Today Apple announced the new iOS 13 operating system update for iPhones. Among the feature updates of the new OS which we’ll cover in a separate article, Apple is dropping support for several older generation devices.

For iOS 13, it looks like Apple is dropping support for devices older than the iPhone 6S. In general it looks like any past generation device with 1GB of RAM will no longer be supported and will not receive the iOS 13 update.

Apple has also announced that it’s forking the OS for tablet devices into a different OS: iPadOS. Here also Apple is dropping support for legacy devices, and similarly it is dropping support for devices with 1GB or less of RAM, only supporting models starting with the 5th generation iPad, the iPad Mini 4 and the iPad Air 2, obviously also including all newer iPad Pros.

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  • Samus - Monday, June 3, 2019 - link

    Looks like people are going to finally need to upgrade their 5 year old iPhone 6’s, even after they got a new battery last year for $29 :P
  • Jumangi - Monday, June 3, 2019 - link

    Woohoo. My good ole Air 2 still good for updates.
  • michael2k - Monday, June 3, 2019 - link

    Their Planned Obsolescence Master Plan is working overtime. I was hoping the iPhone 6 gets one more year, though I expected the 5S to be retired.
  • drothgery - Monday, June 3, 2019 - link

    I'm somewhat annoyed Apple hasn't released a true successor for my iPhone SE as it seems likely it will be in the next group to lose support, but no one other than Apple would even think of producing updates for a phone for five years.
  • quiksilvr - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link

    Unfortunately the iPhone XR is the new SE.
  • michael2k - Wednesday, June 5, 2019 - link

    I'm hoping they release an iPhone XE
  • QinX - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link

    Nothing is stopping you from using the iPhone 6 with iOS 12 for another year.
  • sonny73n - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link

    I have an iPhone 6s which I accidentally updated to iOS 12 from iOS 9. I don’t give a damn about iOS 13 or 30. I just want a chance to downgrade it back to iOS 9.
  • ikjadoon - Monday, June 3, 2019 - link

    Five years of dedicated operating system feature and security updates of any consumer device is absolutely commendable.

    It's weird how Apple's so anti-repair, but willing to go above and beyond for software & security support.
  • Lakados - Monday, June 3, 2019 - link

    Apple isn't exactly "anti-repair" They are anti self-repair, there is a difference. Apple is more than happy to fix your phone IF you have the apple care warranty for a semi reasonable price tag. Outside that though and you are in for a rough time.

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