iPhone and iPad users typically look forward to Apple’s yearly iOS and iPadOS updates, but the upcoming iOS 17 and iPadOS 17—set to be revealed during the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on June 6—will drop support for a lot of popular devices, leaving their owners in the lurch.
According to MacRumors, Twitter user @Fame_G_Monster, a source allegedly with a proven track record for software updates, said Apple will drop support for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, iPhone X, first-generation iPad Pro (9.7-inch and 12.9-inch) and fifth-generation iPad this year. These devices were released between November 2015 and 2017 and feature the A9, A9X and A11 Bionic chipsets.
In fact, the only rumoured supported devices running on anything older than the A12 Bionic are the sixth- and seventh-generation iPad with A10 Fusion (the same chip found in the iPhone 7, which is already unsupported) and the second-generation iPad Pro (10.5-inch and 12.9-inch) with A10X Fusion.
MacRumors states that iPhones and iPads running on anything from the A5 to the A11 Bionic are vulnerable to a bootrom exploit, which operates in a read-only state and thus cannot be patched. This means these devices can be perpetually jailbroken on a “wide range of iOS versions”, letting users modify the file system.
The news that Apple is dropping support for the iPhone X is particularly significant, as the device is the company’s first to feature the now ubiquitous notch, catapulting the iPhone into the modern era. Cupertino is only now moving away from this design with the 14 Pro and Pro Max, which gets the new Dynamic Island instead.
