Leaker Says iOS 27 Won't Be Compatible With These iPhones

[IceCool]

if this is true, then iOS 27 probably won’t be another iOS 12 - which really sucks.

Alternatively, iOS 27 is another iOS 12 and the leaks are wrong.

Of course, the other alternative is that both are true which would just be stupid.

 

[goobot]

SE 2 is the last 4 inch device if I remember correctly

 

[Flappy Dunk]

My favorite phone I’ve ever owned, stuck with my least favorite Apple OS I’ve ever used.

Well you could buy another one that hasn't been updated to iOS 26

 

[Flappy Dunk]

SE 2 is the last 4 inch device if I remember correctly

The last 4" iPhone is the iPhone SE 1st generation. The last 4" device is the iPod Touch 7th generation. Both have iOS 15 as their final iOS version.

The last 4.7" device is actually the 3rd-generation iPhone SE, a device that should support at least the next two major iOS versions.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

Apple usually bases its compatibility decisions on sales objectives rather than technical limitations. iOS 27 will bring nothing new, only bug fixes and improvements (in other words, what iOS 26 should have been from the start), so there is no rational explanation as to why the iPhone 11 would work with 26 but not 27.

 

[garranhado]

Tim Out!

 

[chelsel]

Don’t mind being left behind by Apple and getting stuck on iOS 26 with updates for a few years, my big complaint is developers drop support for previous iOS versions way too early while other ones still maintain support as far back as iOS 13.
My banking app is notorious and dropping compatibility if older than two versions even though their interface is just a web portal forcing you to use Safari to access your account while other apps like Telegram try to keep support for the last seven iOS releases.

I'll explain, as an app developer. Telegram wouldn't exist without their app. The bank can exist without the app. Telegram prioritizes app development. Banks don't prioritize app development and usually have a handful of people and some offshore QA maintaining an app, likely initially built by an outside consulting company that has since moved on. For most large companies that existed before apps existed, it means their business is not an app, and the app is a 2nd class citizen, usually behind the website.

 

[svish]

Even the newer iPhones (except the 17 series) might not be getting all the new Apple Intelligence features.

 

[dwhankner]

Apple needs a 4th gen SE phone. Love the small size

 

[Moukee]

I love when people complain about 7 year old devices not getting the latest OS, as if their hardware is rendered useless now. 7 years is a long time, and why should they hold features for users that are happy with their devices as they are? And then people complain that Apple isn’t pushing boundaries enough jfc.

I rarely see people complaining about Apple not pushing boundaries enough. In these forums I mostly read that people want a more stable, less buggy experience.

It's perfectly valid to complain about devices not being supported for longer when they definitely could be. It's just wasteful when it needn't be. Sure, apps will still run on older OS versions for a couple of years, but it only goes downhill from there. In the case of iOS 26, it's honestly even more understandable because it's still pretty rough around the edges (ymmv). I can understand people being neutral towards dropped support, but "loving" that people complain about it is just odd to me.

 

[Manatlt]

This is hardly a "leak". This is Apple continuing to do what they've done for every iPhone starting with the 6s: Provide 7 years of OS Support*.

Since iOS 26 is the 7th year for the 11 and SE (2nd ED), those are exactly the phones for which it's expected support will be dropped with iOS 27.

Indeed, based on this, I can provide an even bigger "leak":

iOS 27 (Fall 2026): drops iPhone 11 and SE (2nd ED)
iOS 28 (Fall 2027): drops iPhone 12
iOS 29 (Fall 2028): drops iPhone 13 and SE (3rd ED)
iOS 30 (Fall 2029): drops iPhone 14
iOS 31 (Fall 2030): drops iPhone 15
and so on.....

*Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_version_history#Hardware_support

But the iPhone 14 shares the same chip as the iPhone 13 and SE 3rd (A15 Bionic).

Because of this, I honestly think the iPhone 13 and SE 3rd will have an extra year of support up to iOS 30. Especially SE 3rd was literally on sale by Apple early 2025.

 

[theorist9]

But the iPhone 14 shares the same chip as the iPhone 13 and SE 3rd (A15 Bionic).

Because of this, I honestly think the iPhone 13 and SE 3rd will have an extra year of support up to iOS 30. Especially SE 3rd was literally on sale by Apple early 2025.

That's an excellent point—starting with the A15, they've been splitting chips across two different generations of phones, which does complicate things.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts the cessation of support: Will they base it on phone generation, or on chip generation?

 

[yoheywut]

Aaannnd this was wrong

 

[Eric_WVGG]

for a company that’s constantly accused of indulging in planned obsolescence, they’re strangely bad at it…

 

[sublunar]

That's an excellent point—starting with the A15, they've been splitting chips across two different generations of phones, which does complicate things.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts the cessation of support: Will they base it on phone generation, or on chip generation?

Look at what they just did to Apple Watches....

They are allowing the Apple Watch Ultra 2 which has an S9 CPU but everything else below that is gone. Presume the outrage from losing support from a hugely expensive watch that was released in September 2023 and available on sale till September 2025 (yes, less than a year ago!) would have been too much.

Mind you, the Ultra 1 was only released the year before in 2022 and obviously people could have been buying it till September 2023.

Makes you wonder if support will be ending differently for different models of the same generation (eg Pro versions of phones get an extra year because they came with the 'later' chip).

And what happens when the iPhone 18 gets launched 6 months after the 18 Pro and potentially with a lower level chip?

Seems very balkanised and would be better for Apple to at least make a pretence of making tiered support - eg 18 series gets more binned chips for non pro models rather than using the last generation.

 

[theorist9]

Look at what they just did to Apple Watches....

They are allowing the Apple Watch Ultra 2 which has an S9 CPU but everything else below that is gone. Presume the outrage from losing support from a hugely expensive watch that was released in September 2023 and available on sale till September 2025 (yes, less than a year ago!) would have been too much.

Mind you, the Ultra 1 was only released the year before in 2022 and obviously people could have been buying it till September 2023.

Makes you wonder if support will be ending differently for different models of the same generation (eg Pro versions of phones get an extra year because they came with the 'later' chip).

And what happens when the iPhone 18 gets launched 6 months after the 18 Pro and potentially with a lower level chip?

Seems very balkanised and would be better for Apple to at least make a pretence of making tiered support - eg 18 series gets more binned chips for non pro models rather than using the last generation.

At the end of that thread one poster with an Ultra 1 says they do have the option to update to watchOS 27. So it appears at least some of what MR posted was incorrect.

 

[sublunar]

At the end of that thread one poster with an Ultra 1 says they do have the option to update to watchOS 27. So it appears at least some of what MR posted was incorrect.

Some accuracy issues with the iPad post too - whatever happened to check twice, post once? 😛