A new report by iPhoneSoft suggests that the next update to Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 16, could eliminate support for the original iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 6s Plus. The original iPhone SE was released in March 2016, while the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus were both released in September 2015.
On the tablet side, iPadOS 16 will not support iPad mini 4, iPad Air 2, iPad (fifth-generation), and the 2015 iPad Pro models.
These iPhones and iPads may not get iOS 16 next year
Apple typically supports its devices for several years so the latest features are available on older models. But, there does come a point where the company has to end support for models it considers as being too old since new iOS updates can be too much for old hardware to handle.
Keep in mind nothing is official until Apple announces iOS 16 at WWDC 2022. And although the French site iPhoneSoft has previously correctly reported the device matrix for iOS 13 and iOS 14, the publication was incorrect this year when it suggested that iOS 15 would not support iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 6s Plus. iOS 15 was announced at WWDC 21 with support for the same models as iOS 14.
Here is a list of devices that might get dropped:
- iPhone 6s (2015)
- iPhone 6s Plus (2015)
- iPhone SE (2016)
- iPhone mini 4 (2015)
- iPad Air 2 (2014)
- iPad 5 (2017)
If the report is accurate, we can presume that iOS 16 would require A10 chips as the minimum requirement for the build. Even if the rumored iPhone 6s and iPhone SE are supposedly dropped with the release of iOS 16, they still received more than six years of regular software updates.
Even after dropping devices from a software update roadmap, Apple continues to support the current and previous versions of iOS with important security patches to help extend the life of older iPhones and iPads for users. Therefore, customers should not be worried about upgrading immediately after iOS 16 is released in the fall of 2022 because they will likely continue to receive iOS 15 security updates for several years.
