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

[blcamp]

My 12yo son has my old iPad Air 2 and I was gonna give him my old iPhone 7 for his 13th birthday. I fully expected the iPad would not be getting iPadOS 16, given that it's an 8yo device. But I'm surprised and disappointed about the iPhone. I get that the iPhone is 6 years old, but it's still a decent device and capable of running iOS 16 with some of the frills stripped out. I'm still going to give him the iPhone but I hope Apple reconsiders.

 

[ghostface147]

They were still selling it in 2018. I’m not surprised they aren’t supporting it but I feel like they should.

They were also selling the trash can Mac Pro in 2019 and it was dropped from Ventura support.

 

[sinoka56]

Forced limitations of iOS ... if your OS doesn't get updates then your iMessage, Safari and other bundled software to OS updates will become outdated and vulnerable.

 

[ilikewhey]

I have zero sympathy for people complaining about 6 year old phone not getting an update. The 5th, 6th, and 7th gen ipad are all newer.

mate you should travel a bit, there are tons of iphone users who are stuck on the 7 because a newer iphone is just so expensive in their country.

 

[boak]

What's especially annoying is that the iPad (5th generation) is getting iPadOS 16

 

[AppleTO]

Apple can't support the hardware forever and the iPhone 7 is not going to suddenly stop working after iOS 16 is released.

It won’t stop working, but it also likely won’t receive any more security updates. Unless Apple decides to keep patching iOS 15, which they haven’t stated.

 

[Abazigal]

By backlash, do they mean like a dozen people complaining about it on Reddit and online forums making it sound like there are a lot more people unhappy about this than there really are?

 

[TruthWatcher412]

Meanwhile Google provides updates for only 3 years.

 

[neuregulin]

Apple is facing backlash from users after it announced that iOS 16, its next major release of iOS destined for release this fall, will not be supported by the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

iOS 16 will bring major changes and customization features to the Lock Screen, much-awaited changes in iMessage such as mark as unread and message edits, and so much more.

Users have long asked Apple to give them more personalization controls on iOS, and Apple is finally doing that with iOS 16. Unfortunately, all of iOS 16's new features, including the update itself, won't be coming to customers who own many older iPhones, with the most notable being the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

As a refresher, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were released in September 2016. The iPhone 7 Plus was the first iPhone to feature a dual-lens camera setup, and both models were the first to get rid of the physical Home button and replace it with a Haptic one. The iPhone 7 also marked the end of the headphone jack.

With iOS 15, Apple supported devices as old as the second-generation iPhone SE, including the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. While it was expected that iOS 16 would drop support for the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, and the now-discontinued iPod touch, surprisingly, Apple also dropped support for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Following Monday's WWDC keynote, iPhone 7 users shared their disapproval online over the lack of support for the upcoming release of iOS. "Wow. Surprised they ditched the 7/7+," one user wrote on the MacRumors Forums. Other customers voiced complaints on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1533874809993670658

https://twitter.com/x/status/1534320291622576129

https://twitter.com/x/status/1534121791416844288

https://twitter.com/x/status/1533950503243096064

https://twitter.com/x/status/1533927523469430784

https://twitter.com/x/status/1534029069100122117

https://twitter.com/x/status/1533917431147765761

The reasonable explanation is that the A10 Fusion chip in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus is simply not powerful enough to run iOS 16 and all its new features. That explanation, though, is invalidated when the sixth and seventh-generation iPad, both powered by the same A10 Fusion chip, are supported by iPadOS 16.

Furthermore, the fifth-generation iPad, which features the less powerful A9 chip compared to the A10 Fusion chip in the iPhone 7, is also supported by iPadOS 16. While iOS and iPadOS are different, they also share many of the same features and the same underlying technology.

In theory, Apple could have supported the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 16 but just disabled some of the CPU and ML-heavy features for newer models.

By doing so, iPhone 7 users would still benefit from performance and security enhancements offered by iOS 16, as well as small refinements like the ability to edit iMessages, which don't require an intense amount of CPU work.

Offering only newer devices certain features that aren't available to older models is not something new, and a practice Apple is long accustomed to. As a matter of fact, several of iOS 16's latest features will only work with iPhones powered by the A12 Bionic and later.

As MacRumors reported in May, it was plausible that due to the higher memory on the iPhone 7 Plus, it would retain support for iOS 16, while the iPhone 7 would miss out. It seems as though, to avoid any possible confusion, Apple has just entirely dropped support for both iPhone 7 models instead of supporting one and not the other.

We've reached out to Apple to comment on why the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus won't be receiving iOS 16 and we'll update this article if we hear back.

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

For everyone that is complaining, no matter that your ip7 is only 4 years old or still kicking at 7 years; one simple fact is that even without iOS 16, it will still run fairly well on iOS 15. My mom (she is almost 80) still use ip7, I have no desire to update her ip7 since it IS working just fine. Without iOS 16, big deal!

 

[GangstersParadise]

Yes, they patched watchOS 5 and 6 even after the release of watchOS 7, so I think we can keep our watches for a while. But it’s hilarious that they still sale it.

 

[Spaceboy88]

No, obviously not.

But I bet you if Tesla released some sort of major new feature and stated that only cars manufactured in 2020 or later would receive it, they would receive a ton of complaints.

Of course they'll receive complaints, but it would be the same response from me—tough ****! If you purchased the car pre-2020, you obviously liked it enough as-is to own it. You get no guarantee of brand new features years after purchase.

If people are that upset by it, they can trade their devices in and buy newer ones. Even those that purchased an iPhone 7 a few years ago didn't pay the original launch price of the device from Apple or any other retailer.

Apple isn't taking features away from iPhone 7 owners. If they're that upset by this, maybe instead of "praying that Tim Cook changes his mind," they save up for a newer iPhone or just keep using the one they have now that works perfectly fine and will continue to after iOS 16 launches.

 

[charlesdayton]

If you are not happy switch to Android… Oh wait!

 

[mnsportsgeek]

mate you should travel a bit, there are tons of iphone users who are stuck on the 7 because a newer iphone is just so expensive in their country.

You’re right. Shame on Apple for spontaneously self destructing any iPhone that doesn’t support iOS 16.

 

[Cheesehead Dave]

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.

I'm 99% sure that come September, your iPhone 7 will still allow you to text, review your social media, etc. Come September 14th, it's not like it's suddenly going to permanently turn itself off at 10:00 PST.

 

[kc9hzn]

They were also selling the trash can Mac Pro in 2019 and it was dropped from Ventura support.

Yeah, but it is literally a 9 year old computer, even if it was actively sold in 2019. I can’t fathom who was buying the 2013 Mac Pro in 2019 (especially since the thing never got any appreciable price drops), maybe well-heeled Mac collectors or people who wanted the Mac Pro nameplate or design and absolutely didn’t care that the computer was 6 years old.

Edit: Of course, the ultimate irony is that Apple could probably use the 2013 Mac Pro design today with Apple Silicon and avoid all the thermal constraints that they encountered with the original design (with the caveat that they’d probably have to max out at an M1 Pro or M1 Max, instead of the M1 Ultra).

 

[VSMacOne]

I understand the comparison to the older iPads, but iPadOS 16 doesn’t get Lockscreen customization, which seems to be very resource intensive. Apple has been unmatched in support for older devices, but I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to maintain a highly tweaked version of iOS 16 that runs on a small number of older devices. They already have some new features that are not supported on even <6 year old devices, I’m pretty sure iOS 16 on the 7/7 Plus would be bare bones.

 

[Apple_Ninja]

People still use the 7?... Well ill be darned

 

[ikir]

If Apple cut iPhone 7 out from iOS support is evil. if Apple include iPhone 7 but remove lock screen and few other features, Apple is evil. In both scenario users with a iPhone from 2016-2017 think they are "forced to upgrade" while in Android land you will lose OS updates after 2-3 years.

 

[Hopefully Smarter]

It is my understanding that the iPhone 7 will continue to operate as it currently does after the next software iteration.

 

[Apple fan from Korea]

I like how that tweet calls it aggressive marketing... Have you ever gotten an Android bro?

 

[doctrsnoop]

More concerned that Macs older than 5 years aren't supported on macOS Ace Ventura.

My 2012 Mac was supported for 7+ years.

that's really more about Intel not making advancements than Apple trying to support longer.

 

[hancox]

How courageous of them...

 

[TheIguana]

Great more e-waste, really selling their chops being “environmentally friendly.” Every functional year that can be squeezed out of a device is a good thing.

 

[adamjackson]

Most expensive iPhone 7 = $969 released September of 2016 and still available to buy in September of 2019 through certain channels. If you bought on launch day, you've had the phone for 68 months or about $14 a month to own that phone. You've probably replaced the battery twice already and the iPhone 13 is twice as fast or more in literally every benchmark.

I think 6 years is a good run for a phone and bless those who were still hanging on to theirs.

One thing to also remember, you'll keep getting security updates for a bit longer so you can stay on iOS 15 for another year or two and almost every app will continue to support iOS15 for at least the next 12 months and only the most nerdy cutting edge apps will drop support within 2 years of iOS 16's release.

So iPhone 7 is not a paperweight. You can get a solid 8 years out of it if you really need to dropping your monthly price to about $10.50 a month.

 

[Spaceboy88]

I have to agree with this. 6 years is a long time for a phone and you can't be backwards compatible forever, it's just not a doable thing in tech. A big issue though that I will complain about is the fact that brand new current iPads can't run Stage Manager in iOS 16. That's a much more valid complaint.

Because Stage Manager needs the M1 chips so they can leverage the storage as virtual RAM. I've seen people like Gurman questioning why older iPads can't do this, but my hunch is that this is one of the major benefits of the M1 chips, and while A-series chips maybe COULD support a version of Stage Manager, it goes back to Apple's not wanting to ship something that's severely crippled.