Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

No iOS 5 for iPhone 3GS?

Capt Underpants said:
Laziness and planned obsolescence on Apple's part. It's going to piss a lot of people off.
Click to expand...

No. It's not.

More than an even chance that Apple will continue to break records in iPhone sales.

It might piss some people off. But who cares. It's a numbers game. Apple has decided that it is advantageous as part of their strategy, and they're likely right.

We heard the same bellyaching when Apple made a similar announcement about iPhone 3G support.
 
Westside guy said:
Why would MacRumors - or anyone else - consider some random dude's tweet as having any basis behind it at all?
Click to expand...

For the same reason MacRumors and all other Mac pubs post those sporadic "Steve Jobs emails" as some sort of fact based Apple response to an issue. These sites don't actually investigate, they wait until some tidbit falls in their laps (posted elsewhere) and report it as pertinent information.
 
mabaker said:
Wonder what they will do to the iPad classic as it has only 256 MB of RAM, though? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
It's not the orignal iPad that's the glaring question. It's the 4th gen iPod Touch. If no iOS 5 support for the iPhone 3GS is due to a true technical requirement of 512MB of RAM, then even the latest iPod Touch won't make it with 256MB of RAM. I can't see Apple being that stingy with support for the 4th gen iPod Touch so RAM is not the issue.

As others have pointed out, the Apple A4 SoC in the iPhone 4, original iPad, and 4th gen iPod Touch uses the same CPU architecture Cortex A8 as the iPhone 3GS and 3rd Gen iPod Touch and the same PowerVR SGX535 GPU. The primary difference is the clock speed and 600MHz for the iPhone 3GS and 3rd gen Touch, ~800MHz for the iPhone 4 and 4th gen iPod Touch, and 1GHz for the original iPad. It's possible that Apple feels 800MHz is necessary for iOS 5 for responsiveness reasons, but really RAM is just as important here, and the 4th gen devices have a disadvantage due to the Retina Display since the GPU has to drive 4x the pixels and it isn't clocked 4 times higher.

As you say, if Apple does drop support for the iPhone 3GS in iOS 5, it's likely a product positioning decision than a technical one. The bigger issue is the lack of security updates for even recently sold iPhone 3GS since given Apple's past actions when support is dropped, I can't see them maintaining the iOS 4.x branch just to support security updates for the iPhone 3GS once iOS 5 is out.
 
pmz said:
You have absolutely, positively NO idea what you're talking about, whatsoever. Just forget about commenting on this topic, because you have nothing to offer.
Click to expand...

I just can't read his posts because I utterly loathe the character his username is based on ... ruined my damn childhood. :D
 
No iOS for 3GS

When upgrade time came around, i had a choice between the 3GS and the 4. I happened to have enough cash to choose between the two. After seeing all of the problems that had developed with most peoples 4's, that i had witnessed first hand, (BAD scratches, home button issues, reception problems, dosen't actually run that much better than the 3GS on the same version of iOS), i chose the 3GS. I'm glad i did. I like the design better (curved vs. flat, no glass back). I definately get better reception than anybody that i know that has a 4. It's my only phone so, it gets a LOT of use! If my 3GS dosen't get 5.0, so what. I'm happy with what i have. Maybe the next model will be as much of an improvement as the 3GS was over the 3G. If so, i guess that's what i will get when upgrade time rolls around again. Just my long winded 2 cents.
 
gramirez2012 said:
Not surprised. My iPhone 3G is now an expensive paperweight since installing iOS 4.
Click to expand...

Upgrade it to 4.2.1 using factory restore. Configure as a new phone - do NOT restore from backup (you can still sync your contacts, apps, etc as usual). You should find it runs a lot better. Not like a 3GS or iPhone 4, but good enough. Repeat procedure every 3-6 months as required.

Unfortunately iOS 4 on the 3G seems to slow down over time. Built in obsolescence, perhaps?
 
pmz said:
You have absolutely, positively NO idea what you're talking about, whatsoever. Just forget about commenting on this topic, because you have nothing to offer.
Click to expand...


I know the truth stings but you might as well accept it. I find it funny people are defending Apple on this.
It is more you have nothing to offer. When I see multiple people here who understand hardware a hell of a lot better than you calling out Apple on this and then examples of same hardware one gets upgraded the other does not. That is example of proof that Apple is full of crap.

I

Consultant said:
iOS 5 is not out.

3GS might be dropped when new iPhone comes out.

Upgrade cycle for Apple is over 2 years from device launch, still way longer than any competitor's.

Most with 3GS are eligible to upgrade to new iPhone when iOS 5 is upgraded. Those who bought 3GS late are not interested in the latest and greatest anyway.
Click to expand...

2 years of support my rear end. Apple really only provided 1 year of support. The other were mostly security fixes and minor things but I still only call it one year of support.
If you bought a 3GS after iPhone 4 was released you got 0 years of support. This is BS by Apple. It not the that the hardware can not support it. It is the fact that Apple is being Apple.

Another good example of proof of BS by Apple is the original iPhone could NEVER do MMS and yet people claimed that reason was because the hardware could not support it and we all know that is complete BS.
 
Popeye206 said:
Really... as long as iOS 4 keeps getting updated (like they've done with MacOSX 10.5 even though 10.6 is most current) it should be fine.
Click to expand...

Exactly! I haven't noticed the speed problems on the 3GS that others have reported, but that's mostly because I never used the 3GS before iOS 4. All I know is it runs a lot faster than my 2G does :)
But if they are going to drop support for the 3GS in iOS 5 then they should really still port security fixes to iOS 4.
 
Not surprising at all really and so what my 3Gs will not get iOS 5, I think that is more of a good thing than a bad one. The 3Gs is struggling to say the least to keep up with multitasking let alone running demanding programs such as djay. My 3Gs will just serve as 32gb ipod touch once I retire it, and become a back up if god forbid something were to happen with the 4s I will be getting.

The last thing Apple wants to do is give the user a poor experience due to hardware incapabilities. (what Microsoft does constantly...)
 
Good. Maybe iOS will get some decent features added that otherwise they couldn't do if they still had to support the 3GS.
 
I will say this now.
Mark my words iPhone4 WILL not get iOS6. Apple is setting a new standard 1 year of updates then FU.
 
pmz said:
You have absolutely, positively NO idea what you're talking about, whatsoever. Just forget about commenting on this topic, because you have nothing to offer.
Click to expand...

In order to make a statement like that, one usually expects the claimant has actual evidence to support his extreme theory.
 
Any upgrade for me will have to wait until I break my i4
I have upgraded and had every single iPhone.
This time I want to wait a little.
This phone is good. Not perfect but good.
If you have a 3GS ,.... Dont let this be the reason to jump ship.
Its still a rock solid phone and to tell you the truth, I would have been fine with that !
I say: be happy and upgrade when you see a compelling reason ,... Even if its to a different phone like HTC or something.
Dont quit out of spite.
That's just stupid.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
If you bought a 3GS after iPhone 4 was released you got 0 years of support. This is BS by Apple. It not the that the hardware can not support it. It is the fact that Apple is being Apple.

Another good example of proof of BS by Apple is the original iPhone could NEVER do MMS and yet people claimed that reason was because the hardware could not support it and we all know that is complete BS.
Click to expand...

What a waste of an upgrade, your a CHEAP consumer who just wants to be seen with the device, and you passed up the greatest phone ever made for 150$.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
chrmjenkins said:
In order to make a statement like that, one usually expects the claimant has actual evidence to support his extreme theory.
Click to expand...

I did provide a list of things backing that statement pmz just went off insulting me. the quoted post was using had a good part of it.
iPhone 1 and iPhone 3G same hardware. 3G gets update iPhone 1 does not.

3G can do MMS iPhone1 can not. Yet they have the same hardware.
It makes it REALLY hard to use the argument iPhone1 can not support the update. It is more Apple forcing obsolete.
3G no wall paper (that takes next to no system resources) and rest can. Crap like that shows that Apples "hardware" excuses has more holes in it that swiss cheese.
 
Consultant said:
Most Android devices are not supported after a FEW MONTHS. Never mind 2 years of software upgrades Apple offers.
Click to expand...

That isn't entirely true my Evo has received several updates and is getting the next major release in June. It's only a year old but more than 'a few months'.
 
if this is true

Even more fuel to the fire not renewing my contract come September. I don't like iOS 4.3 on my 3Gs anyway (seems to work better on my iPad).

While I don't agree with making hardware obsolete after 1 or 2 OS cycles, this is a common practice for Apple to phase out older hardware to get consumers to update if they want that new OS.
 
Hellhammer said:
The fact that Apple is still selling the iPhone 3GS makes this pretty ridiculous. At least 3G supported some versions of iOS 4, although it didn't get much of the new features and made it laggy as hell. Buy a brand new phone today and you won't be able to get the newest OS in few months. Well, I guess it is Apple's way to make money.
Click to expand...

This whole "Apple's goals is to screw us out of more money" meme gets really childish and old after a while.
Yes, they're a corporation with a charter to make a profit.
But either understand that Apple cuts things loose before the sludge makes their products look like Windows, or switch to a platform that aims only at the lowest common denominator.
When iOS 5 comes out, it will be along with the iPhone 5 (or 4gs), and the 3GS will NOT be being sold.

In short, I'm perfectly fine with a clearly defined limit being set to to backwards compatibility. If I want the new features, its up to me to get the hardware that will support it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back