Apple Releases iOS and iPadOS 12.5.4 Security Fix for Older iPhones and iPads

[Woochifer]

Can't be upgraded due to hardware requirements (mainly RAM)

Also, on many fronts Apple drew the line in the sand years ago with 64-bit support -- for iOS, apps, you name it. The A7 was the first 64-bit Apple SoC and the platform transition to 64-bit was complete less than two years later. That's why the nearly 8-year old iPhone 5s is still supported, while the 32-bit iPhone 5 was EOL'd with iOS 10 (security support ended in July 2017, with only a fix for the GPS clock bug issued since then).

As to why Apple continues to support the older 64-bit devices running iOS 12, it's simple numbers. The iPhone 6/6 Plus remains the biggest selling iPhone generation ever by a wide margin. Even if the majority of them are no longer in daily use, there are still likely tens of millions of them that are. My iPhone 5s was my daily driver from September 2013 until a year ago when I upgraded to the iPhone SE 2020 (I still prefer the smaller form factor on the 5s).

Platform security is one of Apple's big marketing points, so minimizing the number of showstopping security issues is one way of making sure that current customers remain future customers.

But, Apple is also transitioning more into a services company. Apple no longer breaks out the unit sales for their iOS devices, but the estimates I've seen indicate that iPhone unit sales have flatlined or declined. Only with the introduction of higher device tiers with higher average price points has Apple been able to maintain device revenue growth.

Apple's biggest growth though has been with services. A lot of it comes from the App Store, as well as newer launches like Apple TV+ and Apple Music. And the best way of ensuring revenue growth with services is to ensure that as many devices as possible can support those services. And security is a big part of that.

When Apple abandoned iTunes support for OS X Lion, they also cut off support for iTunes Store purchases because our iMac had 32-bit firmware. I could still use the application, but could no longer make any transactions because the platform security now required a 64-bit UEFI.

Since iOS 12.5.4 covers WebKit, I would assume that this ties into Apple's services and their security as well.

 

[Woochifer]

looks like if the device can run iOS 14 then this update isn't being made available.

That's how the iOS 12 updates for the A7 and A8 devices (with 1 GB RAM) have been the last couple of years. Any device that supports iOS 13 can also support iOS 14, therefore iOS 13 was EOL'd when iOS 14 came out.

 

[DaveTriller]

Attention Developers: Apple is still releasing iOS 12 updates so please continue to support iOS devices with your apps. Thank you.

Unlike the bank and insurance apps that throws us under the bus nearly immediately when iOS 13 came out.

Honestly lol, bank apps that immediately require the newest version of iOS even though the old one is still supported is still annoying.

 

[DaveTriller]

Is there any way to get this update if you're on a device that can support iOS 13, but don't want to update?

e.g. We have a few iOS 12 test devices, that should have security updates, but are technically capable of even the iOS 15 betas.

No, every iOS 12 release since iOS 13 has only been for devices that cannot update further.
That's why iOS 13 has no security updates, since every device on 13 can update to 14.

 

[JosephAW]

Honestly lol, bank apps that immediately require the newest version of iOS even though the old one is still supported is still annoying.

I suppose banks need the latest bionic processors, ARkit, lossless audio and metal performance to load a web page thru an app.