Apple updates ten-year-old iPhones – for reasons Microsoft wants to cut 10,000 jobs – that’s 5 percent of all employees

Apple now distributes security updates for devices up to ten years old. iOS, iPadOS, and MacOS will receive an out-of-shipment update to address various security gaps and bug fixes. Apple reports this on one of its help pages (see resources).

That is quite unusual. Devices that no longer support the latest version of the operating system are actually no longer being maintained. Only in very rare cases does Apple make an exception – for example, in the case of serious security vulnerabilities.

Apple initially didn’t reveal the specific reason, but in general, users of older devices should definitely install the rare update.

A support page now says:

Which old devices get an update?

In addition to a new version of the current iOS 16, Apple also counts on updates iOS 12 (12.5.7), iOS 15 (15.7.3), iPad OS 15 (15.7.3), macOS Big Sur (11.7.3 – still works on 2013 Macbook Air, Mac Pro and Macbook Pro) and macOS Monterey (12.6.3) op.

As IT portal golem.de reports, the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 6, the first iPad Air, the iPad Mini 2 and 3 and the sixth generation of the iPod Touch will be updated to iOS 12.5.7.

Apple generally offers a five-year update period for its smartphones and tablets. This includes not only security updates and bug fixes, but also version upgrades.

Sources

(t-online/dsc)