Other What have you done with a pre iOS 26 compatible iPhone

[turbineseaplane]

The original iPhone SE is easily my favourite iPhone of all time. It packed nearly all the key features of the 6S into that compact, classic design, the incredibly fast (for its era) A9 chip, Apple Pay support, and the same 12MP rear camera, etc... It was the perfect blend of power, portability, and timeless design.

Same here.

I still use SE1s each day for podcasts/yt audio by my bedside and walks in the summer (hot, in shorts, need light, small, thin, disappear in pocket)

 

[Andeddu]

Here you go! Also for you @Andeddu.

This one, however, does not match what you like about the iPhone being “flawless”. It has a slight crack which you can’t feel in the bottom left corner, courtesy of the previous owner (as I said, the only iPhone I damaged is a 5s).

The damage you mentioned may preclude your 8 from being a true collector’s piece, but it’s still a solid workhorse of a device!

 

[rui no onna]

I still use SE1s each day for podcasts/yt audio by my bedside and walks in the summer (hot, in shorts, need light, small, thin, disappear in pocket)

I just unearthed our old SE1s and battery is shot on most of them - random shutdowns, would go from 100% to 0% in a minute and then back to 99% after restart, etc.

 

[goldmac2006]

Yeah, I would’ve welcomed the addition of some features with Haptic Touch for all iPhones with no 3D Touch. But they shouldn’t be engaged in the malicious obsolescence of hardware pressure sensitivity by killing it.

Sure, it was mostly unused (I think that’s partly why they discontinued it), but still, they should’ve “respected” their own work more. They developed a pretty cool system from the ground up… only to kill it for… what? So their latest iPhone wouldn’t feel inferior? Ridiculous.

3D Touch is one my favourite iPhone hardware features of all time, if not my favourite by itself.

I like this iPhone so much that if compatibility were complete, I would happily use it as a main iPhone.

I’d lose the camera improvements and the battery life: I’d tolerate those. Battery life is like-new on iOS 10, which means that it is very good with light use but collapses with heavy use.

Outdoor brightness, cellular use with camera and the device drops very quickly, unlike my 16 Plus. That would be the toughest part. And yes, maybe the camera, too. But still, I’d give it a shot.

Sadly, iOS 10 is no longer useful as a main iPhone.

Yeah, I love that website. And that feature was quite revolutionary when it came out.

Most people agreed that it wasn’t used enough, but we expected it to be featured everywhere with iOS 10. It wasn’t. The keyboard hard press to activate the cursor (anywhere, as now it is a long press on the space bar) was very useful.

Also, it has a very cool battery life page, even if it has its drawbacks. It counts usage since last full charge. Infinitely better than the garbage they added to iOS 26.

If it were remotely compatible, I’d use it for as many tasks as I could. Compatibility was reduced too much by 2022. It hasn’t been used much since then.

The Music app has some issues on iOS 10.0 (for some reason, it keeps deleting downloaded music by itself and it fails to start downloading songs sometimes) and as much as it pains me to say it, my 6s on iOS 13’s Music app is far more stable, even if the phone itself is garbage.

Considering compatibility isn’t the best, it remains and will remain unused, even if it is my favourite iPhone ever.

I wish Apple hadn’t forced my other 6s out of iOS 9.

iPhone 6s was a really cool iPhone release by far in the 2010s, asides the iPhone X and iPhone XS. The Taptic Engine I agree with your statement as  should have kept 3D Touch instead of replacing it with some sort of other kind of haptic feedback mechanism, that took away from feeling the intensities of it.

And of course iOS 9 can’t be on a daily iPhone… many apps can’t work anymore and also there’s sometimes activation issues.

I usually buy my iPhones directly from the Apple Store, that’s how I picked up my 6S, 8, 12 Mini, and 17 Pro. The 13 was the only exception, since the 14 had already launched and the carrier was offering me a solid deal. As for the OGSE, I had to turn to eBay because Apple had discontinued it about three years earlier and no shops were selling new units anymore. I was determined to get a brand new one, so I spent a week constantly refreshing listings until I finally tracked one down.

iOS 26.1 is being touted as a major step up from iOS 26, with better efficiency and far fewer bugs. Personally, I thought iOS 26 ran smoothly on my 13. I never had any complaints, even with battery life.

The 17 Pro, though, is a beast when it comes to gaming. That’s the main reason I upgraded from the 13. Its A19 Pro chip sits above the M2 and just below the M3, making it an ideal gaming machine if you don’t mind the smaller screen. I didn’t experience a single framerate drop in Resident Evil 2 (2019) during the 12 hours it took me to finish, or in the 10+ hours I’ve put into Death Stranding. Even during a gruelling 90 minute session with no breaks, the A19 Pro held steady without dropping frames. I will likely require a battery service around the 2 year mark because gaming is really rough on the battery.

I usually only buy a new iPhone when an older model is no longer compatible with iOS updates. However, in January, I made an exception and upgraded from a second-hand iPhone XR from a family member to the iPhone 15 Pro Blue as a late holiday gift. The white iPhone XR belonged to my aunt, and I gave it to my mum after upgrading to the 15 Pro, which I acquired at a great deal on eBay.

By the way, Apple stopped selling the 15 Pro at its stores that time, but eBay remains a reliable source for purchasing Pro iPhones, even new models or units, if they had been discontinued. Just make sure to buy it from a reputable seller that has good feedback.

My 15 Pro is also excellent for playing Apple Arcade and Roblox on the go. While I still primarily play Roblox games on my MacBook Pro M4 Pro, some games that require significant rendering, such as Theme Park Tycoon 2, necessitate the cooling system and fans, as well as the enhanced M4 Pro chip, for smoother gameplay. Consequently, any games that I find uncomfortable playing on my iPhone are instead played on my MacBook Pro. I typically play Roblox games for about 90 minutes to two hours daily, primarily engaging in one or two different games. I’ve learned my lesson that playing games excessively and engaging in slot games caused throttling, heat issues, and a significant decrease in battery life on my iPhone 7.