Apple is facing a backlash from users after announcing that iOS 16 would not support the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
Users have long asked Apple to give them more personal control on iOS, and Apple has finally done just that with iOS 16. Unfortunately, all of the new features of iOS 16, including the update itself, won’t come to owners of many older iPhones, most notably the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were released in September 2016. The iPhone 7 Plus was the first iPhone to feature dual lenses, and both models were the first to get rid of the physical home button and replace it with a tactile button. The iPhone 7 also marked the end of the headphone jack on the iPhone body.
The current iOS 15 supports devices as old as the first-generation iPhone SE, including the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. So, while iOS 16 is expected to drop support for the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, and the now-discontinued iPod touch, it’s surprising that Apple has also “goed further” to drop support for the iPhone 7 and the now-discontinued iPod touch. iPhone 7 Plus support.
Following Monday’s WWDC keynote, iPhone 7 owners shared online their disappointment at the lack of support for the upcoming iOS system. “Wow, they gave up on 7/7+,” one user wrote on the forum, while other users complained on Twitter.
The plausible explanation is that the A10 Fusion chip in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus is not powerful enough to perform iOS 16 and all its new features.
However, when the sixth- and seventh-generation iPads (both with the same A10 Fusion chip) are supported by iPadOS 16, that explanation doesn’t sound very plausible. In addition, the fifth-generation iPad uses a less powerful A9 chip compared to the iPhone 7’s A10 Fusion chip, which is also supported by iPadOS 16. While iOS and iPadOS are different, they also share many of the same features and the same underlying technology.
Therefore, users feel that in theory Apple can make iOS 16 support the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus by disabling some of the newer CPU and ML-related heavy-duty features. In doing so, iPhone 7 users will still be able to upgrade and benefit from iOS 16 offers performance and security enhancements, as well as small improvements like the ability to edit iMessages. However, Apple clearly chose another path.