Rumor: iOS 16 to drop support for iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and first-gen iPhone SE

Reports suggests iOS 16 to drop support for iphone 6s and older generation devices.
Apple will begin internally focusing on the next major update, iOS 16, as the new year begins and iOS 15.2 is launched.

Apple plans to discontinue support for the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and the original iPhone SE, according to iPhonesoft, based on information of someone running an internal seed.

The iPad mini 4, iPad Air 2, iPad (fifth-generation), and the 2015 iPad Pro devices are believed to be incompatible with iPadOS 16.

Nothing is official, of course, until Apple introduces iOS 16 at WWDC 2022.

iPhonesoft, on the other hand, has correctly reported the device matrix for iOS 13 and iOS 14 ahead of time.

Apple leads the industry in support for older mobile devices.

With iOS 15, Apple supports iPhones all the way back to the iPhone 6S, introduced in 2015. By the fall of 2022 when iOS 16 is released, that model will be seven years old.

Cutting off support for it and the first-generation iPhone SE will still mean that iOS 16 supports devices up to six years old, which is about twice what you can expect from most Android phones.

Last year, the newspaper said incorrectly that the iPhone 6s and original SE would not be able to update to iOS 15. After that, iOS 15 would support all of the same device models as iOS 14.

If today’s reports from iPhonesoft are right, iOS 16 will require an A10 chip as a minimum spec to get the latest features.

Nonetheless, this indicates an extraordinarily extended lifespan for Apple’s phones in terms of new features and bug fixes.

The iPhone 6s and iPhone SE, which are rumored to be getting dropped, were released in late 2015 and early 2016, respectively, so they’ve had more than six years of software updates.

The iPad mini 4 is the most recent device to be removed from the software upgrade roadmap, and even that tablet will be more than five years old by the time iOS 16 is released.

Apple has also stated that it will continue to support both the current and prior major versions of iOS with important security patches, extending the useable life of older devices even longer.

Customers can, for example, choose to stay on iOS 14 rather than update to iOS 15 right now.

Customers using iPhone 6s and iPhone SE will continue to receive iOS 15 security updates for several years after iOS 16 is launched in the fall of 2022, if Apple keeps its commitments.

However, it’s still too early in the rumor cycle to know what new features to anticipate in iOS 16.

In the spring, reliable reports about upcoming iOS software features start to circulate.

Apple is rumored to release a new iPhone SE in the spring with the same design as the current model.

Uh So it you’re clinging to your iPhone 6 because you love the size and the home button, you’ll be able to replace it with a much better model that will receive updates for years to come.