Apple will end software support for 16 devices this autumn across four of its product lines, leading to the largest dropped-support phase for the Apple Watch in the product's history.
اضافة اعلان
The full scope of this year's support terminations became clear with the announcement of macOS 27 Golden Gate, iPadOS 27, tvOS 27, and watchOS 27 during the WWDC conference last week.
According to a report by the tech-news website MacRumors, reviewed by Al Arabiya Business, the only silver lining is that iOS 27 features maintain the same device compatibility found in iOS 26, without removing any models from the compatibility list. The same applies to the HomePod.
The Apple Watch line will witness the largest support discontinuation in the history of the product. The watchOS 27 system drops support for the Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra (1st generation), and Apple Watch SE (2nd generation) all at once, requiring an S9 or S10 chip.
Previously, watchOS 26 supported the same list of devices as watchOS 11 before it, including the Series 6 and later, the SE (2nd generation) and later, and all Apple Watch Ultra models. Dropping support for three generations of the Apple Watch simultaneously marks the biggest loss of support in the history of this product line.
The iPad tablet line will also see an unusually large contraction, as the iPadOS 27 update raises the minimum requirement for support to an A14 Bionic chip or an M1 chip, thereby dropping five models that still run on iPadOS 26.
These models are: iPad Air (3rd generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation), iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation), iPad (8th generation), and iPad mini (5th generation). In comparison, iPadOS 26 removed only one device from the iPadOS 18 support list, which was the 7th-generation iPad.
As for macOS Golden Gate, it will end the era of Intel-based Mac devices. The last four Intel devices supported in macOS Tahoe will not receive the update this year.
These devices are: MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019), MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, with four Thunderbolt 3 ports), iMac (2020 model), and Mac Pro (2019 model). Apple had stated last year that macOS Tahoe would be the final version for Macs running on pre-Apple Silicon chips, and with macOS 27, that becomes official.
Regarding Apple TV devices, the tvOS 27 system has dropped support for two models: the Apple TV HD released in 2015, and the Apple TV 4K (1st generation) released in 2017. Consequently, only the second and third generations of the Apple TV 4K will receive the new update.
The full list of devices that will lose latest-software support this autumn includes the following:
watchOS 27
Apple Watch Series 6 (2020)
Apple Watch Series 7 (2021)
Apple Watch Series 8 (2022)
Apple Watch Ultra (1st generation, 2022)
Apple Watch SE (2nd generation, 2022)
iPadOS 27
iPad Air (3rd generation, 2019)
iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation, 2018)
iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation, 2018)
iPad (8th generation, 2020)
iPad mini (5th generation, 2019)
macOS 27 Golden Gate
MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020 – four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
iMac (2020)
Mac Pro (2019)
tvOS 27
Apple TV HD (2015)
Apple TV 4K (1st generation, 2017)
Owners of these devices will not be completely deprived of updates in the near term, as Apple typically continues to release security patches for the previous operating system version for at least a year after it is succeeded. However, to get the latest features, upgrading to newer devices remains the only option. Apple is expected to launch its new operating systems in September following a period of beta testing.
