As Apple iOS 18 starts to appear in the wild (from June 24), there will be, as always, a few of the older iPhone models that will end up on the ‘obsolete’ list. It’s been said that for this particular update (iOS 18), Apple has been generous in keeping a lot more of their older iPhones going and supported. That said, the older iPhones that are probably going to be rendered obsolete are the iPhone 6s, iPhone SE and iPhone 7.
Apple tend to offer support for their latest three iOS versions. So, anything that can run iOS 16 will still be supported and therefore, secure. The oldest iPhone that can support iOS 16 is the iPhone 8 from 2017.
The table below shows what iOS can (and can’t) be run on the last 9 years of iPhone models which in turn should help you decide whether to spend money on refurbishing or repairing a device.
| Model | Year | iOS 12 | iOS 13 | iOS 14 | iOS 15 | iOS 16 | iOS 17 | iOS 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 6s (Plus) | 2015 |  |  |  |  | |||
| iPhone SE | 2016 | | | | | |||
| iPhone 7 (Plus) | 2016 | | | | | |||
| iPhone 8 (Plus) | 2017 | | | | |  | ||
| iPhone X | 2017 | | | | | | ||
| iPhone XS (Max) | 2018 | | | | | |  |  |
| iPhone XR | 2018 | | | | | | | |
| iPhone 11 | 2019 | | | | | | | |
| iPhone 11 Pro (Max) | 2019 | | | | | | | |
| iPhone SE (2nd gen.) | 2020 | | | | | | | |
| iPhone 12 (mini) | 2020 | | | | | | ||
| iPhone 12 Pro (Max) | 2020 | | | | | | ||
| iPhone 13 (mini) | 2021 | | | | | |||
| iPhone 13 Pro (Max) | 2021 | | | | | |||
| iPhone SE (3rd gen.) | 2022 | | | | | |||
| iPhone 14 (Plus) | 2022 | | | | ||||
| iPhone 14 Pro (Max) | 2022 | | | | ||||
| iPhone 15 (Plus) | 2023 | | | |||||
| iPhone 15 Pro (Max) | 2023 | | |
You’ll notice that the same iPhones running iOS 17 can be updated to iOS 18. However, there’s a catch. According to Apple, only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are compatible with the new AI, or Apple Intelligence, features. This is because these features require the A17 Pro or M1 chip or later.