Based on a , iOS 16 won’t assist the iPhone 6S or first-gen iPhone SE when it’s launched within the fall of 2022. The positioning claims its supply is a developer inside Apple, and whilst you ought to at all times take these reviews with a grain of salt, the change does appear possible. By the autumn of 2022, Apple may have gone three years with out altering {hardware} necessities for iOS, and such a transfer could be lengthy overdue.

It’s not unusual for Apple to allow sure iOS and utility options solely on newer iPhones, the place {hardware} assist is critical. However the final three iOS releases have all supported the identical gadgets, which is sort of a very long time and principally unparalleled with Android gadgets.

Apple leads the business in assist for older cellular gadgets. With iOS 15, Apple helps iPhones all the way in which again to the iPhone 6S, launched in 2015. By the autumn of 2022 when iOS 16 is launched, that mannequin will probably be seven years outdated. Chopping off assist for it and the first-generation iPhone SE will nonetheless imply that iOS 16 helps gadgets as much as six years outdated, which is about twice what you’ll be able to anticipate from most Android telephones.

Apple is rumored to launch a new iPhone SE within the spring with the identical design as the present mannequin, so it you’re clinging to your iPhone 6 since you love the dimensions and the house button, you’ll have the ability to substitute it with a significantly better mannequin that may obtain updates for years to return.