Apple just dropped some welcome news for customers still using some of the company’s oldest supported devices. As reported by Apple Insider, new security updates will be coming to devices dating back a full 10 years — beneficiaries include the iPhone 5s, as well as Mac Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro models released in the high and far off year of 2013, not to mention a few old iPad models.
This is great news for users, as the updates significantly increase the usable life of supported devices and are a welcome addition to the company’s service ecosystem. In the past, Apple has been accused and even sued over possible strategies of planned obsolescence, potentially building hardware that slows, loses support, and generally fails to function in order to encourage users to upgrade to new devices. In 2020, Apple famously shelled out $113 million to settle a lawsuit on the subject before it reached the courts.
The old devices getting new security updates
If that settlement impacted Apple’s overall strategy, this is an excellent example of progress. Leaving aside the question of whether or not Apple even engaged in deliberate planned obsolescence, customer-first decisions like this update show a clear commitment to the opposite strategy. By supporting older technology, Apple demonstrates its willingness to work with users who aren’t willing or able to buy a new iPhone or MacBook with every new release. Decisions like this keep later adopters and lower-income customers engaged with the Apple tech ecosystem. In so doing, they likely help drive the ongoing upward trend of global iOS usage since 2020 (via Statista).
As for the updates released on January 23 and 24, 2023, the full list includes the following:
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tvOS 16.3 (Apple TV 4K [all models] and Apple TV HD)
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Safari 16.3 (macOS Big Sur and macOS Monterey)
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iOS 12.5.7 (iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air, iPad mini 2, iPad mini 3, and iPod touch [6th generation])
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watchOS 9.3 (Apple Watch Series 4 and later)
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iOS 15.7.3 and iPadOS 15.7.3 (iPhone 6s [all models], iPhone 7 [all models], iPhone SE [1st generation], iPad Air 2, iPad mini [4th generation], and iPod touch [7th generation])
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iOS 16.3 and iPadOS 16.3 (iPhone 8 and later, iPad Pro [all models], iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later)
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