The iPhone 7 will not receive iOS 16. (Source: Apple)
With the official debut of iOS 16 at WWDC, Apple also revealed the devices eligible for the OS upgrade, with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus surprisingly missing out. That, of course, means Apple and Samsung now have parity of sorts in software update policies.
As it stands, iOS 16 will eventually roll out to all modern iPhone users, from the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus down to the iPhone 13 series. Sadly, though, iPhone 7 series owners will remain stuck on iOS 15.5. The iPhone 7 series debuted in 2016 running iOS 10 and received five major iOS upgrades in total. Interestingly, the iPhone 6s was released in 2015 and also received iOS 15.5, making for six major upgrades—implying that the iPhone 7 may have gotten the short end of the stick there.
Five major OS upgrades remain an industry-high, however, but there’s now little to nothing separating Apple from Samsung in the department. This year, the South Korean company announced that it would be providing four major OS upgrades and five years of security updates to its devices, including the flagship Galaxy S22 series and its mid-range Galaxy A33, A53, and A73 models. Gone are the days when Apple had a massive advantage in software support.
Ricci Rox – Senior Tech Writer – 2354 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2017
I like tech, simple as. Half the time, you can catch me writing snarky sales copy. The rest of the time, I’m either keeping readers abreast with the latest happenings in the mobile tech world or watching football. I worked as both a journo and freelance content writer for a couple of years before joining the Notebookcheck team in 2017. Feel free to shoot me some questions on Twitter or Reddit if it so tickles thine fancy.