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Ask HN: Why can't older iPhones be upgraded to the latest iOS versions?

2 pointsby thatwasunusualover 2 years ago
What stuff in iOS 13.x+ is so magic that it isn&#x27;t compatible with older iPhone versions?<p>I still have an iPhone 6 that does what it&#x27;s supposed to do.

3 comments

sysadm1nover 2 years ago
Apps stop supporting older&#x2F;legacy devices because of all the new hardware&#x2F;software improvements. If you&#x27;re lucky, some apps will be backwards compatible and will run on older iOS releases, but that&#x27;s rare.<p>I have several apps that prompted me to upgrade my phone because they no longer support such and such iOS version. Some of them still work in legacy mode though.<p>But this is just planned obsolescence[0] in action.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Planned_obsolescence" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Planned_obsolescence</a>
gjsman-1000over 2 years ago
Your iPhone 6 was released in 2014. It&#x27;s now 2023.<p>It&#x27;s like asking what&#x27;s so special about Windows 11 that can&#x27;t run on my Gateway from 2012. Except that far more smartphone innovation has occurred in the last decade than computer innovation, so make it a netbook from 2008.
mattlover 2 years ago
RAM. Devices with less than 2GB RAM were dropped.