WWDC 2016: Apple finally drops support for the venerable iPhone 4S; other devices to follow suit

Apple’s iOS 10 brings with a host of enhancements and features but now, finally, it’s moving on from older, A5 powered devices. In their official press release, Apple states that all devices from the iPhone 5 and iPad Air will receive iOS 10. The A5 chip was first introduced in 2011 in the iPad 2 and is present in the first retina iPad (as the A5x), the iPhone 4S, the first iPad Mini and the fifth generation iPod Touch. These devices have been around a really long time, 5 years at the least, and that’s multiple eons in the tech world. The fact that many people still use some of these devices today and still swear by them is testament to their quality. [caption id=“attachment_320470” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Image: Apple[/caption] Sadly, with iOS 10, Apple will end support to these devices. They were already long-in-the-tooth by the time iOS 8 was out, but it’s finally time to say goodbye. The current list of supported devices includes:

• iPhone 5, 5C, 5S, 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, and SE.
• iPad 4, iPad Air, and iPad Air 2.
• Both iPad Pros.
• iPad Mini 2 and newer.
• Sixth-generation iPod Touch.

If you’ve hung onto your A5 powered iDevices as long as you could, upgrade to a 64-bit device like the iPhone 5S or iPad Air. Next on the chopping block are sure to be the iPhone 5, 5C and iPad 4. These devices are the last of the A6-powered, 32-bit devices and will be dropped come iOS 11. Why? Because iOS 11 will only support 64-bit devices. We can surmise that soon, the iPhone 5S will take the place of the venerable iPhone 4S as the un-killable iPhone. Be warned, the latest update to OS X, now rebranded as macOS , will not support most Mac devices released before 2009.