QTECH – Whether due to the global economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic or due to shortages of electronic components, raw materials, factory and airport closures, Apple decided to extend the life of its iPhone smartphones for longer.
For those who have still managed to hold onto their iPhone 6S, that turns six years old this September, an eternity in phone years, Apple has some good news for you — your phone will be eligible for the iOS 15 upgrade when it arrives for the public this fall.
The iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, and first-generation iPhone SE, which all shipped with iOS 9, will be among the oldest devices to receive the OS update.
Apple made the announcement earlier this week, on June 7 when it presented the new update of its iOS 15 operating system at its congress for developers called WWDC 2021, which will begin to reach the brand’s mobile devices and tablets in September.
This marks a significant change in Apple’s policies, which has been discontinuing models at least every three years, by not allowing them to upgrade to more modern versions of their operating system.
The new software incorporates changes in the notification system through a feature called “Focus”, text recognition will be added to your photos and system applications such as FaceTime, Messages, Wallet, Weather and Maps will be renewed.
To be sure, there are a lot of new features that won’t work with the 6S’s A9 Bionic processor. Features like the Google Lens-esque Visual Lookup, Live Text in photos, portrait mode in FaceTime, and immersive walking directions in Maps won’t be available to 6S users, since they all require a device with an A12 Bionic chip such as the XS and XR or later, according to The Verge.
The website also says that it’s also possible that newer software will slow down an older phone with an aging, less nimble processor.
Apple ranks second in market share in the world cell phone market, with 22% of units shipped at the end of the first quarter of this year, surpassed only by Samsung, according to numbers from CounterPoint Research.
