Each year, those who have older Apple devices connect nervously to the presentation of the WWDC to see if they will be able to install the next software updates. The iPhone, for example, generally obtains about six or seven years of active support, but there is no guarantee like Google or Samsung. Some models have had as little as four or up to eight, and Apple decisions on the handsets will drop the supported list can be surprising and unpredictable.
In 2024, it was announced that all the phones that could manage iOS 17 could also manage iOS 18, which was good news all around. And the first reports suggest that this year would be a rehearsal: this same list of iPhones (reinforced by the new models that have been published since then) could also execute iOS 19. But now, it seems less certain.
According to a private and anonymous X account with an impressive history of precise predictions (via 9TO5MAC), three iPhones which have been launched in 2018 and have so far been an active software support will not be able to execute iOS 19: the iPhone XR, XS and XS Max.
This leaves the following handsets as iOS 19-Prêt for iOS:
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 pro and 11 pro max
- iPhone SE (2020)
- iPhone 12 and 12 Mini
- iPhone 12 pro and 12 pro max
- iPhone 13 and 13 mini
- iPhone 13 pro and 13 pro max
- iPhone SE (2022)
- iPhone 14 and 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 pro and 14 pro max
- iPhone 15 and 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 pro and 15 pro max
- iPhone 16 and 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 pro and 16 pro max
- iPhone 16th
The owners of the XR, XS and XS Max will always be able to install security updates for at least a year, but the new functionalities and visual modifications / interface are deployed as part of iOS 19 and all future software updates will not be available before they buy a more recent model. With the devices that go to their seventh birthdays and perform A12 processors (on the other hand, the weakest iPhone model currently on sale performs an A16, and the iPhone 16th “budget” “has an A18), it may be time to consider an upgrade.
IOS 19 will be announced at WWDC 2025 on June 9 and immediately deployed in a beta test program only for developers. Public beta generally follows a month later, before the finished version of the software was deployed in the fall. For all the latest launch information, see our IOS 19 Superguide regularly updated.
