Apple is reportedly planning to render the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C obsolete upon the release of the next version of the company's mobile operating system, iOS 10.3.2
The public beta version of iOS 10.3.2 was rolled out in late March, which means that the launch of the operating system upgrade is imminent. Should iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C owners start worrying that their smartphones will no longer be supported by Apple?
Apple Not Releasing iOS 10.3.2 To iPhone 5, iPhone 5C?
According to a report, the two beta releases that Apple has rolled out for iOS 10.3.2 only supports 64-bit iOS devices, which is bad news for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C because they are based on 32-bit architecture.
No previous release of iOS has so far skipped supporting 32-bit devices, except for dedicated bug fixes for a particular device. This would mean that Apple may be planning to not roll out iOS 10.3.2 to the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5c, which were released in September 2012 and September 2013, respectively.
If the report turns out to be true, it will affect a significant number of iPhone owners. Apple has not revealed the sales figures for the iPhone 5C, but it is known that the iPhone 5 sold more than 90 million units. While not all of these smartphones are still in use today, there are surely some owners who are still holding on to their iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C units.
In addition, if iOS 10.3.2 would drop support for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C, it would be the first time that Apple will be rendering iPhone models obsolete through an update of an iOS version and not alongside a major iOS release.
Should iPhone 5, iPhone 5C Owners Start Looking For A Replacement Phone?
The report that iOS 10.3.2 will drop support for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C has not yet been confirmed by Apple, so iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C owners should not panic yet.
A tipster revealed that he has successfully installed iOS 10.3.2 on the iPhone 5, despite Apple not releasing an official version of the operating system beta for 32-bit devices. The tipster further said that he expects 32-bit devices to be supported throughout the iOS 10 life cycle, with another source claiming the tipster's statement that iOS 10.3.2 will be rolled out for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5c.
With the reports clashing, the only way to know for sure if the mobile operating system update will indeed render the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C obsolete is after Apple rolls out the public final version of iOS 10.3.2. When that will happen, however, is not yet known.
However, whether or not iOS 10.3.2 drops support for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C, owners should already start thinking about getting a replacement smartphone in the near future. It was recently confirmed that Apple will be dropping support for 32-bit apps with the release of iOS 11, so it might soon be time to retire those 5-year-old and 4-year old iPhones.
Apple is expected to unveil iOS 11 in June at WWDC 2017 and will release the operating system shortly afterward.
