New leak says all iPhone models running iOS 16 will receive iOS 17

Just yesterday we passed along a rumor that stated how certain iPhone and iPad models will not be joining the vast number being updated to iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 later this year. The devices losing support were said to include the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, first-generation  iPad Pro (9.7-inch and 12.9-inch), and the fifth-generation iPad. Most likely these updates won't be released until September to coincide with the release of the 2023 iPhone and iPad units.

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were both released in September 2017 with the iPhone X shipping a little less than two months later. The iPad Pro tablets first hit the scene in November 2015 while the fifth-gen iPad was released during Q1 2017. And while it wouldn't be surprising to see such older devices lose iOS and iPadOS support, another tipster says that yesterday's rumor has it all wrong.

According to MacRumors, an anonymous leaker characterized by them as "reputable" says that all devices that received iOS 16 will be eligible to be updated to iOS 17 including Apple products powered by the 10nm A11 Bionic chipset. That's despite a bootrom jailbreaking vulnerability related to the latter chip that Apple can't fix.

Now I know you are asking why the hell should we be listening to an anonymous tipster. Here's why. Last year, he accurately leaked the Dynamic Island before the feature was mentioned during last September's iPhone unveiling. This tipster supposedly has a source inside Apple's development team who will leak hardware developments from time to time if software needs to be developed alongside it.

More recently, this source also said that Apple will use an ultra-low energy chip allowing the solid-state volume and power buttons on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Ultra to function even when the phone's power is off. Apple might also add a setting that would allow the user to adjust the sensitivity of the solid-state buttons so that they could work with gloves or when covered by a protective case.

The last time Apple kept the list of devices eligible to receive the latest OS updates unchanged was in 2021 when all of the iPhone handsets that received iOS 14 were updated to iOS 15. Last year, for iOS 16, Apple dropped iOS support for the iPhone SE, the iPhone 6s, the ‌iPhone‌ 6s Plus, the iPod touch, and the ‌iPhone‌ 7 and ‌iPhone‌ 7 Plus.

And while the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, first-generation iPad Pro, and the fifth-generation iPad might get a reprieve this year, these models might not be so lucky when we start talking about support for iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.