iPhone 11 iPhone 11 longevity

[NewUsername]

I snagged two iPhone 11s for my daughters since they were a great deal on Swappie. These phones are more than enough for what the girls need, but I'm curious how long they'll keep getting new iOS updates. Anyone have any insights?

Most likely, support for the most recent iOS will be dropped in 2025 for the XR and XS, and in 2026 for the 11 and 11 Pro (though it is possible that they would drop all of them in 2025).

Afterwards, you can expect about two more years of security updates and support for most third-party apps for a little bit longer.

For comparison, the iPhone 6s was released in 2015, it could run the latest iOS until 2022, it got security updates until 2024 and it is the oldest iPhone right now which still has support for most third-party apps.

 

[5167767]

I have an iPhone 8 for a family member. It’s not on iOS 18 but still receives iOS 16 updates. You’ll be ok for a couple of years I think. 🤔

 

[cjsuk]

Still got a 6s going here. Got a software update about 3 months ago as well! That's nearly 10 years old.

Depressingly it doesn't feel that much worse than my 15 Pro.

 

[maerz001]

They do in Poland

No they don’t. Maybe some 3rd party but not by Apple which is the point here

 

[Tsepz]

I snagged two iPhone 11s for my daughters since they were a great deal on Swappie. These phones are more than enough for what the girls need, but I'm curious how long they'll keep getting new iOS updates. Anyone have any insights?

iPhone 11 is still such a great device, not sure about it’s longevity but given the fact that it has the same amount of RAM as iPhone 12, I would not be surprised if it continues to get updates for a few more years.
Given that it will not need to carry Apple Intelligence there shouldn’t be too much overhead for it.

 

[Matsamoto]

iOS 19 will not be available for A12 Bionic and A13 Bionic devices, iPhone XR, XS, XS Max, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max

iOS 18 will still get security updates for about a year or two after iOS 19 release... iOS 17 is the minimum version required by some apps right now so you should still be able to download app updates...

How do you know that both the xs and 11 looses iOS updates the same year?

Isn’t it standard for Apple to drop iOS updates for one serie/year at the time?

 

[winxmac]

Isn’t it standard for Apple to drop iOS updates for one serie/year at the time?

iOS 12 was the last major version for iPhone 5s and iPhone 6
iOS 15 was the last major version for iPhone 6s and iPhone 7

 

[doyleo]

My wife’s XR is still on the list to get the iOS 18 update. The XR was released in October 2018 which is 6 years ago.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Still got a 6s going here. Got a software update about 3 months ago as well! That's nearly 10 years old.

Depressingly it doesn't feel that much worse than my 15 Pro.

What depresses you? That the 6s still works as a phone, or that the 15 Pro's camera system is an order of magnitude better than the 6s?

Even a cursory comparison also shows the 15 Pro with much better battery, display, modem and durability. Personally I could still use a 6s - - except for the camera, and the fact that I would hate going back to needing a case for iPhone protection. YMMV

 

[eyoungren]

What depresses you? That the 6s still works as a phone, or that the 15 Pro's camera system is an order of magnitude better than the 6s?

Even a cursory comparison also shows the 15 Pro with much better battery, display, modem and durability. Personally I could still use a 6s - - except for the camera, and the fact that I would hate going back to needing a case for iPhone protection. YMMV

Case?



What case?

 

[cjsuk]

What depresses you? That the 6s still works as a phone, or that the 15 Pro's camera system is an order of magnitude better than the 6s?

Even a cursory comparison also shows the 15 Pro with much better battery, display, modem and durability. Personally I could still use a 6s - - except for the camera, and the fact that I would hate going back to needing a case for iPhone protection. YMMV

Well the main thing is that the camera system on the 15 pro is not that great really. The auto white balance is a complete mess (can't lock it on photos only videos as well), the shoot then process time is quite long resulting in capture problems and there's a neutral / blue cast over everything which is annoying as hell and the images are over sharpened. Also in some vain effort to capture HDR it loses the bottom end of the dynamic range. The 6s while crap on paper is a lot less bad at all of those things.

This is an unedited iPhone 6s photo for example. Colours are spot on. There is detail in the shadows, no oversharpening. Spot on.

Now unedited iPhone 15 Pro shot. Contrast is way too high. Shifted white balance towards blue. The colours are totally out. Looks totally dead. All the detail in the shadows is gone / noise. All options are defaulted and photo styles or whatever it is has been disabled.

I started just carrying my ass end mirrorless (z50) around and not using the iPhone 15 Pro camera.


Compare to unedited iPhone 13 Pro as well... fine as well.

The 15 Pro just sucks.

 

[FlyingDutch]

Honestly, I'm good if they can get a couple of years out of these devices.

A couple of years is a reasonable expectation for an iPhone 11.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Well the main thing is that the camera system on the 15 pro is not that great really. The auto white balance is a complete mess (can't lock it on photos only videos as well), the shoot then process time is quite long resulting in capture problems and there's a neutral / blue cast over everything which is annoying as hell and the images are over sharpened. Also in some vain effort to capture HDR it loses the bottom end of the dynamic range. The 6s while crap on paper is a lot less bad at all of those things.

This is an unedited iPhone 6s photo for example. Colours are spot on. There is detail in the shadows, no oversharpening. Spot on.

View attachment 2449520

Now unedited iPhone 15 Pro shot. Contrast is way too high. Shifted white balance towards blue. The colours are totally out. Looks totally dead. All the detail in the shadows is gone / noise. All options are defaulted and photo styles or whatever it is has been disabled.

View attachment 2449521

I started just carrying my ass end mirrorless (z50) around and not using the iPhone 15 Pro camera.


Compare to unedited iPhone 13 Pro as well... fine as well.

View attachment 2449527

The 15 Pro just sucks.

I totally disagree with you; I considered the 15 Pro camera to be better than all earlier iPhone cameras. My guess is you may not shooting in RAW, which is all that I shoot, so I am not seeing what you see. I do use auto white balance, but with RAW captures I can easily adjust later if I want to, but I seldom need to.

Some pix like your #2 pic have such wide dynamic range as to be challenging to all cameras. Often photogs will merge multiple different exposures to improve such captures.

Mostly I find folks with iPhone 15/16 Pro camera complaints are shooting JPEG.

 

[saber32au]

A couple of years is a reasonable expectation for an iPhone 11.

Agree. Unlikely to get ios 19 (but I could be wrong); regardless apps typically are supported by ios versions 1-2 years behind the most recent version.

So yes, you should get 2-3 years use out of an phone 11.

 

[cjsuk]

I totally disagree with you; I considered the 15 Pro camera to be better than all earlier iPhone cameras. My guess is you may not shooting in RAW, which is all that I shoot, so I am not seeing what you see. I do use auto white balance, but with RAW captures I can easily adjust later if I want to, but I seldom need to.

Some pix like your #2 pic have such wide dynamic range as to be challenging to all cameras. Often photogs will merge multiple different exposures to improve such captures.

Mostly I find folks with iPhone 15/16 Pro camera complaints are shooting JPEG.

There’s no difference in shooting ProRAW on it at all. I don’t know why people bother. For reference I’ve compared HEIC and JPEG and ProRAW and the dynamic range, blue cast and over sharpening are definitely in all of them. That would suggest it’s somewhere on the left side of the image processing sausage factory. RAW on an iPhone is NOT sensor data clearly, there is post processing and “computational photography” stuff going on.

If you want to have some fun with auto white balance crapping out try taking a photo of something neutral on a table with a pine surface. The white balance drifts so far down the K scale that it goes orange.

This got particularly problematic when I was on Malta recently. The buildings are made of a locally sourced stone which absolutely broke the iPhone so bad it was unreal.

Unprocessed JPEG from a Z50 (I shoot both RAW and JPEG on that). This was an exact 1:1 of what I saw with my own eyes.

Same thing (sorry about the horrible zoom but the 15 pro doesn’t have enough reach). What the hell apple.

Utter garbage. The stone caused the WB to flip to “dystopian hell hole” mode.

These were taken within 20 minutes of each other on a clear day. I got coffee between them and walked <100m.

To note this was compared to a Nikon Z50 with 18-140mm Z DX zoom on it.

My daughter’s 13 Pro was fine. Colours were pretty good. Although some digital artefacts.

 

[Tripps9000]

iOS 19 will not be available for A12 Bionic and A13 Bionic devices, iPhone XR, XS, XS Max, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max

iOS 18 will still get security updates for about a year or two after iOS 19 release... iOS 17 is the minimum version required by some apps right now so you should still be able to download app updates...

I hope you only mean iPhones because i believe the iPad 8 has the a12 and the iPad 9 has the a13 and they are still selling the iPad 9 at a lot of the big box stores and online like Amazon!

 

[winxmac]

I hope you only mean iPhones because i believe the iPad 8 has the a12 and the iPad 9 has the a13 and they are still selling the iPad 9 at a lot of the big box stores and online like Amazon!

I mentioned iOS not iPadOS

Apple iPad support is getting weirder and blurrier... iPad 6 with A10 can only upgrade to iPadOS 17 while iPad 7 with A10 can upgrade to iPadOS 18

 

[Tago]

Normally Apple give 6 years of updates. iphone 11 came out in 2019, so it should be until next year…

That would normally be for receiving new annual versions of the OS. I`d argue one will be fine (security updates) for 7 or 8 years. Might be useful to be aware of banks and similar tend to shut down their support when Apple do, thus stretching it beyond the period with security updates isn`t great practice. I haven`t checked out the position of iPhone 11, but in general I believe Apple would be more keen of shutting down support for a phone released as the last of a technological generation before a "significant shift".

I would be a bit cautious about short lived / "rare" versions like iPhone Mini, more likely than others to have shorter lifespan. I think.

 

[Isamilis]

You may consider to stay with the older ios (if not upgraded yet), ie ios 15 or 16. The phone will be faster and have better battery life. You will have security risk but the evidence so far is very small / unlikely (unless your kids are VVIP).

 

[digitalcuriosity]

If one is just using their 11s as phones, as long as the batterys last i see them being used for years and years.

 

[iHorseHead]

No they don’t. Maybe some 3rd party but not by Apple which is the point here

Many countries don’t have official Apple stores. iSpot is a reseller in Poland

iPhone 11 | iSpot Apple Premium Partner

Sprawdź iPhone 11 64GB 6.1" ➤ Smartfon Apple z wyświetlaczem Liquid Retina HD i aparat 12 Mpix. Najlepsza jakość!

ispot.pl

I just checked and you can buy directly from apple now. Some years ago you couldn’t and it directed you to ispot, but still, many stores still sell iPhone 11. Official Apple partners and I don’t believe that iPhone 11 and xr will lose the support at the same time.

 

[Tago]

Some years ago you couldn’t and it directed you to ispot, but still, many stores still sell iPhone 11. Official Apple partners and I don’t believe that iPhone 11 and xr will lose the support at the same time.

Buying a NEW iPhone 11 now is pretty bad business due to short period of updates. Wouldn`t consider anything older than iPhone 13, but it would make sense to purchase a newer 2nd hand one with at least 85% battery left.

 

[rachelagnes110]

I snagged two iPhone 11s for my daughters since they were a great deal on Swappie. These phones are more than enough for what the girls need, but I'm curious how long they'll keep getting new iOS updates. Anyone have any insights?

Great find with those iPhone 11s! As for how long they'll keep receiving iOS updates, here's what we can expect based on Apple's typical support pattern:

Apple generally provides software updates to iPhones for 5 to 6 years from the device's release date. The iPhone 11 launched in September 2019, so that means it will likely continue to receive iOS updates until around 2024–2025. After that, the phone may not receive the latest iOS features, but it will likely still get important security updates for a bit longer (often 1-2 years after the last major update).

The iPhone 11 is a relatively recent model and has a powerful A13 Bionic chip, so it should continue to perform well with updates for several more years. However, once it starts nearing the end of official support, it might still be able to run third-party apps well, but newer features might be a little more limited.

As of now, your daughters should be set with the latest iOS version for a few more years!

 

[ibookemo]

Agree. Unlikely to get ios 19 (but I could be wrong); regardless apps typically are supported by ios versions 1-2 years behind the most recent version.

So yes, you should get 2-3 years use out of a phone 11.

I think the iPhone 11 will get iOS 19. I’d be quite confident in that.

 

[Andeddu]

I think the iPhone 11 will get iOS 19. I’d be quite confident in that.

Yep. It’ll have iOS 19 and then another 3 years of security updates and app support. It’ll be a viable device until late 2028.

For your note, that’s the 6S/SE finally starting to become obsolete as iOS 15 is getting ditched by numerous banking apps by late 2024. 8-9 years of solid support is still amazing though and massively consumer friendly from Apple.