With WWDC 2022 Launching Monday (June 6), we’ll most likely get our first look at a new version of iOS that will launch alongside the iPhone 14 in autumn.
Whereas iOS16 rumors are somewhat thin on the ground at the moment, according to the rumor iOS 16 features suggest that we will look for improvements to the lock screen, notificationsAR/VR integration and more health tracking capabilities.
But each iteration of iOS requires heavier processing, which some handsets inevitably have to miss. Apple has a very good track record of long-term handset support – iOS 15 supports phones first released in 2015, for example, but there are limitations. With that in mind, we suspect the following iPhones will be limited to iOS 15 for the rest of their working lives.
iPhone 6S and 6S Plus
Virtually old in smartphone terms, the iPhone 6s and larger 6s Plus launched in September 2015 when Barack Obama was still in the White House, AirPods didn’t exist and the first-generation Apple Watch was just six months old.
Both of these phones launched with iOS 9 and were discontinued for almost four years. So the end of support shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. The iPhone 6s family has indeed done very well.
iPhone SE (2016)
Although seven months younger than the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, the original iPhone SE actually uses the same Apple A9 chipset and 2GB of RAM.
In other words, if the 6s goes, so does the first-gen SE. But the good news is that the two new iterations should be safe for quite some time, given the iPhone SE versions launching in 2020 and this year, respectively. The iPhone SE 2022 even has the same A15 Bionic processor that powers Apple’s most expensive iPhone 13 range, so it’s going to be supported for a while.
Which iPhones will get iOS 16?
If these are indeed the only three iPhones to miss the upgrade to iOS 16, then by process of elimination these handsets will all be eligible:
- iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
- iPhone 8 and 8 Plus
- iPhone X
- iPhone SE (2020)
- iPhone XS and XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone 11, 11 Proand 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, 12 Proand 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13 miniiPhone 13, 13 Proand 13 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (2022)
- iPhone 14iPhone 14 Max, 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max
If your iPhone is eligible to download iOS 16, then Apple must be confident in its usability. But if you have one of the older models, we suggest you buy one of the best iPhones to replace your current handset or decide if it makes more sense to wait for iPhone 14 this autumn.
What about iPads?
Although iPads technically use a different operating system – iPadOS – it’s a very close relative to iOS and will almost certainly be upgraded this fall to iPadOS 16. With iPadOS 15, support has gone even further than iOS 15 with the older iPad Air 2 from 2014 eligible for the upgrade.
This time, we suspect several tablets won’t. Not only is the iPad Air 2 about to run out, but we also bet the 5th Gen iPad, 4th Gen iPad mini, and maybe even the original 2015 iPad Pro might be too slow. to make the cut.
We’ll likely find out if all of those assumptions are correct at next week’s Apple Developer Conference. Here is how to watch WWDC 2022 if you want to connect live.
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