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Disappointed that my series 5 didn't make the cut. Bought it when the the series 6 came out. And it still does everything I need it to do. Am probably going to keep wearing it until it becomes obsolete and/or just stops working.
 
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I don't see a big issue here. I am an S4 owner and the battery life is bad now, I don't find a battery replacement economical. It does run os10 reasonably well though.

Since I use it to tell the time, get sports results and track activity, I am not upset.

As a security professional, I don't find the attack surface of the watch to be anything significant, it's fronted after all by an iPhone 15 Pro......
 
What really stinks is that Apple keeps the (year or 2) older models around at a discounted price to rake in more money. They know these won't be getting the same support as the current model.

I like to keep my devices for as long as possible...so I won't be buying older models anymore.
 
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Expect this logic is flawed, because the iPad 7 (A10, 3GB RAM) is still supported, which is a cheaper version of the iPad Pro 10.5 (A10X, 4GB RAM), which is cut-off.
I guess the RAM isn’t the issue when cutting off support for Apple devices.
 
I wisj my Watch S5 could go back to running Watch OS9. Battery life was much better then
 
What really stinks is that Apple keeps the (year or 2) older models around at a discounted price to rake in more money. They know these won't be getting the same support as the current model.

I like to keep my devices for as long as possible...so I won't be buying older models anymore.
Apple keeps old models around because there are no development costs and they can price them cheaper for those who dont want to pay more.

Of course there are going to be longer term issues with upgrades and support.

But they will still work (usually) and you got good value for your purchase.
 
My wife has an 1st gen SE from late 2020 so this is kind of disappointing. We both thought it would be supported for longer.
You might be better off that it doesnt upgrade and degrade battery life.
It will still keep working fine without new OS.
 
We bought our daughter a SE when we bought ourselves a 7, meaning just 2.5 years ago. And now it won’t get the update? WTH?
they watches dont stop working. They just wont run the latest OS.
Would you prefer they put new more demanding software on that impacted battery life?
 
Disappointed that my series 5 didn't make the cut. Bought it when the the series 6 came out. And it still does everything I need it to do. Am probably going to keep wearing it until it becomes obsolete and/or just stops working.
my S3 watch runs longer each day than my S5 one because the 3 doesnt have OS 9 on it...
 
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they watches dont stop working. They just wont run the latest OS.
Would you prefer they put new more demanding software on that impacted battery life?
I never mentioned a concern that it would stop working.

To answer your question I would prefer my daughter's watch to get the latest OS update that addresses bugs, which in-turn increases battery life, and ensures that it is as secure as can be. I would prefer they stop selling products that will only receive only two updates.
 


As was rumored, watchOS 11 drops support for the Apple Watch Series 4, Apple Watch Series 5, and first-generation Apple Watch SE, according to Apple's website.

apple-watch-series-4-flames.jpg

The update is compatible with all other models, including the Apple Watch Series 6 and beyond:

  • Apple Watch SE (2nd generation)
    Apple Watch Series 6
  • Apple Watch Series 7
  • Apple Watch Series 8
  • Apple Watch Series 9
  • Apple Watch Ultra
  • Apple Watch Ultra 2

Even though the Series 5 has an S5 chip, it has the same processor as the S4 chip in the Series 4, so it is not too surprising that Apple dropped support for these models simultaneously. Key changes with the Series 5 compared to the Series 4 included an always-on display option, increased storage, and a compass.

watchOS 11 continues to work with a paired iPhone XS or newer. A developer beta is available starting today, and a public beta will follow in July.

The general public can expect watchOS 11 to be released in September.

Article Link: watchOS 11 Drops Support for These Apple Watch Models
Series 5 hasn't been worn for a while since switching to Garmin for battery life and let a family member use. So decided to pair which involved an update and to my surprise the update came out 7 HOURS! Not to my surprise it hasn't taken that long but telling the owner you won't be able to use your watch for 7 hours is ATROCIOUS!
 
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Programmed obsolescence seems to be the key feature...
Notwithstanding whatever perceived upgrades / features are involved with Watch OS11. The main concern is that battery life is horrible after OS9 = not that it was great under previous iterations.
Also of note that application developers tend to discontinue support of older generation OSs too.
Better battery life and less "features"....for me
 
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