple’s definition of “well”.

I’ll ask you flat out: is it any possible reason why the A12Z might not be able to run Stage Manager? Technical, performance, otherwise? It seems obvious to me that there could very well be some, but you seem to categorically reject the notion. We clearly have very different assumptions about what Stage Manager is. I’d argue that mine is more correct and you’d argue that yours is correct, of course. But help me understand why you seem to reject the notion that there could be limitations that prevent the previous generation iPad Pro from running it.
 
do you have inside knowledge that they could have added features to your 6+ or is it just conjecture?
Well Apple didn't release iOS13 for the 6+, due to it having less than 2GB of RAM...but iOS13 introduced features (like Dark Mode, Custom Fonts & new Emojis-to name a few) that don't consume more RAM and could have worked on the 6+. I understand that Apple has to draw the line somewhere on when to give up on certain hardware. I'm fine with that.
 
This is honestly one of those with all due respect, its been 6 years, half a decade of support. Honestly one cant with good faith complain about this. Now for those with intel computers, ouch, that was a brutal cut off.
 
In this time of inflation and rising cost of living, Apple thinks coercing people into spending nearly a thousand dollars on a new phone is the answer? It certainly is not. I suspect before this reaches GM Apple will change its decision and provide support for still capable Macs and iPhones. The 2016 MacBook Pro’s being cut off for instance was just beyond ridiculous.

I remember this company provided nearly a decade of support for their hardware. But that’s what happens when you become the elephant in the room instead of the humble mouse. They threw PowerPC under the bus, they threw Intel under the bus. You can’t behave like that.
 
two different OS's two different sets of requirements.

That’s not entirely true. First if all, iPadOS is still basically iOS, just renamed because of the multitasking features on ipad. Second, if anything upgrade requirements should be more stringent for ipads than for iphones due to the multitasking features and the larger screen on ipads. Thus, if the ipad 5th gen with its 2GB in RAM, A10 processor and a larger screen can run iPadOS 16, then even more so could the iphone 7/7 Plus with the same specs and a much smaller screen run iOS 16.
 
In this time of inflation and rising cost of living, Apple thinks coercing people into spending nearly a thousand dollars on a new phone is the answer?
If you're still happily using an iPhone 7, the new iPhone SE will be a solid upgrade. AT&T will give you $350 for the iPhone 7 which means the upgrade starts at $150. Lots of carriers are offering aggressive trade in deals.

A thousand dollars. LOL
 
That’s not entirely true. First if all, iPadOS is still basically iOS, just renamed because of the multitasking features on ipad. Second, if anything upgrade requirements should be more stringent for ipads than for iphones due to the multitasking features and the larger screen on ipads. Thus, if the ipad 5th gen with its 2GB in RAM, A10 processor and a larger screen can run iPadOS 16, then even more so could the iphone 7/7 Plus with the same specs and a much smaller screen run iOS 16.
iPadOS doesn't have the same Neural Engine lock-screen changes, changes which require a more powerful chip.
 
Looks like you quoted my post while I was editing it to address that concern. Can you look at the edit and see if my edit addresses that concern?
Edit: And the fact that Apple keeps older phones supported for longer is part of the reason why Apple can’t realistically guarantee ongoing support for x number of years. Google sticks mostly to the flagship end of the market and has that luxury because of all the cheap no-name Android phones barely suitable for use as a phone. Google sells a flagship phone for a year and then sells a price reduced variant for about a year after that. Apple is the only maker of iOS phones and has to cover every price point in the ecosystem, from the low end to the flagship. So, as the former high end model falls down the line each year, it’s harder and harder to determine how much longer it’ll receive support.

Apple could vary the OS update guarantee by phone model if they want to e.g., 4 or 5 years for some (like the SE) and longer for others. All I was suggesting is that they put it in writing, similar to what other companies do, and similar to how warranties are done. It could avoid, or at least reduce, backlash regarding ending OS support earlier than some may have expected. It's really going to be most relevant to the resale market anyway as most new iPhone buyers sell/trade their phone before 5 years.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: AlexMac89
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.