iOS 17 Rumored to Drop Support for iPhone X, First-Generation iPad Pro, and More

[ikjadoon]

They will have had six full versions of iOS, and will get at least a year, possibly two of security patches afterward.

Samsung and Google flagships have four full versions of Android and five years, possibly six years, of security patches afterward.

iOS: 6yr OS, 7-8yr security
Android flagships: 4yr OS, 5-6yr security

I guess two years more of OS & security is still good, but certainly no longer exceptional. For global security, that's a net win.

Less Apple giving up, but more Google & Samsung (& Qualcomm) getting their **** together.

 

[Jakewilk]

So 5 years seems to be apples limit now.

If by limit you mean lower limit then, yes, it’s been that for a while

 

[mat1696]

If this is true that's a real shame... Until now they really tried hard to keep the max number of devices running the latest OS, without necessarily dropping support every year... Now they seem to move to a fixed 5-years support (as we can already see with macOS), which mean they do not drop support because the device cannot run the latest version, but just because it has been out for 5 years... That's a huge downgrade...

 

[GMShadow]

Any technical reason for the cutoff, or just old? Everything in iOS has been full 64 bit for a while, supports Metal, there's supported devices with similar RAM, what would be the technical line?

I hope this isn't becoming like macs, where the last few Intel cutoffs didn't seem to have any technical barrier apart from them wanting to retire old hardware.

Dropping A9/A10 had to do with the ML hardware in large part, I think - as well as general age. I also think the A9 devices were probably supposed to be dropped earlier, but that was pushed back a year given the pandemic closures and such.

As for A11 devices, the iPhone 8 still was kneecapped with 2GB of RAM, so that may be the deciding factor, though I could see a scenario where they still kept the X in that situation and dropped the 8/8+.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I think it’s more likely that this happens for iOS 18.
iOS 8 and 9, 11 and 12, then 13 14 and 15 were compatible with the same list of devices, and given that iOS 16 already dropped support for quite a list of devices, I think it more likely that 17 is compatible with the same list as 16.

 

[tipoo]

I see this as a good thing. The narrower the range of performance thresholds the OS needs to hit, the more optimized it can be for what it does run on.

It won't be though, since the A10 iPad is supposedly still supported but the A11 iPhones are not, makes little sense from a technical baggage perspective, or any

 

[mediacomposer]

As long as my 2018 iPad Pro 11 can keep chugging until maybe the OLED versions come out I’d be happy - by far the most value out of an Apple product I’ve ever gotten.

 

[bodonnell202]

5 years is not that great compared with the current Samsung and Google update schedules which unlike Apple's are actually written down.

Except it is 6 years of software updates, with likely another 2 years of security updates. Meanwhile Google currently offers 3 years of software updates with another 2 years of security updates, and Samsung offers 3-4 years of software updates - please explain how Samsung and Google are better?

 

[mat1696]

This is simply incorrect, my buddy says all devices that supported iOS 16 will support iOS 17 including all A11 chipsets.

Don't know who you are, but I so much want to trust you... as dropping support would be a really bad message from Apple, especially since they already dropped lots of devices with lasts year's OS's...

 

[ppj845]

apple shortens os support to squeeze people to upgrade. Getting more desperate

 

[supergt]

iPad 6th gen supports 17.

Sure but my point is that gen 7 get at least 5 years of support. That means both 17 and 18. It would be bizarre to only offer 4 OS updates.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Doesn’t sound like this is the stability, bug fixes, and performance oriented update we were hoping for then.

Not necessarily, Mac OS X snow leopard is widely considered the king of “no new features” updates and it sliced off compatibility from all G4 and G5 Macs, 6 years worth of computers, some of which weren’t even three years old at the time.

 

[czingg]

iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 will drop support for the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, first-generation 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and fifth-generation iPad, according to a source with a proven track record for upcoming software updates. The devices in this list were released between November 2015 and November 2017.

If this rumor is accurate, iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 would be incompatible with most devices powered by the A11 Bionic chip or older. The only exceptions would be the sixth-generation and seventh-generation iPad models with the A10 Fusion chip and the second-generation 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro with the A10X Fusion chip.

iPhones and iPads equipped with the A5 through A11 chip are affected by a bootrom security vulnerability that Apple cannot patch on these devices, as the bootrom operates in a read-only state. The exploit has allowed for these devices to be perpetually jailbroken on a wide range of iOS versions, allowing users to modify the iOS file system.

Last year, iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 dropped support for quite a few devices, including the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, original iPhone SE, final iPod touch, second-generation iPad Air, and fourth-generation iPad mini.

Apple is expected to announce iOS 17 during its WWDC keynote on June 5.

Article Link: iOS 17 Rumored to Drop Support for iPhone X, First-Generation iPad Pro, and More

I am hoping this is a rumor. If true, then I'd have two devices that I use daily that will become EOS, and would really need to determine which would be upgraded if either. Maybe there will be healthy upgrade incentives.

 

[PauloSera]

It won't be though, since the A10 iPad is supposedly still supported but the A11 iPhones are not, makes little sense from a technical baggage perspective, or any

You're right, they make decisions that have no purpose at all. Like most trillion dollar world leading technology innovators.

Do you people even hear yourselves? Amazing the insulation the internet offers for this kind of comment.

 

[Yebubbleman]

It's not like it is going to stop working.

No, but it will stop getting most security updates and slowly stop receiving updates to third party apps - both of which contribute to diminished usefulness of the device.

 

[Realityck]

So 5 years seems to be apples limit now.

Along with 2 to 3 years of older iOS updates If you can’t install the latest. By then you likely contemplating to use a more recent device.

 

[alfonsog]

They still work. I still have a cp/m computer that still works.. it hasn’t been updated in 45 years and I wrote my high school papers on it with wordstar 1.0… wah wah planned obsolescence I bet 99.5% of people reading this have newer than iPhone X anyway.

 

[floral]

iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 will drop support for the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, first-generation 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and fifth-generation iPad, according to a source with a proven track record for upcoming software updates. The devices in this list were released between November 2015 and November 2017.

If this is true, the first-gen iPad Pro had a good run... Happy 7+ years of support!

 

[Lakersfan74]

Good. Apple shouldn’t handicap iOS in order to support older phones

 

[ss2cire]

one thing to remember, this is a **rumor** so... lets see if it is true when apple announces supported devices, Apple does typically send out security updates for at least a couple more years on "unsupported" devices so there is that.

Eventually devices do have to be dropped from official support... sometimes, not often, but sometimes older hardware holds back features. Even older OSes do so.

Anyway, I'd rather wait and see what Apple decides to announce in June (maybe even waiting until September). But alas, many people here know much better what is easy for Apple to support ;-)

 

[Stratus Fear]

They will have had six full versions of iOS, and will get at least a year, possibly two of security patches afterward.

Could be even longer, depending on the severity of vulnerabilities discovered. Devices still on iOS 12 got a security fix as recently as January, and that's an OS that originally debuted about 4.5 years ago (which means those devices are over 3 years out of new major version support).

 

[tipoo]

You're right, they make decisions that have no purpose at all. Like most trillion dollar world leading technology innovators.

Do you people even hear yourselves? Amazing the insulation the internet offers for this kind of comment.

Do you hear YOURself? The multi trillion dollar company didn't get there by having only your benefit in mind, and some of the support cutoff lines of late haven't been about a technical limitation but a mix of popularity and age. I.e, the A10 iPad being sold later still getting 17, but the iPhone X with a newer A11 not. The decisions have a PURPOSE, sure, but it's not always about supporting what we have as long as technically possible.

Amazing that 'Apple can do no wrong, they are our benevolent overlord' people like you still exist. If the A10 is still supported from the iPad but the A11 isn't in the iPhone, tell me what technical baggage they can clear? They have to still support a further back performance level, you aren't thinking.

 

[Solomani]

I wonder if the Xs is included in that.

 

[bodonnell202]

> The only exceptions would be the sixth-generation and seventh-generation iPad models with the A10 Fusion chip and the second-generation 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro with the A10X Fusion chip.

This is really rather strange. If the A10 iPad can run iOS17, the A11 iPhone X should be able to. So this doesn't sound like a technical cutoff at all, but rather a "that's old, we don't want to support it anymore" one.

They did this already with iOS 16 dropping support for iPhones & iPods with A9 and A10 chips, but iPadOS 16 continued to support A9 and A10 chips. I think device age will be the primary driver going forward, with no real technical reasons for dropping support.

 

[bodonnell202]

I wonder if the Xs is included in that.

No, Xs has the A12 and is safe for another year at least.