Have One of These 16 Apple Devices? Software Support Ends This Fall

[waltermitty]

I'm going to be pretty annoyed when my M1 Pro MBP 14" with 32GB of RAM gets bumped. As if it couldn't handle tens years worth of updates.

 

[Char Aznable]

That's why I already switched to Linux since 2 years and I have plans to get a Pixel phone with GrapheneOS this month. Plus a Casio watch instead of an Crapple one.

God damn Crapple.

So…you’re downgrading everything.

 

[SnarkyBear]

Why do so many people mind that they no longer support, for example, older Apple Watches?

Because the Apple Watch SE was purchased less than 2 years ago and it is already being removed from the new OS list. I know Apple hardware is incredibly well built and lasts a long time, so this feels like a big "Screw you, buy new watch" from Apple.

 

[boswald]

RIP Apple Watch SE 2. You were my favorite of the bunch!

 

[HiVolt]

What sucks for all these devices that got cut off, they were forced into the first generation of Liquid Glass, which many people don't like. Looks like good changes are coming in xOS27, but sadly those devices won't see the improvements.

 

[shapesinaframe]

It’s got nothing to do with hardware capabilities why they don’t dare leave anyone marooned on iOS 26 😅

I’d be pretty pissed off dropping a pile of cash on an AW Ultra and getting stiffed on upgrades.

The worst thing they do is block upgrades on watches when you don’t have a new enough iPhone. My S4 (2018) and my wife’s SE (2020) were stuck on watchOS 9 (2022) for years because our iPhones, 7+ (2016) were dropped from iOS 16 (2022).

That’s when I realised Apple thinks of these things just as external monitors for iPhones, not independent devices.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

Cutting software support for 4-year old devices is downright abuse from Apple, if you ask me.
It has nothing to do with technical limitations, it's just a cheap way to enhance sales.

 

[nt5672]

Agreed. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Dropping a device for the sake of dropping it.

Wrong, dropping a device to force an upgrade.

Remember Cook is still in charge. He does not understand brand value. He is a supply chain and money guy. His direct reports have been trained for a decade, so I don't expect it to change unless people stop buying new devices.

 

[nt5672]

I have a MacBook older than 10 years, it still works. The fact it doesn't get the latest and greatest doesn't make it useless and, how did you put it? "Crapple".

OSes gain new features. These features require newer hardware. If they don't, they are not really using the capabilities of that new hardware.

The problem is security updates. I'm fine with no new features, but Apple uses security updates to force buying new hardware.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

Wrong, dropping a device to force an upgrade.

Remember Cook is still in charge. He does not understand brand value. He is a supply chain and money guy. His direct reports have been trained for a decade, so I don't expect it to change unless people stop buying new devices.

Well said. Apple is sometimes compared to BMW or Mercedes for the quality and reliability of its products. Imagine those cars letting you down after four years.

 

[subjonas]

I'm going to be pretty annoyed when my M1 Pro MBP 14" with 32GB of RAM gets bumped. As if it couldn't handle tens years worth of updates.

I'm not so sure it's just about whether a model can handle an update; I think a company can only officially support a limited number of models, so some just have to be dropped regardless. In other words, even if Apple never makes another major software update again, as long as Apple keeps making new hardware models, they'd have to drop support for older models, because of finite resources. The line has to be drawn somewhere. Where it should be drawn is a question that I imagine requires a lot of data and strategy.

 

[Homme]

Some of these dont sound reasonable to me. Keeping the 2020 iPad Pro (A12Z) but dropping the nearly identical 2018 iPad Pro (A12X)…
I dont like it.

But Apple now supports a Pro/Air/Mini for 7 years of OS Updates and 5 for the base iPad. Look at what is dropped

2018 Pro/Air3/Mini 5 from iOS 12 to OS 26 (7 major OS Updates) and 8th Gen iPad getting 5 OS Updates from iOS 14- OS 26

Ten years of support though is more than good enough, plus they have started to show their age with a stuttery UI in 26 anyway.

Over 10 years of OS Updates for the TV HD and That’s magnificent

That’s why for watches it’s good to get a new one when new processor is introduced

exactly. Why Series 9 users will be feeling great right now ( and Series 6 and 4 users and to a extent Series 3 users back in the days)

"iPadOS 27 raises the floor to the A14 Bionic chip or the M1 chip..." According to Apple's website the iPad 9, with its A13 chip, is included in the iPadOS 27 compatibility list.

I love it how for iOS/iPad OS 27 it’s the closest in terms of system requirements for the A13 since iOS/iPadOS 13-15 ( 2GB of RAM back then as a minimum)

This is a good post because it clarifies the ultimate confusion of the week. I couldn't believe I was thinking at first they were going to cut support for the M1 Ipad Air, considering it's their own chip. That didn't make sense. Glad that ended up not happening.

I can’t believe you even thought that

this is because the 2018 iPad Pro is the best product apple has released in a decade, so many more people have just kept it instead of upgrading and they've had enough it seems.

I won't be buying an iPad or Apple Watch again.

It replaced the GOAT iPad when it was out ( the iPad Air 2) and although it should have had iPadOS 27 just because of the A13 iPad

This is not correct, as iPhone SE (2 gen) supports iOS 26, and will not be supported in iOS 27.

nope

It’s got nothing to do with hardware capabilities why they don’t dare leave anyone marooned on iOS 26 😅

I’d be pretty pissed off dropping a pile of cash on an AW Ultra and getting stiffed on upgrades.

The worst thing they do is block upgrades on watches when you don’t have a new enough iPhone. My S4 (2018) and my wife’s SE (2020) were stuck on watchOS 9 (2022) for years because our iPhones, 7+ (2016) were dropped from iOS 16 (2022).

That’s when I realised Apple thinks of these things just as external monitors for iPhones, not independent devices.

In a way for iPhones and iPads with OS 27 you’re half right. Despite the minimum being an A13 CPU ( besides the A12Z but all models having 6GB of RAM) it’s the closest in terms of hardware being a requirement since iOS/iPadOS 15 with 2GB Being the minimum) and like iOS/iPadOS 18 with the A12 being the minimum but the A10 7th gen iPad being the odd one out.

Rest assured the A12Z Pro isn’t the odd one out when you compared this to the 7th gen iPad back then because it’s a much capable iPad and still is better than the A13 iPad in pretty much any category besides the CPU Architecture which supports SMB which IIRC was for the A14 lineup but Apple must have added it into the A13

 

[DocMultimedia]

Well said. Apple is sometimes compared to BMW or Mercedes for the quality and reliability of its products. Imagine those cars letting you down after four years.

I don't think comparing cars to technology is really relevant. But that's me. I had a Honda for twenty years, and also a Subaru. Now on a new Honda, but don't think I'll still be driving in twenty years due to that thing called age. 👴🏻

I still use my 2012 Air as a media server in my house. Old technology can still be very useful. I still develop software on my Trash Can Mac (what year did that come out... Can't actually remember, but it's an amazing computer).

 

[Squidiey]

You go right ahead. Enjoy all the malware that comes with Android as a bonus

GrapheneOS is actually secure

Plus I know what I'm doing, I'm not a boomer

 

[Squidiey]

So…you’re downgrading everything.

Linux isn't a downgrade.

There's a kazillion distros out there, one is better than others.

Plus GrapheneOS isn't a downgrade, it's the opposite actually.

I think you're just brainwashed by Apple's propaganda team.

 

[Smartuser]

Title is misleading to folks who don't pay attention to how Apple software works. They still get supported software just not the latest OS.

Exactly right, the title and the contents are misleading. Support of the last OS to run on a given Mac is usually at least two years. macOS Big Sur and later had their last updates in February of this year. Better research would lead to more accurate content.

 

[Smartuser]

Linux isn't a downgrade.

There's a kazillion distros out there, one is better than others.

Plus GrapheneOS isn't a downgrade, it's the opposite actually.

I think you're just brainwashed by Apple's ~~marketing~~ propaganda team.

You've moved to a different OS, great. Now go to the forums where that's discussed.

I don't hang out in Windows / Android / Linux / etc. forums and write comments along the lines of "You must all be brainwashed sheeple to use Micro$loth!" and similar.

 

[goldmac2006]

There has not been a compelling Apple Watch upgrade since the 7. I bought my 8 less than 3 years ago, so dropping support this quickly is jarring.

Same with me I even got my s6 on a spring sale a few years ago and now I am forced to upgrade?! Geez 🙄

 

[Homme]

Same with me I even got my s6 on a spring sale a few years ago and now I am forced to upgrade?! Geez 🙄

At least the S6 was the first one to get the CPU which is also present in the S7/S8 models. And since the S12 will come with a different better CPU than the S9/10/11 ones since they have the same CPU it’s not a huge problem through in terms of software support

 

[FeliApple]

I’ve seen dozens of varied complaints about the 3rd-gen iPad Pro on iPadOS 26. Battery life is apparently poor and performance leaves a lot to be desired.

If 27 doesn’t obliterate battery life more than 26 already did (BIG if, it probably will degrade battery further), and if 27 indeed improves performance (I’m a little more hopeful on this one), then it’s sad that one of the best iPads ever released is forced to stay on the horrible 26.

Then again, it’s users’ fault for updating, of course.

 

[Squidiey]

You've moved to a different OS, great. Now go to the forums where that's discussed.

I don't hang out in Windows / Android / Linux / etc. forums and write comments along the lines of "You must all be brainwashed sheeple to use Micro$loth!" and similar.

I mean... I'm just done with 🍎

Except my iPad I guess will be a lonely Apple device for the foreseeable future...

 

[Acep]

If OS 27 is the last the M1 gets I'm glad the last one it will have received is a bug fix/performance release. I still say the M1 gets at least one more update.


Sequoia is the last OS the iMac Pro will run. It won't natively run Tahoe.


The 2nd gen iPhone SE has an A13 like the iPhone 11 and will run iOS 27.

 

[dumastudetto]

The problem is security updates. I'm fine with no new features, but Apple uses security updates to force buying new hardware.

Apple products are inherently secure. Android, Linux, Windows are not.

 

[urnotl33t]

I've been deeply disapointed with my Ultra 2. It started out great, and the experience just got worse and worse.

My 2018 iPad Pro on the other hand has been in daily use since I bought in the fall of 2019, a month before the A12Z version was released.

It's been a good run.

Apple has been slowly alienating me; and recently the ads in the pro-apps for their monthly subscription counterparts was the most off-putting. Second to that was the weird nag screens in the previous version of iWork apps (or whatever they're called now) overtly cutting off access to features (like collaboration). There's been some disagreement on that reality, but the end result is the same: the squeezing of their customer base in unpleasant ways. Maybe I just woke up and it's always been this way? It certainly feels more pointed.

Also, knowing the entire world is ram-and-gpu constrained they could have bought a lot of goodwill.

This feels exactly like the path Microsoft started down two decades earlier.

And the core reason I adopted Apple products (reluctantly) was Emagic Logic Audio. I eventually was swayed and drank the cool-aid. I've been poking at alternatives for the last two years. None-yet other than Cubase, and I'm certainly not going back to Windows/MS-land.

Two years ago, I switched to a linux desktop for work. It was largely without pain. Things aren't as pretty, but they work, and the limitations are my own.

Yup. Dropping the iPad mini 5 should be a criminal offense, too.
They saddled me with craptastic OS 26 and….now I’m stuck with this trailer trash? I can’t get the next one that at least pretends to fix parts of it? If that’s the case, it never should have been given OS 26, and be done at 18.

Federighi should be admonished for this as he’s the one ultimately responsible for it. The mobile platforms should have a new lead person… but the best person for it is doing Broadway plays now.

Anything that was given 26 should be given 27, period. I don’t care what they say about the chip platforms. Punt that initiative until this garbage is fixed. They owe us that. Yes, they OWE us. They broke it, they need to fix it.

As it stands now, I have zero devices under mainline support. Zero. I no longer have any reason to stick with Apple now. None. Sure, all my media is from iTunes, but with so many streaming options, that’s no longer the sticky ecosystem they think it is. There are lots of soft advantages, but they aren’t as sticky as they imagine. Yes I love Apple Pay, a LOT… but EMV works elsewhere, too (but I’d really churn my stomach at giving google all my receipts…). I do enjoy HomeKit… when it works… and today it’s less and less functional, less and less dependable. Siri…I have no hope for. It works on my HomePod, but … barely. Ironically, it works best there, but that’s like trading gonorrhea for syphilis.

So now I have a choice to make, as a free agent. Come September, I just might be moving, and I never thought I’d say that. I’ve been here since… 2003-ish, with the white iPod shuffle stick that was a USB-A connector, and I grew from there. Now …now I’m done?

They refuse to make a phone as thin as my 2016 SE (Air fans, don’t lie to yourselves… it’s not the thinnest. My SE is thinner than the Air at its thickest point on the camera wart… Apple should stop lying saying it needs the lens depth for the camera. Their thousand image processors are doing the work anyway.), they refuse to make a phone as light as my 2016 SE (yep it’s lighter than the Air! 113 grams). They can do it. They just won’t because they lost touch with the market. No one WANTS the fat phones. They buy them because they believe they have to… people buy them then complain about them. I hear it ev..er…y..wh.ere….

It seems Apple is done with me, so I guess I’ll be done with them. Time to scout around, find me a “retro” flip phone like I had in 2004.

 

[Acep]

Possibly (and I hope so) but iPhone SE gen 2 is not on the list of supported phones per the iOS 27 link at the beginning of the article. The only one shown is SE 3rd generation. Any updated list or info changing this would be appreciated.