Apple Announces iOS 13 Will Drop Support For Two Previous iPhone Generations
At the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California, Apple announced two new operating systems, including iOS 13, the latest edition of its platform for mobile phones. While the good news is that iOS 13 comes loaded with new features for iPhone owners, the bad news is that Apple also confirmed that the platform will not work on on the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus. This, per Forbes, marks the first time Apple is dropping support for two — as opposed to one — iPhone generations.
As further explained, Apple’s confirmation that iOS 13 won’t work on devices older than the iPhone 6s was hidden in the “small print” of the company’s media page for the new operating system. While Apple clearly states on this page that iOS 13 will come with dark mode, new photo and camera features, the new “Sign in with Apple” security feature with built-in two-factor authentication, and an “all-new” experience for the Maps app, among other additions, users would need to scroll down close to the bottom of the page, where the Availability section describes iOS 13 as a “free software update for iPhone 6s and later” that will be rolling out this fall.
According to Forbes, Apple apparently decided not to touch on iOS 13’s lack of compatibility with pre-iPhone 6s devices during Monday’s announcement at WWDC.
How to use Dark Mode on iPhone in iOS 13 https://t.co/6rDgzJqme9 by @michaelpotuck pic.twitter.com/DNnkDIuWpO
— 9to5Mac (@9to5mac) June 4, 2019
Per CNET, about 83 percent of all Apple mobile device owners were running iOS 12 as of February 24 — this means that more than four-fifths of iPhone users currently have Apple’s most recent mobile operating system on their devices. At the time those statistics were released on Apple’s development dashboard, 12 percent were still on iOS 11, while the remaining 5 percent were running older versions of the company’s platform. This, the publication stressed, is a stark contrast to how only 10 percent of Android phone users were running the latest version of Google’s mobile platform as of May 7.
Commenting on Apple’s decision to pull support for two generations of iPhone when iOS 13 rolls out later this year, Forbes wrote that it might not be too surprising that the iPhone 5s won’t be able to run the new operating system, given how it got a “reprieve” by being able to run iOS 12. However, the outlet stressed that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are still being sold through Apple’s partners in various worldwide markets, thus making it a “low blow” that the company will still be selling a model that won’t have the essential security features that iOS 13 comes with.
