For those who wonder what the support window is for Apple products, the company now has an answer: it’s quietly ended support for some of its oldest iPhones and iPads, cutting off restore access for devices that first went on sale more than a decade ago.
While the move has prompted some complaints, the truth is that it underlines just how unusually long the company has kept aging hardware alive. Even today, it provides support in the form of access to signed software upgrades for non-cellular devices as old as some teenagers.
What devices have been cut?
Among other things Apple has cut support for a range of . That commitment became more explicit in 2024 following UK regulation, after which it now as they age, even if they’re still technically supported.
What this means is that Apple continues to under promise and overdeliver on its support commitment to older devices — so much so that it’s only now some customers who might still be running a 15-year-old iPhone have finally hit the support wall.
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