[bodonnell2]

What does everyone think will be the supported devices on iOS 10? I can see it going one of 3 ways...

1. No devices dropped from support this year, all devices with an A5 or newer are supported
2. Support for all A6 based devices and newer meaning support would be dropped for all A5 devices (iPhone 4s, iPad 2 & 3, 1st generation iPad mini and 5th generation iPod Touch)
3. Support for only 64 bit iOS devices (A7 and newer)

Given Apple's history I feel like option 3 is the most likely, but perhaps precedent has been set by supporting the iPhone 4s (and iPad 2) for 5 years and Apple will need to continue that trend? Thoughts?

[Just_Me_D]

To be honest, I haven't given any thought whatsoever. Having said that, if I were to *guess*, I'd say option 2, but again, that's just a guess.

[taz323]

Just guessing, option 2.

[pr1nce]

Maybe option 2.

[Ledsteplin]

2.
The 5 should get it one more time. iOS 11...nah.

[jroto]

A5 should have been gone last year. I think option 3 is more likely myself.

[bodonnell2]

Apple has for the last few generations supported devices with the latest iOS if they were still being sold new within the last year, so A5 based were still supported with iOS 9 since the 1st gen iPad Mini and 5th gen iPad touch (both A5 based devices) were still being sold at the Apple store until mid 2015. Since Apple still needed to support those devices continuing to support the iPad 2 and iPhone 4s made sense (since they had mostly the same internals). This year Apple isn't selling anything that has a chip older than the A7 (beside the 3rd gen Apple TV, but it runs a branched version of iOS anyway) so it is quite plausible that Apple will drop everything with a chip older than the A7. This also gives them the advantage of making iOS 10 64 bit only and only supporting devices will have Rogue based GPUs that support Metal.

However, I can also see Apple giving A6 devices one more year of support since the iPhone 4s received an extra year compared to the 4 and 3gs...

Option 1 seems pretty unlikely to me, but Apple has been breaking from tradition as of late so we could be surprised.

[pkcable]

You know what you do if you have an older device? Just keep it on it's working OS and continue to use it. My ex's parents still use an iPad 1 I gave them way back when. (I think they still use it, I have not spoken to her in a while)

[bodonnell2]

Indeed! I just like to speculate about what is coming next really. I upgraded my iPhone last fall so it should be supported for a few years yet regardless.

In terms of using an older device it really depends on what you use the older device for. I do have an older iPod touch (4th gen, running iOS 6) that I just use for listening to music using the 30 pin dock connector on my stereo. iOS 6 and older hardware still works just fine for that. My mother's iPhone 4 with iOS 7 still suits her just fine too since she mostly just uses it for texting and as an actual phone.

[Danny Doj]

The more older devices supported means the better the OS will run on newer old devices like the iPhone 6 and Air 2, I think/hope. I would really hate to see the next OS slow down more expensive devices, I hope that Apple are working on reducing that but it might happen again. iOS 8 made the iPad 3 become a paper weight

[Gabriel Beilfuss]

I think option 2

[mij9895]

I think Option 2 will be the most likely thing to happen with iOS 10, but there could be a chance that Apple could go with Option 3. The iPhone 4S is long in the tooth, that's for sure, but I also think the iPhone 5 & 5C are getting long in the tooth too.

[Spencerdl]

I agree with just about everyone else and option 2, also agree with PK, if your current iPhone doesn't get the update, just keep using the iOS currently on the iPhone as its not to shabby to begin with.

[Andrew Yager]

Number 2 is probably most likely. They just dropped iPad Air 1 from line up and the iPhone 5s. We will see

[andrewh70]

Apple has been good recently about supporting their older devices. However, at some point a judgement needs to be made about whether or not it is worth trying to run the new software on outdated hardware.

[evan877]

Option 2 for sure. No way they are going to drop support for devices like the 5c which are not that old in Apple terms.

[anon(9602380)]

My best guess would be option 2.

[chegeware]

3) Support for only 64 bit iOS devices (A7 and newer)


No lag on old device`s

[dlashworthjr]

With the launch of ios10, I wouldn't be surprised to see only iPhone SE, 6, 6+, 6s, 6s+ getting the upgrade. Apple has been supporting devices with updates, that are long past their shelf life, which is good, but I think in order to better unify all OS's that Apple has they have to draw a line with iOS 10. That line will have to have certain things. Apple Pay, Finger print reader, and Siri. iPhones that came out before the 6 may have a feature or two, but not all. The SE does several things, First appeal to the smaller screen crowd, that being the most important for users not wanting to upgrade, it also is more budget friendly and with the body of a 5s, appeals even more who are still holding out. The SE also brings to the table Apple Pay and the finger print scanner. When Apple released iOS 10, make it only available on the 6,6s and SE family tree to push those customers towards the new hardware and software. iOS 10 will hopefully bridge the gaps I've experienced when communicating with WatchOS tvOS and OS X, making this upcoming update to more of a "wrinkle free experience" that iOS 9 tried to do when it was ironing out everything.
But yeah, SE, 6, 6+, 6s, and 6s+, will be the only iPhones to receive the update come September.

As far as the iPad line, Air 2 and up, mini 3 and up.

Only thing that could make my argument invalid is the iPod.

It doesn't have the fingerprint scanner but if its able to get the ios10 update, that means the 5, 5s and 5c could as well. I can't really see Apple not updating it, but I don't know if updating the iPod and not the 5 family tree would be possible.
I really think Apples iPhone SE is a push to get those 30 million people to a newer phone and thats why they're doing the 5 body style and making it budget friendly. Apple is a hardware company and by making iOS 10 only available to SE, 6s family, makes the most sense to me.

[acerace113]

I say A7 chip and higher so iPhone 5S, 6/6+, 6S/6S+, SE, iPad Air, Air 2, mini 2, mini 3, mini 4, pro 12.9, pro 9.7, and iPod touch 6.

[scruffypig]

Supported devices are listed here:

https://www.apple.com/ios/ios10-preview/#mn_p

[eyecrispy]

Glad to see the 5/5C still supported, although I wonder how it will impact speed on the older devices.

[Frost Forged]

I feel like #2 isn't even on the table anymore. When they drop support for the A5 they will drop support for 32 bit chips all together. They can't drop support for the iPhone 5 yet (they were still selling it last year) so I think we have another year or 2 before they drop anything.

[scruffypig]

I feel like #2 isn't even on the table anymore. When they drop support for the A5 they will drop support for 32 bit chips all together. They can't drop support for the iPhone 5 yet (they were still selling it last year) so I think we have another year or 2 before they drop anything.

The iPhone 5 and 5C use the Apple A6 processor chip.

[Andrew Rossetti]

No complaints here. Makes total sense to me.