Apple Faces User Backlash After Dropping Support for iPhone 7 From iOS 16

[antonrg]

Wow you mean you’ve continued to use something after it stopped receiving updates? And 5 years after its last major update?! Inconceivable!

I know right. Crazy!

 

[HVDynamo]

It's not a "problem" ... unless Apple nukes support for one of them sooner
They should not be in the business of having different longevity standards at different price points

This is especially egregious when they start cutting off support fairly arbitrarily.
For instance -- there is nothing in iOS 16 that truly requires a cut off here ... and anything that "might" could simply be omitted for devices that don't support it (or do it well)

THAT would be the way to handle this -- not outright arbitrarily cutting off devices they were selling brand new in 2019

That would be the consumer friendly and environmentally friendly way to be.
You know -- the stuff Apple likes to say about itself at every opportunity?

This isn't a surprise. Based on Apples history for at least the last 5 years this was the year the 7 was going to get cut. The iPhone 6S sticking around for a year longer is the real outlier here.

I'm also not saying that you are wrong about nothing being in iOS 16 that requires the cut off, but we can't say that for certain.

I'm not defending Apples decision to drop the support for it, it would definitely be nicer/better if they continued to support it for exactly the reasons you say, but there is a very well seeded precedence for how they DO do it, so this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Anyone who is surprised hasn't payed attention to what apple has historically done, and for that they only have themselves to blame.

 

[Dark_Omen]

The iPhone 7 was still sold as new into late 2019. That means we're now expecting OS updates for only 3 years? That's shorter than they have done it in the past.

The iPhone 7 wasn't sold as new into late 2019. The phone went on sale in 2016. Each iPhone is only considered new until the next one comes out. When the iPhone 8 went to the market, the iPhone 7 was no longer a new product.

You've had software updates for almost six years now.

Buy a more modern phone if you want the latest software.

Nobody is falling for your misinformation.

 

[bradl]

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.

My mid-2011 13" MBA still works and is capable, yet I couldn't technically go higher than High Sierra, and High Sierra was as unstable as a volcano on the Ring of Fire.

Doubly so now, because Apple has gone Silicon and dropped Intel. But why should Apple still have to support a 11 year old device? Outside of the fact that Sierra has been rock solid on my Mac since it came out. Granted, I'm now on a 16" M1 Pro, but I can still pull out that MBA and it still just works.

In short, "just works" does not mean "just works with everything new". Just because one isn't getting latest/greatest features does not mean the phone still "just works".

Perspective here.

BL.

 

[nicolas_s]

Cool. The phone still works today and it’ll still work in October.

We don't buy a phone only for the features we get at the moment we buy it, we also choose that phone for how long it can stay up to date, some of you call that "future proofing".

We've been promised many years of updates, but in the end if you bought it brand new in 2019, you only have 3 years of updates, which is way less than we except from Apple.

 

[antonrg]

I'm surprised to hear that

iOS 15 has been really great on my fleet of iPhone SE1's

My 8 is extremely slow as of 15.4. Apps crash, the RAM doesn’t hold. It’s not my main phone anymore, but it’s something I noticed when they pushed out 15.4

 

[PhillyGuy72]

Perhaps these older phones would struggle HARD with this upcoming iOS 16, if it would run at all. LOT of new enhancements those older models can't handle. You're talking about phones at least 6 years old (The 7 came out 9/2016)...these still ran iOS 15 which is impressive for older phones like these.

I have a Note 9 my brother gave me, this came out in 2018 and updates for that phone ended last year. Android 10/One UI 2.5...and that's that.

 

[Dark_Omen]

Absolutely

I'd love to see them load iOS 16 on my SE1 and prove to me it's worse and unusable.
iOS15 works wonderfully on this class of hardware

(6s and SE1 basically the same)

Even if it were, for some reason, a little slower or had to miss a feature or two...
So what?

Let people keep using their devices on the latest iOS if they'd like to accept any tradeoffs.

Sure, and maybe you can pull your original iPhone out of the box and run iOS 16 too!

 

[turbineseaplane]

My 8 is extremely slow as of 15.4. Apps crash, the RAM doesn’t hold. It’s not my main phone anymore, but it’s something I noticed when they pushed out 15.4

Battery need replacement?
That's one thing I know from personal experience has made an INCREDIBLE difference on my SE1's

 

[AlexMac89]

I think Apple should be transparent about the release date. The spec sheet should mention the release date. Plain and simple.

No one is painting people as stupid or clueless. For a company that claims to be transparent and easy, this is the least they can do. They don’t need to market it, just write release year on the spec sheet they have with each iPhone at the store. Simple.

No idea why you are getting all worked up about it.

Between your “It didn’t occur to him that it was years old! He simply thought it was a cheaper design.”

And turbineseaplane’s

Not only are those people out there -- they are the VAST majority of consumers.

We are tiny tiny niche here of folks engrossed in all this stuff all the time.

Yes, it would seem the two of you think people are too stupid to be able to differentiate between several products. So uninformed and helpless that they can’t take two seconds (to use phone that is very likely already in their hand) to find out the difference between SEQUENTIALLY NUMBER PRODUCTS that have been released yearly since 2007. I mean come on now.

It’s obvious what you think about the basic capabilities of the average consumer. And it’s insulting.

 

[Dark_Omen]

There is nothing "obvious" to indicate that -- at all -- in fact

Didn't realize you know more than Apple's engineers and developers. I rarely defend Apple, but I'll play the world's smallest violin for those who complain that their iPhone 7 or 6S isn't receiving software updates six or more years after the fact.

 

[kc9hzn]

We don't buy a phone only for the features we get at the moment we buy it, we also choose that phone for how long it can stay up to date, some of you call that "future proofing".

We've been promised many years of updates, but in the end if you bought it brand new in 2019, you only have 3 years of updates, which is way less than we except from Apple.

But Apple didn’t guarantee in writing that you’d get a certain number of years of support. Maybe they should have, but they didn’t. And when it comes to future proofing, generally you know that the cheaper older device is less future proof than the newer one. Future proof is a relative concept. Consider the M1 MBA still available for sale and the M2 MBA. An M1 MBA is still more future proof than an Intel MacBook Air, but it’s less future proof than the M2 MBA. But the M1 might fit your budget better or you might not need the performance of the M2 and are willing to sacrifice a bit of future proofing by buying the cheaper but still very good model.

 

[turbineseaplane]

LOT of new enhancements those older models can't handle.

Such as?

Anything fitting that description could simply not be available on older devices.

A ton of the aesthetic/fun/emoji stuff is super subjective in its appeal or usefulness anyhow.

 

[nicolas_s]

Between your “It didn’t occur to him that it was years old! He simply thought it was a cheaper design.”

And turbineseaplane’s


Yes, it would seem the two of you think people are too stupid to be able to differentiate between several products. So uninformed and helpless that they can’t take two seconds—to use the very likely phone already in their hand—to find out the difference between SEQUENTIALLY NUMBER PRODUCTS that have been released yearly since 2007. I mean come on now.

It’s obvious what you think about the basic capabilities of the average consumer. And it’s insulting.

How can you guess that lower number means older? It's not that obvious if you're not into it.

For example, Intel i3 doesn't mean older than i7.

Of course if you read the forums like us you'll know, but if you're a regular customer purchasing an iPhone 7 in 2019 you don't necessarily know.

 

[trusso]

As a proud iPhone 6s owner, I’m okay with Apple dropping support for my phone, but they really should have kept the 7.

They still can, in fact, but going back on their stated compatibility now just illustrates how arbitrary the cutoff really is. And they don’t want to do that.

Sad.

 

[turbineseaplane]

As a proud iPhone 6s owner, I’m okay with Apple dropping no support for my phone, but they really should have kept the 7.

Dropping the 7 is far far less defensible, no question about it.

 

[antonrg]

Between your “It didn’t occur to him that it was years old! He simply thought it was a cheaper design.”

And turbineseaplane’s


Yes, it would seem the two of you think people are too stupid to be able to differentiate between several products. So uninformed and helpless that they can’t take two seconds (to use phone that is very likely already in their hand) to find out the difference between SEQUENTIALLY NUMBER PRODUCTS that have been released yearly since 2007. I mean come on now.

It’s obvious what you think about the basic capabilities of the average consumer. And it’s insulting.

I spoke from my personal experience, gave one example, but I have many more similar to those. It seems you get worked up or insulted easily. Let’s just agree to disagree. It’s better.

 

[turbineseaplane]

How can you guess that lower number means older? It's not that obvious if you're not into it.

It also should have no bearing on length of support

Apple needs to forward think on that themselves and commit to the same support longevity across the "for sale brand new lineup" and factor that in when deciding how long to offer a model for sale brand new

They have no excuse here.
They notoriously plan out their product lineups many years in advance.

 

[Student of Life]

That iPhone has been out for half a decade guys.

 

[AlexMac89]

How can you guess that lower number means older? It's not that obvious if you're not into it.

For example, Intel i3 doesn't mean older than i7.

Of course if you read the forums like us you'll know, but if you're a regular customer purchasing an iPhone 7 in 2019 you don't necessarily know.

This is the last time I’m going to repeat this sentiment because I am clearly wasting my breath but here it goes …

iPhones make up over 50% of the USA market. This idea that consumers haven’t figured out the iPhone naming convention between 2007 and now, is again, insulting. Given that androids best selling high end phone ALSO used the same number system (and still is despite jumping somewhere around 10 numbers to start using the 2 digit year recently) would tell me that consumers understand the system just fine.

 

[I7guy]

The app support cut off that comes after changes like this is the main issue

It's been addressed many times in this thread

Blame the developer.

 

[I7guy]

How can you guess that lower number means older? It's not that obvious if you're not into it.

For example, Intel i3 doesn't mean older than i7.

Of course if you read the forums like us you'll know, but if you're a regular customer purchasing an iPhone 7 in 2019 you don't necessarily know.

People somehow have figured out how to buy cars, which is eminently more confusing than choosing an iPhone.

 

[nicolas_s]

This is the last time I’m going to repeat this sentiment because I am clearly wasting my breath but here it goes …

iPhones make up over 50% of the USA market. This idea that consumers haven’t figured out the iPhone naming convention between 2007 and now, is again, insulting. Given that androids best selling high end phone ALSO used the same number system (and still is despite jumping 10 numbers to start using the 2 digit year recently) would tell me that consumers understand the system just fine.

In 2017 Apple released iPhone 8 and iPhone X (10) at the same time. Even within the iPhone line-up it's confusing.

And what about the iPhone XR that is a lower-end version of the iPhone XS, both released the same year.

It's not that simple to understand.

 

[ediks]

How can you guess that lower number means older? It's not that obvious if you're not into it.

For example, Intel i3 doesn't mean older than i7.

Of course if you read the forums like us you'll know, but if you're a regular customer purchasing an iPhone 7 in 2019 you don't necessarily know.

regular customers that you’re taking about don’t care about this, my non-tech friends don’t even know which ios version they’re using and i think that’s the majority of the regular consumers, only we care

 

[kc9hzn]

How can you guess that lower number means older? It's not that obvious if you're not into it.

For example, Intel i3 doesn't mean older than i7.

Of course if you read the forums like us you'll know, but if you're a regular customer purchasing an iPhone 7 in 2019 you don't necessarily know.

But the Apple numbering scheme is pretty simple and has been fairly consistent over the years, barring the one major time they switched the convention. Bigger numbers are always newer and better.

I consider Intel’s naming/numbering convention to be one of the worst in the industry because it’s all about relative position in the range at any point in time, there’s little end user facing information (that doesn’t involve a microarchitecture name or looking up a data sheet) to show which is newer. And the Galaxy A series is awful, how am I supposed to know that a 73 is a mid-high phone (whatever that means), that the 53 is mid, the 33 is mid, the 23 and 13 are… low-end? (The Wikipedia articles don’t make it very obvious for the 23 and the 13.) And how am I supposed to know if I know very little about the A series that all of those phones came out at the same time? Or that the 03 Core, 03, 13, 23, 33, 53, and 73 came out in 2022 and not 2023? Or that 2018’s A series numbers were 6, 7, 8, and 9? (Oh and 6+, and 8+, and 8 Star… really, 8 Star?) Especially when you consider that the S series uses the year number.