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I'm surprised they aren't using the iPhone 14 in the promo images. Anyway, looks like my old iPhone 7 is finally going to have to retire. :/ I can't wait for a
by christophilus 4y ago
I'm surprised they aren't using the iPhone 14 in the promo images.
Anyway, looks like my old iPhone 7 is finally going to have to retire. :/ I can't wait for a good Linux phone.
Edit: 7 years of use isn't bad compared to Android, but the phone is still just fine, and it really bothers me that it's turning into e-waste for no good reason.
- MBCook 4y agoThe group putting this together almost certainly didn’t have “clearance” to see those images before they were publicly released today.
- augustl 4y agoApparently, the reason Apple dropped support for iPhone 7 is performance on the new lock screen. Pretty lame if that's the case, Apple has usually been good with supporting all devices as long as the hardware allows it (for example, hardware level secure enclave was required at a certain version of iOS)
- anonuser123456 4y agoIt is a extremely hard to maintain differential software features across hardware product lines. What ‘sounds lame’ may translate into significantly added complexity to the maintenance process.
- theideaofcoffee 4y agoI think with all of their resources, Apple of all companies could dig deep and stretch a little bit to make that happen.
- BuckRogers 4y agoYou can blame their competition for not beating them out at longterm support on that front. Apple is already leading the market supporting iOS this long. I used my last iPhone for 7 years, unfathomable on any other platform than iOS. I hope their competitors step it up and beat Apple out on grade A support. I'm seeing them fall further behind in every metric. My iPhone 12 mini that I bought on launch day "just works".
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- redditor98654 4y agoHow did you manage 7 years. I struggle at the 5 year mark. I have an iPhone X bought dec 2017 that is now ready for replacement. Sometimes it completely drops the cell connection and I have to take out the SIM. Also video calls make it go very hot.
- BuckRogers 4y agoIt was closer to six years if I crunch the numbers. It was the original iPhone SE. It was getting a little loose towards the end. But those models weren’t built quite as well as the 5S was. I had both. I am pretty careful with my stuff. Going as far as to only putting my phone in my left pocket because there’s no metal rivet on that side of most jeans. I also probably only dropped the phone three or four times over that six year span. I don’t use the case, I’m just very careful. I won’t even pull it out if I feel I’m in a risky situation where I could drop it. Even five years is a lot longer than any of my android phones lasted with daily use. I had the Motorola Droid, the HTC Thunderbolt, and the Samsung GS3, among others. I think you would be lucky to get 2 to 3 years out of those. I’m not sure what would go first, your OS support, or the cheaper hardware that they use in general. I had the best experience with Samsung in the Android market.
- stouset 4y agoThey quite literally already are. Find me a manufacturer that comes anywhere close to supporting devices for as long as Apple does.
- airstrike 4y agoWhy throw money away?
- tshaddox 4y agoApple does, with all of their resources, dig much deeper and provide OS updates to much older device models than any mobile device manufacturer I know of.
- fastball 4y agoYes but why can't they dig infinitely deep??
- anonuser123456 4y agoIt would make their product worse. As someone that has worked on this very problem for 20 years, I can say with somewhat confidence Apples choice is the right one.
- astrange 4y agoIt would cost more or less infinite money to do this because of mythical man month issues.
- alwillis 4y agoApparently, the reason Apple dropped support for iPhone 7 is performance on the new lock screen. It’s more likely the fact the iPhone 7 only has 2GB of RAM and two cores, not to mention missing the Neural Engine, the image processor and other features on Apple’s latest SoCs that iOS 16 requires for some of its features. Most of major features of iOS 16 would have to be removed to run on an iPhone 7.
- Jtsummers 4y agoI was looking at that, the iPhone 8 (supported) has a 6-core CPU, 4 high efficiency cores, but also 2GB of RAM in the plain iPhone 8, 3GB in the Plus. So if it's anything, it'll be in the GPU or the 2 extra cores, that marks the critical differentiator for performance.
- alwillis 4y agoBut even the iPhone 8 doesn’t support all of the features of iOS 16: * Live Text * can’t send emojis in iMessage using Siri * can’t ask Siri about apps * offline Siri support for HomeKit, Intercom, Voicemail * being able to smoothly switch between voice and typing when using dictation * adding medications using the camera * Door Detection in Magnifier * Image search in more apps
- fomine3 4y agoNotably iPhone7 uses A10 that is last gen using PowerVR GPU
- augustl 4y agoAh, thanks, that's useful! I didn't know the iPhone 8 was such a large jump in hardware specs.
- m3kw9 4y agoE waste, no no don’t throw it out. You can use 99% of the apps even without ios16. It’s only when individual app developers phase out support for ios15 typically 2-3 years after. Facebook, YouTube etc still supports even iOS 12
- christophilus 4y agoOK. I'm convinced. I really don't use any 3rd party apps other than Brave and my banking app, so as long as those work and I keep getting security updates, my cheap ass is good to go.
- 2muchcoffeeman 4y agoI have passed on all my iPhones and I must have averaged like 8+ years for all of them. Really old phones get regulated to non critical things like a spare phone for travel or just a backup.
- WrtCdEvrydy 4y agoActually, you can download the newer version of an app on a newer iphone and then download a version that works on the old iphone from the Purchased page. Apple makes it difficult but keeping my iPhone 5S is still going years after iOS 12 is no longer "cool"
- KennyBlanken 4y agoWhy would you be keeping an 5S "still going" when you can buy an 8, SE, or an X/Xs/Xr, for a song and get vastly better performance, battery life, wifi and cellular? The A7 is dogshit slow - I have an iPad with the A7 (or maybe it's the A9) and it's unusably slow for even simple things like apps from newspapers and library e-reader apps; you can watch the page assemble. Even waking the iPad with the home button is slow. On my A11-powered phone these apps run smooth as butter. A 5S supports 11 of the LTE bands versus 24 bands of the 8. That alone is worth the upgrade, for the greater chance of being able to make or receive an important call. How much time are you wasting on silly work-arounds just to be a retro-tech hipster pretending it's cool to use a completely outdated and inferior-in-every-way piece of hardware for absolutely no reason?
- GeekyBear 4y agoApple just released another security update for the 2014 iPhone 5s.
- highwaylights 4y agoYeah but if they’re not guaranteeing security updates then you still can’t rely on it. Which sucks. I don’t really get it either. You want to charge a premium for your handsets, why not let there be a secondary market all the way down the value chain for prices below where you want to go? It just means you’re selling more iCloud services and locking people in that way so that when they finally do need that upgrade it’s an iPhone rather than an Android.
- Otek 4y agoCould you elaborate? I genuinely don’t understand what you mean
- highwaylights 4y agoApple might release an emergency patch for an old device, but it’s not safe for you to keep using that device unless they’re committing to support the device with security patches on an ongoing basis. I think they should support even very old iPhones with updates because: 1) They can’t afford to make an iPhone for $50. 2) Even if they could, they don’t want to make a $50 iPhone because it would be terrible and the margin minimal. 3) Supporting old phones allows a second-hand market for iPhones to thrive in the Chinese-Android-phone-bargain price tier where Apple can’t compete with new devices (this is in fact already the case given that there’s a used market for old iPhones). 4) Once someone buys (e.g. an iPhone 6S) used for $50 you can immediately start making them an iCloud customer for recurring revenue. tldr; I think Apple views used device sales as a lost purchase for them instead of the massive subsidy that it is in terms of the cost associated with onboarding a new customer. (Apple should be overjoyed that someone is willing to sell a first-time prospective Apple customer an iPhone 6S for $50. The factory couldn’t make them the phone wholesale for that price, and it gets someone into the ecosystem).
- lapcat 4y ago6 years. iPhone 7 was released in September 2016.
- wildpeaks 4y agoSame, I still love my 7 (which still works perfectly fine despite using it everyday, even still has its original battery and screen) and been avoiding the upgrade until now because of the lack of Home button on the newer models. I use both iPhone 13 Pro & Pro Max everyday because I do iOS development (among many other things), so it's not like I don't know how to use the newer models, but the Home button is so intuitive I can use the 7 even when I'm half awake whereas I need to pay close attention to the screen on 13. Not having a Home button is like a keyboard without an Esc key.
- genghisjahn 4y agoI've stayed with the SE models for the Home Button. Love the Home Button and not having a phone that's too big or too small. The SE models seem just right. But I hear they don't sell well so who knows how much longer they will be around.
- KennyBlanken 4y agoI agree that the home button is invaluable from a UI perspective but for unlocking, it's annoying as hell if you live somewhere it's cold (ie gloves) or get your hands significantly dirty or wet.
- altairprime 4y agoiOS 15 will continue receiving security updates for a while yet, so there’s no pressing reason to upgrade. Or you could donate the phone to Apple in case they can melt it down and reuse it instead of shredding it.
- lapcat 4y ago> OS 15 will continue receiving security updates for a while yet iOS 14.8 was released on September 13, 2021, iOS 14.8.1 on October 26, 2021, and then nothing else.
- altairprime 4y agoiOS 12.5.6 was released on August 31, 2022, fixing CVE-2022-32894: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222
- lapcat 4y agoYes, one actively exploited CVE was patched in iOS 12, which is strange. But as your own link shows, that's the only thing that has been fixed in pre-15 versions since October, despite many many vulnerabilities patched since then in iOS 15.
- majou 4y agoiOS 12.5.6 was released on a week ago. iOS 15 will be getting patches even if iOS 14 and 13 don't.
- lapcat 4y agoI don't know why Apple patched that 1 bug in iOS 12. But they didn't patch it in iOS 14 or 13. Moreover, iOS 14 hasn't received any security updates since October, and other than that 1 bug, neither iOS 13 nor iOS 12 have received security updates in an even longer time. You're treating the exception (12.5.6) as if it's the rule, but it's not.
- MaysonL 4y agoApple is getting ready to release iOS 15.7, which will work on iPhone 7…
- lapcat 4y agoDon't expect that to last long. iOS 14.8 was released on September 13, 2021, iOS 14.8.1 on October 26, 2021, and then nothing else.
- scarface74 4y agoiOS 12.5.6 was released 8 days ago for the 5s…
- lapcat 4y agoThat was a weird one, but nonetheless, here's the list of security update, and there's been nothing for older versions since October 2021. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222 Also note that 12.5.6 was for a single actively exploited CVE and no other vulnerabilities.
- easton 4y agoWere there devices that supported 14 and not 15? That’s probably why they dropped support, you can just upgrade to 15 and get the security update.
- Eric_WVGG 4y agocome back and let us know how many years that good linux phone gets supported
- nytesky 4y agoMy daughter as an iPhone 6, so its many versions pass and I think they have stopped security patches with this upgrade. How much risk is she of being hacked without those updates -- is there any way to track identified risks?
- WrtCdEvrydy 4y agoIt's the iOS app support that suffers. Apple makes it pretty unbearable to get apps for unsupported devices so I take those and relegate them to single use non-data holding devices like dashcams and other uses.
- scarface74 4y agoAs of at least a couple of years ago, I could still redownload “the last compatible version” for my old iPad 1st gen (2010). I was able to download and run Netflix and Plex.
- WrtCdEvrydy 4y agoYes, but you must have a nicer iPhone on the same iCloud account that downloads the current version, then you can use the "purchased" page on the old device.
- spockz 4y agoOr for some apps that allow family sharing having someone in the family with a nicer iPhone also should work.
- nytesky 4y agoOh that’s a bonus for me, I want her to use it basically for phone, imessage, and find my!
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Klonoar 4y agoIt's not really e-waste given Apple's recycling program, which is generally decent. 7 years of use with an option to recycle it when upgrading is about as good as you'll find.
- CogitoCogito 4y agoDo the phones actually get recycled? (This is a genuine question.)
- Klonoar 4y agohttps://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Progress_Report_2022.pdf https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Pr... Their environmental reports that they release each year indicate that they do, yes. It also looks like there's an audit report in there as well that logs the recycled materials as verified (page 109).
- CogitoCogito 4y agoIt's a bit unclear to me what that page 109 really means. It says a certain amount of materials were removed by recycling contractors whatever that means. Apologies if I'm missing something in that document. What I'd really like are answers to the questions I posed here: > I see that e.g. screens are removed. How many of them (as a percentage of those sent in) are then re-used? And how many of the internal chips are re-used? How many of the batteries are re-used or how much of the underlying materials in the batteries are made into new batteries? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32761701 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32761701 In any case, thanks for the link. If I have the time/energy someday I might read through that document more closely and see if it sheds light on these questions.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoI would assume nothing other than easy to recycle metal/glass/paper actually gets recycled. It just gets shipped to a developing country and dumped there. I assume if a company hires a third party to “recycle”, it is probably cover your ass so they can say they recycled it, and it works pretty well if the third party is in another country. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-...