Final Update? | First-Gen iPhone SE, iPhone 6s to Block iOS 16 Support

It’s been a long time coming, but it seems like Apple will finally drop support for older iPhones with iOS 16.

According to a new report by iPhoneSoft, someone who has an internal seed says that Apple will stop supporting the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and the first-generation iPhone SE when iOS 16 comes out next year. Those aren’t the only affected devices, though.

The same rumor suggests that iPadOS 16 will drop support for the iPad mini 4, iPad Air 2, the fifth-generation iPad, and all iPad Pro models from 2015. 

It’s worth noting that you should take this with a grain of salt. Many rumors pointed out that iOS 14 would drop support for the iPhone 6s and iPhone SE. The same rumors came back with iOS 15. 

We’ll still have to wait for Apple to confirm this, which will likely happen during the 2022 Worldwide Developers Conference. Still, the company promised that it would continue to bring security updates to previous iOS versions. So if you have iOS 14, you can decide if you want to update to iOS 15 or just receive security updates for the older software. 

It seems like Apple will continue this trend and provide support for older devices, which will also include older iPhones and iPads running iOS 15 or iPadOS 15.

If the rumor ends up being true, this will prove that iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 need at least an A10 Fusion chip to support the future software update. Not only that, but this shows that Apple devices might support future software updates for up to five or even six years, making it easier to keep older devices instead of upgrading every other year. 

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]