Apple has published the list of smartphones and tablets that will not be compatible with iOS 16. As expected, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are not included, like the iPod Touch. But the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus aren’t there either, while equally powerful tablets will get the update. For two days, Apple customers have been castigating the brand on social networks.
Although it is much later than in the Android ecosystem, obsolescence also exist at Apple. Older iPhones are regularly left by the side of the update road. Why ? The official reason generally mentioned is this: their technical performance is too weak to ensure a qualitative overall experience.
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Take the example of the iPhone 6s (and its Plus version), the latest model to feature a 3.5 mm jack port and a mechanical Touch ID button. It was launched commercially in 2015. It has not been produced since 2018. But it still benefits from updates: it can run on iOS 15.5, the latest version of the iPhone operating system. And we are in 2022. Which 2015 smartphone can boast of receiving software updates seven years after its launch ?
Apple is dropping updates on six devices including the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
It was therefore expected that Apple would abandon the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus when the firm announced the arrival of iOS 16. And this was the case: we have published the list of Apple terminals that will be able to install this version when it is released next September (or in beta version next month). And iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are not there. But these are not the only absentees. We also find there the iPhone SE first generation (it’s not really a surprise), the last generation ofiPod Touch and… iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
Released in 2016 and equipped with an A10 Fusion chip, these two smartphones will not go under iOS 16. They will remain under iOS 15 and will not be able to benefit from the many advantages of the next iteration of the operating system, in particular this screen highly customizable lock (and slightly inspired by Android 12). They also won’t have access to iMessage editing tools, which is sorely lacking right now. And of course, it doesn’t fit.
Anger of iPhone 7 and 7 Plus users are rumbling on the internet
Indeed, many users of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus have spoken on social networks, especially on Twitter, to castigate the American brand. They don’t understand why Apple made this decision. Especially since some Apple products, with very similar or even identical components, will be able to benefit from it. This is the case of the fifth, sixth and seventh generations of iPad. They will all move to iPadOS 16, an iOS derivative. This therefore invalidates, in part, the theory that the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are no longer powerful enough.
Some users, cynical, claim that this is a basely financial decision. And that’s certainly not wrong. First, adapting iOS 16 to the A10 Fusion costs time and money. Then, Apple would certainly prefer that the users of these two iPhones renew their phone (and preferably at Apple). Remember that Apple’s forecast for iPhone sales in 2022 would be 20 million lower than in 2021. This is a shocking argument for shareholders.
