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iOS 13 likely to drop support for a lot of older hardware

iOS 11 and 12 have been kind to those running older iPhones and iPads, not only giving older devices extra time but also a performance boost. But a report suggests that iOS 13 will drop support for a number of older iPhones and iPads.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

iOS 12, released last September, was particularly good at supporting older hardware. We'd expected that the aging iPhone 5S – which is almost six years old – would be dropped, but iOS 12 carried forward the same hardware support list as iOS 11, which was good for both owners of older devices (who got an extra year of use), and Apple (which got to grow its base of active devices).

Not only that, but iOS 12 gave older devices a surprise performance boost.

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But it looks like iOS 13 will be the end of the line for the iPhone 5S, along with a handful of other devices. According to a report by The Verifier, the following iPhones will not be supported by iOS 13:

  • iPhone 5s
  • iPhone SE
  • iPhone 6/6 Plus

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This means that the supported iPhone list will be as follows:

  • iPhone XS/XS Max 
  • iPhone XR 
  • iPhone X
  • iPhone 8/8 Plus
  • iPhone 7/7 Plus
  • iPhone 6S/6S Plus

If this is correct – and I believe that it is – then it is a little sad that the iPhone 6/6 Plus doesn't get an extra year

The following iPads are headed for retirement:

  • iPad Mini 2
  • iPad Air

This means that the iOS 13 iPad line up will be as follows:

  • iPad Pro 12.9 inch (2016 and 2017)
  • iPad Pro 10.5 inch
  • iPad Pro 9.7 inch
  • iPad Pro 11 inch (2018)
  • iPad Air 2
  • iPad Air 3
  • iPad 5
  • iPad 6
  • iPad Mini 4
  • iPad Mini 3

If you are running an older iPhone or iPad, it's probably a good time to start thinking about what you are going to do between now and iOS 13 landing later this year.

Expect an iOS 13 beta to land soon after the WWDC 2019 keynote, scheduled for June 3. The final release will most likely land in September.

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Are you running an older iPhone or iPad? Will this encourage you to upgrade or will you continue to use the device with an old version of iOS installed? Share your thoughts below!

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