Apple restricts iOS 10 to iPhone 5, 4th-gen iPad or newer [u]

Following a debut onstage at WWDC 2016, Apple seeded the first beta version of iOS 10 to developers on Monday with support limited to iPhones, iPads and iPod touch models powered by the company's A6 system-on-chip and better.

As noted at the bottom of Apple's iOS 10 preview website, the upcoming mobile operating system is compatible only with newer devices, leaving legacy models like the iPhone 4S and original iPad stuck with older iOS versions. Specifically, hardware powered by A6 chips the new minimum requirement set by iOS 10.

According to Apple, iOS 10 will run on:

iPhone

iPhone 6s & 6s Plus
iPhone 6 & 6 Plus
iPhone SE
iPhone 5s
iPhone 5c
iPhone 5

iPad

iPad Pro 12.9-inch
iPad Pro 9.7-inch
iPad Air 2
iPad Air
iPad 4th generation
iPad mini 4
iPad mini 3
iPad mini 2

iPod

iPod touch 6th generation

Unlike other platforms, Apple's iOS offers reasonably deep compatibility with older hardware. However, as the mobile OS bakes in advanced features its performance standard rises, meaning legacy devices will inevitably fall short. For iOS 10, Apple has set the cutoff at the A6 SoC.

The first iOS 10 beta was issued today, months ahead of public release this fall.

Update: Apple on Tuesday modified the iOS 10 compatibility list, raising hardware requirements to A6 SoCs and higher.

35 Comments

macxpress 5910 comments · 16 Years

About 8 years ago

I'm honestly surprised they keep supporting the iPad 2. As someone who supports hundreds of iPad 2 models, its getting to the point where its very slow, even with the latest version of iOS 9. If you stop supporting it, people might just buy a new iPad you know! I wouldn't be surprised if this is either a mistake, or it gets removed before the official release.

mcsemeister 2 comments · 8 Years

I just checked the apple keynote video. The screen states that the iPad 2 is not on board. iPad mini2 and up, iPod touch 6th gen, iPhone 5 and up and iPad 4th gen and up. regards.

VisualSeed 217 comments · 8 Years

macxpress said:

I'm honestly surprised they keep supporting the iPad 2. As someone who supports hundreds of iPad 2 models, its getting to the point where its very slow, even with the latest version of iOS 9. If you stop supporting it, people might just buy a new iPad you know! I wouldn't be surprised if this is either a mistake, or it gets removed before the official release.

On one hand I agree, but so many of these have ended up in kiosks and point of sale installations that I would feel better if they got updated simply to insure security patches.

phone-ui-guy 1018 comments · 18 Years

mcsemeister said:

I just checked the apple keynote video. The screen states that the iPad 2 is not on board. iPad mini2 and up, iPod touch 6th gen, iPhone 5 and up and iPad 4th gen and up. regards.

They could have been specifically referring to the beta. It would be tuned more for release, so perhaps that is why the website indicates it is coming for iPad 2 and iPad mini.