Is it the End of the Line for the iPhone 6S?

Over the years Apple has led the way in innovation, great design, and superb useability. But, with progress, there are inevitably older models that fall by the wayside, even when you're dealing with a company with this kind of track record.

"iPhone 6s" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by matsuyuki

Online Gaming

Many people are now speculating about what the arrival of iOS 15 is going to mean for users in terms of gains, as well as losses. In terms of potential losses, one group of people who may be particularly disappointed by the news are gamers. This would be a blow, especially after iOS 14 seemed to indicate that Apple was starting to take gaming seriously at last. Another kind of Apple user who could be in for disappointment are the fans of the online casino who have an older model of iPhone. There is a rumour that players with older models may need to update them to continue to access gambling sites.

This could stem from the fact that, in common with other online users, mobile has become the preferred way to play for many, this is evident in the amount of mobile-friendly casinos hosted on this page. However, many casino sites are available across several platforms. So, this arguably debunks the rumour that Apple dropping certain models means some may need to update their devices to keep playing as there is always the option of the desktop site as well as mobile.

It seems that it's a question of whether or not the models have an A10 chip or one of the more recent processors on board. Phones from 2016 or earlier only have the A9 which inevitably puts them at risk. The good news is that from the iPhone 7 onwards users should be OK for another year at least.

iPads

Accompanying the rumour about the phones is also one that could affect iPads, even though they have completely different chips that drive them. Nevertheless, it's thought that all these three models may well find themselves being unsupported too;

• iPad mini 4 (2015)
• iPad Air 2 (2014)
• iPad 5 (2017)

"iPad mini Retina VS iPad 4" (CC BY 2.0) by JeanbaptisteM

The last time that Apple withdrew software support was with iOS 13 when the iPhone 6 and 5s, the 6th generation iPod touch, 1st generation iPad Air and 3rd generation iPad Mini were the victims. So it may be that it's the odd-numbered updates that are going to see previous models being excluded.

Speculation

But remember that none of these changes are for certain as of yet, and things may remain the same. It's important to bear in mind that the official announcement of the new operating system is not due until the summer and details of what it will include are few and far between at the moment. Although one detail that has already been the subject of speculation is whether neither the iPhone 6S nor the 2016 iPhone SE will be supported.

This was already the rumour that was circulating shortly before the 2020 release of iOS 14. Fortunately for owners of these older phones, it turned out to be false. But we're a year further on and the phones in question are a year older, so there may well be more reasons to believe that this will turn out to be true. Of course, all this is speculation until the facts are announced at WWDC in June.