September 2015: You bought an iPhone 6S and had a baby. June 2022: You hand over your seven-year-old iPhone to your seven-year-old first-grader. The iPhone has the latest version of iOS available and your kid is an old soul!
When we found out at WWDC 2021 that iPhone 6S and 6S Plus would be getting iOS 15, we were both shocked and excited because everyone expected iOS 14 to be the last software update to get iPhone 6S.
And yet Apple has postponed the farewell to the iPhone 6S, we are here now… A year later, we now know that iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will not get the new iOS 16 update from Apple. But this is no reason to be angry!I even want to take a moment to celebrate the iPhone 6Ss unparalleled longevity† It turns out, though, that we also need to talk about the iPhone 7 and why it’s not getting iOS 16 too, despite being a year newer than the 6S — a lot of people seem to be upset about that.
We’ll also look at the future of Apple’s software support and see if it gets shorter or longer. Both outcomes are likely. Let’s dive in!
iPhone 6S: Will the longest-supported smartphone of all time be usable in 2022?
I should start by clarifying that the iPhone 6S would never “technically” get six iOS updates and seven years of software support. Apple’s traditional software support extends to “just” five years of OS updates and a total of six years of continuous support since the launch of an iPhone. However, it was clear that Tim Cook & Co was feeling generous, but also felt that the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus could handle iOS 15 and give it a try, making iPhone 6S the longest-supported smartphone in history. A Ham.
Sure, after six OS updates and seven years of existence, the iPhone 6S feels sluggish and sometimes even laggy when pushed harder. However, this doesn’t stop you from making calls, texting, watching YouTube videos and scrolling through social media, which most people do on their phones anyway. Serious gaming is no longer an option on the 6S, both because of the old chip and especially because of the small battery, which is empty in no time.
Still, the fact that this old iPhone runs the same version of iOS as the latest and greatest iPhone 13 Pro Max and covers the basics is something to applaud Apple for!
It’s (almost) time to move on to Apple’s timeless design: how iPhone 6 and 6S became the best-selling smartphones of all time

When launched in 2014, the original iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus received mixed reviews. iPhone 5 was the last iPhone designed by Steve Jobs & Co, and people loved the compact form factor. The bigger iPhone 6 and the huge iPhone 6 Plus seemed out of fashion normal, but Apple had to stick with the trend of larger devices.
Thankfully, iPhone users jumped on board in no time! In fact, people bought enough iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S devices to make Apple’s 2014 and 2015 devices the best-selling smartphones in history, and to this day, no iPhone or Android device in the world has. it survived. came close.
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S have sold approximately 400 million units in their lifetime, which is roughly the total number of physical albums, physical singles, digital albums, digital singles, LPs, and streams sold by The Beatles, the best-selling music artists, ever sold.
iPhone SE (2022) will hold iconic home button for another five years, but then it’s time For real about
And for those who are very much in love with the iPhone 6Ss vintage design (making it probably the most recognizable smartphone ever) or just don’t want to spend more than $400 for a new iPhone, the 2022 iPhone SE… is here and more powerful and capable than ever!
It turns out that iPhone SE (2022) is the definitive form of the iconic iPhone 6.
In fact, the iPhone SE has enough horsepower to last for at least another five years, thanks to the iPhone 13’s A15 Bionic chip, which is in the SE. So yeah, the timeless iPhone 6 look might still be somewhat relevant in 2027. Let that sink in…
iPhone Software Support in the Future: Will New iPhones 6-7 Years Get Software Updates?

Speaking of software support and older iPhones, we can’t ignore the iPhone 7 series, mainly because it seems like iOS 16 is missing on this model, upset some users who don’t want to give up their old iPhone… So, let me clear the air!
Why iPhone 7 won’t get iOS 16
Long story short, it was never meant to be. Short story long…
So, technically Apple should have dropped software support for the iPhone 6S last year, meaning iOS 16. used to be never meant to come to iPhone 7 anyway – as it happened. The decision to keep iPhone 6S fresh for an extra year made it seem like Apple took two iPhones out of the OS update cycle at the same time, but as you now know – that’s not exactly the case. Although, technically it is is the case.
Software support for current and future iPhones
So, although it seems like Apple want to support iPhones for more than five years, as demonstrated with the iPhone 6S, there may be a few challenges to Cupertino’s way…
The first, of course, are the processors that power the iPhones — the older the chip — the less likely it can perform new functions that require more power to run smoothly (which is essential for Apple). The other reason may be… RAM. Random access memory (as absolutely no one ever calls it), is crucial to perform multiple tasks at once and have apps running in the background.
It is a public secret that old and even current iPhones are quite conservative when it comes to RAM, mainly because of Apple’s great optimization, which manages to make the most of the scarce 2GB of RAM in phones like the iPhone 8 or 4GB of RAM in an iPhone 13 For reference, the default for Android flagships is 8GB of RAM, which often grows to 12-16GB if you choose to pay for more storage.
Anyway, looking at the most recent events, we know for sure that iPhone 7 updates have not ended due to low RAM as iPhone 7 has the same amount of RAM as iPhone 8 (2 GB), which will definitely get iOS 16.
So it’s going to be really interesting to see how things develop with iOS 17 next year. iPhone 8 and iPhone X run on the same A11 Bionic chip, but it’s clear that they look like they were years apart. Plus, iPhone X has 3GB of RAM, which can make a difference or at least a good excuse for Apple to keep OS updates for this model an extra year – as they did with iPhone 6S.