3 ms·

>even longer in non-US countries This is often overlooked in discussions about iOS exploits. Although 64-bit exploits gets the limelight for obvious reasons su

>even longer in non-US countries This is often overlooked in discussions about iOS exploits. Although 64-bit exploits gets the limelight for obvious reasons such as the possibility of being valid for current series of Apple devices, older 32-bit devices still being used in non-US countries shouldn't be discounted. Apple devices often cost much higher than US in some of these countries, the difference was even much higher several years back when Apple didn't have dedicated stores in these countries. Case in point : iPhone 5C was supposedly discounted ($550) when compared to iPhone 5S at the time of launch in US. In India, it was around ~$700 at minimum. To put that in perspective, that was a cost for a decent motorcycle in India which a family can use for at-least 20-30 years. iPhone 5C can still perform basic smartphone tasks at ease, although it could be very vulnerable to exploits even for basic browsing[1]. But an average consumer in India, doesn't care much about the updates when their phone gets basic tasks done. [1]:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21062323 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21062323

kirb 7y ago
Related to this, Apple just began production of iPhone 6s in India, allowing them to sell them for cheaper in India than units they would usually import from China. That’s 2015’s flagship iPhone being produced brand new. So don’t expect older iPhones to go away anytime soon, especially if India is within your target market. Even in first-world countries this is an issue. My employer continues to support iOS 9 in their app because the balance of the cost of continuing to support it versus the cost of losing those customers on an iPhone 4s or iPad 2 is justified. Even if we bump it up, it probably won’t surpass iOS 12 (to continue supporting the iPhone 5s and 6) for several years. I wonder if this means they’ll continue supporting the 6s for longer than other phones, like the 5s which enjoyed 6 years and 6 major iOS releases of support. It feels irresponsible to know there are still millions of instances of a smartphone in active use around the world, that stopped getting security patches. When Apple released GPS fixes for older phones, as well as new updates for the old thin Apple TVs with UI that still looks like iOS 6, and recent iTunes Windows updates (which bundle WebKit and other Apple core frameworks), they didn’t backport any patches for vulnerabilities that are well-known in these older releases. The cost/benefit almost definitely doesn’t add up favorably when their business primarily relies on hardware profit margins, I know, but it still seems like a responsible thing to do. https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/26/iphone-6s-production-india/ https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/26/iphone-6s-production-india/ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222
- Abishek_Muthian 7y ago
  >but it still seems like a responsible thing to do. Especially, when advertising privacy & security as a premium selling point.
- Fnoord 7y ago
  > Related to this, Apple just began production of iPhone 6s in India So Apple is knowingly selling a device with a publicly known hardware vulnerability. Apple is very much aware of the vulnerability because them fixing it is what caused the vulnerability to become exploited.
  - judge2020 7y ago
    They also knew about it when they made the decision to keep i8 in the US store, it's vulnerabile still. The issue is probably that the security team doesn't have much pull (if at all) when product lineup changes are made.

kirb 7y ago

Related to this, Apple just began production of iPhone 6s in India, allowing them to sell them for cheaper in India than units they would usually import from China. That’s 2015’s flagship iPhone being produced brand new. So don’t expect older iPhones to go away anytime soon, especially if India is within your target market. Even in first-world countries this is an issue. My employer continues to support iOS 9 in their app because the balance of the cost of continuing to support it versus the cost of losing those customers on an iPhone 4s or iPad 2 is justified. Even if we bump it up, it probably won’t surpass iOS 12 (to continue supporting the iPhone 5s and 6) for several years. I wonder if this means they’ll continue supporting the 6s for longer than other phones, like the 5s which enjoyed 6 years and 6 major iOS releases of support. It feels irresponsible to know there are still millions of instances of a smartphone in active use around the world, that stopped getting security patches. When Apple released GPS fixes for older phones, as well as new updates for the old thin Apple TVs with UI that still looks like iOS 6, and recent iTunes Windows updates (which bundle WebKit and other Apple core frameworks), they didn’t backport any patches for vulnerabilities that are well-known in these older releases. The cost/benefit almost definitely doesn’t add up favorably when their business primarily relies on hardware profit margins, I know, but it still seems like a responsible thing to do. https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/26/iphone-6s-production-india/ https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/26/iphone-6s-production-india/ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222

Abishek_Muthian 7y ago
>but it still seems like a responsible thing to do. Especially, when advertising privacy & security as a premium selling point.
Fnoord 7y ago
> Related to this, Apple just began production of iPhone 6s in India So Apple is knowingly selling a device with a publicly known hardware vulnerability. Apple is very much aware of the vulnerability because them fixing it is what caused the vulnerability to become exploited.
- judge2020 7y ago
  They also knew about it when they made the decision to keep i8 in the US store, it's vulnerabile still. The issue is probably that the security team doesn't have much pull (if at all) when product lineup changes are made.