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iPhone 6(S)/Plus Will the iPhone 6 support iOS 13?

C

CT30

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 15, 2018
22
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When iOS 13 comes out next year (September-October 2019), do you think the iPhone 6 will be able to use that or will iOS updates for the 6 be cut off at 12.something?


IIRC, the release of iOS 12 a few months ago didn't 'cut off' support for any phones. I think Apple may stop supporting the 5S with updates when iOS 13 is released but I'm not sure about the 6.
 
CT30 said:
When iOS 13 comes out next year (September-October 2019), do you think the iPhone 6 will be able to use that or will iOS updates for the 6 be cut off at 12.something?


IIRC, the release of iOS 12 a few months ago didn't 'cut off' support for any phones. I think Apple may stop supporting the 5S with updates when iOS 13 is released but I'm not sure about the 6.
Click to expand...

I don’t think it will. If it does support iOS 13, I doubt it will be an ‘Over the air’ update, it might have to be installed via iTunes.
 
iOS 12 will be the end of iOS support for A8 devices I believe. A8 is not that powerful after all. A9 could hold another year or two, given the stagnated improvements of iOS over the past few years.
 
CT30 said:
When iOS 13 comes out next year (September-October 2019), do you think the iPhone 6 will be able to use that or will iOS updates for the 6 be cut off at 12.something?


IIRC, the release of iOS 12 a few months ago didn't 'cut off' support for any phones. I think Apple may stop supporting the 5S with updates when iOS 13 is released but I'm not sure about the 6.
Click to expand...
It would be somewhat odd to cut off 5s and 6 at the same time. That said, no one can even really guess meaningfully one way or another.
 
If I had to take a guess. I would say iOS 12 is the end of the line for all 1Gb RAM devices. iPhone 5s and 6 included. But not end for all A8 devices. As the iPad Air 2 and Mini 4 both have an A8 but with 2GB of RAM in them. They still run very smooth. Particularly the triple core A8X in the Air 2. I can tell almost no difference between it and a newer 5th/6th gen iPad. Other than the screen looking nicer actually.

I’d expect A9 and up to keep on for a couple more years easily.

Better to leave on a high note instead of some laggy version of iOS that never should have been released for it in the first place. iOS 4 on the iPhone 3G is a good example. Even iOS 7 on the iPhone 4 was rather poor.
 
I suspect it will, as HomePod is effectively an iPhone 6 that runs iOS without a display attached. iPhone 6 is still being manufactured new for markets like India. iOS 13 is supposed to be heavy on features for iPad so there may not be many changes for iPhone.
 
Shirasaki said:
iOS 12 will be the end of iOS support for A8 devices I believe. A8 is not that powerful after all. A9 could hold another year or two, given the stagnated improvements of iOS over the past few years.
Click to expand...

The A8 powers the Homepod and previous generation of Apple TV, my guess is support for it sticks around a bit longer.
 
It would be odd for Apple to quit support on iOS 13 for both the 5s and the 6, but wouldn't it be the most sensible thing to do?
I'd rather Apple quit support earlier - one or two years early - and leave the device on an iOS version that works decently (so far, I believe the only case was the iPhone 5 and 5c, which work fine on iOS 10), rather than take it as far as possible and cripple them irreversibly.
That said, I doubt the 6+ especially can support iOS 13 perfectly, hence why I think it would be better for it to be cut off.
 
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I'm going with "no" as well.

2019 will be end-of-support for the hardware, as Apple tends to drop hardware after five years. And iOS 12 is 5th OS for the hardware, where again, Apple tends to only go five OS versions for specific hardware, particularly iOS devices (yes, there are some cases where an extra major version or two was released for specific hw).
 
I'd say iOS12 will be the end of support for the 5S, 6/6+.. 1gb of ram just won't cut it especially if iOS13 brings added functions/features or possibly even a fresh new design. iOS12 has given those older phones a good OS to end on and carry them for a couple more years with decent performance.
 
I don’t think it will be supported and honestly it’s about time.

iOS 12 is leaps and bounds better for older devices. And there’s no point in giving them any new features.
 
If they only have 1GB of RAM, this is likely the end. Best not to push them further, remember iOS 7 on the iPhone 4 and what a disaster that was. The 6S, Air 2, Mini 4, SE, etc. still have several years ahead of them thanks to their upgraded RAM.
 
Silver Idaten said:
If they only have 1GB of RAM, this is likely the end. Best not to push them further, remember iOS 7 on the iPhone 4 and what a disaster that was. The 6S, Air 2, Mini 4, SE, etc. still have several years ahead of them thanks to their upgraded RAM.
Click to expand...

Sorry, your logic is flawed. iPhone 4S had 512MB of RAM, the same as iPhone 4.

The problem is the processor, as always.
 
I think the iPhone 6 will get iOS 13. It's got an A8 chip (currently used in the 2017 HomePod) with 2 billion transistors as well as 50% faster GPU and 25% faster CPU performance than the 1 billion transistor A7 chip in iPhone 5s. 802.11ac wi-fi is another feature lacking in the 5s but ever-present in the iPhone 6.

Have you considered that maybe all the 64-bit (A7 and A8) chips with a minimum clock speed of 1.4GHz could get an extra year of support? This would mean the iPhone 5s and iPad mini 2 and 3 would be the only devices to lose support next year...
 
Shirasaki said:
iOS 12 will be the end of iOS support for A8 devices I believe. A8 is not that powerful after all. A9 could hold another year or two, given the stagnated improvements of iOS over the past few years.
Click to expand...
TrueLaLey Sister, So True and i agree with you. Look at the iPhone 4 it lacks ram on iOS 7 even it has the SAME RAM as iPhone 4S both 4 and 4/s are both 512MB Ram. I didn't know why 4S still manage to get iOS 9 even it has 512MB Ram like the 4.

I realize, in Apple it doesn't matter if the device has more ram. In Apple, the newer the device is, even the specs is only slightly better than its predecessor (Like the iPad 3 it didn't get iOS 10 even it has 1GB RAM just like the iPhone 5 and 5S witch gets the iOS 10 even if they are getting slower..) the longer it will still be getting supported.

So i guess, if we base on performance even the 5S will get iOS 13 (since the 5s still fast)
 
Vivian125 said:
TrueLaLey Sister, So True and i agree with you. Look at the iPhone 4 it lacks ram on iOS 7 even it has the SAME RAM as iPhone 4S both 4 and 4/s are both 512MB Ram. I didn't know why 4S still manage to get iOS 9 even it has 512MB Ram like the 4.

I realize, in Apple it doesn't matter if the device has more ram. In Apple, the newer the device is, even the specs is only slightly better than its predecessor (Like the iPad 3 it didn't get iOS 10 even it has 1GB RAM just like the iPhone 5 and 5S witch gets the iOS 10 even if they are getting slower..) the longer it will still be getting supported.

So i guess, if we base on performance even the 5S will get iOS 13 (since the 5s still fast)
Click to expand...

iPhone 4 had a single-core CPU (Apple A4 SoC). iPhone 4s had a dual-core CPU & GPU (Apple A5 SoC). The iPhone 4s also had ~ 7× faster graphics performance than iPhone 4.

The Apple A5X chip (in iPad 3) had a much lower clock speed than Apple A6X (in iPad 4). In fact, iPad 3's CPU performance was the same as iPad 2. The iPad 3 had more ram and 2 extra GPU cores to compensate for the Retina display. Hardly any intrinsic improvement over iPad 2 at all.

As for the iPhone 5s, it won't be getting iOS 13. No Apple A7 devices are currently sold by Apple. The HomePod (with an Apple A8 SoC possessing 1GB RAM) was released late last year, so we can assume it will receive updates at least until sometime in 2020.
 
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Maybe I’m wrong but wouldn’t iOS updates continue on iPhone 6 and up until 64 bit is no longer supported in iOS updates itself?

Until 128 bit comes out, the 6 may be in line for quite a bit of updates before Apple stops support and when it does that will happen to ALL 64 bit processors I’m assuming. Kind of like when Apple stopped 32 bit support with 10.3.2 iOS on the 5 which happened 5 years later after 64 bit came out.
 
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Given that the 5s supports iOS 12 and by most accounts older devices enjoyed improved performance rather than diminished on the current OS, I think that the 6 will go for at least another year.
 
I think it's possible that the 6 may get iOS 13 but I wouldn't count on it. I think it depends a lot on what iOS 13 will be like. If it is a big update it may want more RAM or better CPU/GPU performance for smooth operation.

If Apple manages to improve performance even more from 12 or even just keeping it in line with iOS 12 it would be possible. The question is if they deem it worth to spend resources on testing and development for it given it may struggle with performance. It's not that much faster than the 5S after all.
 
I think iOS 13 will be the last update. The 5S and the other A7 devices got iOS 12. I think the cut off point will be A8 this year.
 
If iOS 13 drop anything, it would be the A7 first, as iOS 12 saved it from being dropped.
Apple usually drop support by the chip. A8 is in the HomePod and non4K AppleTV, always I would say it will still be supported. That doesn’t say that their performance will be great. iPhone 6/6 Plus will probably the one the suffer the most on iOS 13. I mean I’m not too sure my A9 would get a nice treatment either.

iOS 12 was an “anomaly” thanks to the botched iOS 11. If we go back to status quo with iOS 13, we can expect A7 to be dropped, A8 onward continue to be supported, and iPhone 6/6 Plus will have the worst user experience amongst all iOS 13 devices.
 
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