iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 support all iPhones, drop few iPads
▼ Summary
– iOS 27 will run on all iPhones that support iOS 26, back to the iPhone 11 and second-gen iPhone SE; iPadOS 27 drops support for the 3rd-gen iPad Air, 8th-gen iPad, and 5th-gen iPad mini due to their older A12 Bionic chip.
– Older devices should see performance improvements in iOS 27 from an updated CPU scheduler ported back from newer iPhones.
– Many new features require Apple Intelligence, which is confined to devices with at least 8GB of RAM, like the iPhone 15 Pro or newer, iPhone 16 or newer, iPhone Air, and iPads with M1 or newer.
– More capable local AI models require newer Apple Silicon with at least 12GB of RAM, working only on the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone Air, M4 iPad Air, or M4 or M5 iPad Pro.
– Developer betas for iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 are available now; a public beta arrives in July, with final releases in the fall.
If you’re holding onto an older iPhone or iPad and hoping to stay on Apple’s latest software, this year’s updates bring mostly encouraging news. The iOS 27 update will support every iPhone that currently runs iOS 26, stretching all the way back to the iPhone 11 and the second-generation iPhone SE. The iPadOS 27 update is a bit less generous, dropping support for the 3rd-generation iPad Air, the 8th-generation iPad, and the 5th-generation iPad mini , all of which relied on the older A12 Bionic chip. Going forward, supported iPads must use an A13 chip or better.
Apple says users of older devices should notice performance improvements in iOS 27, thanks in part to an updated CPU scheduler. This scheduler was already present in newer iPhones but has been backported to older hardware with this release.
However, many of the headline features Apple highlighted require Apple Intelligence, which remains limited to newer devices with at least 8GB of RAM. Apple Intelligence still demands an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, an iPhone 16 or newer, or an iPhone Air. On the iPad side, support requires an iPad Air or iPad Pro with an M1 chip or newer.
The more powerful local models Apple announced come with even stricter requirements. They need a newer Apple Silicon chip and at least 12GB of RAM, meaning they’ll only work on the iPhone 17 Pro, the iPhone Air, the recently released M4 iPad Air, or the M4 or M5 iPad Pro.
The first iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 developer betas are available now, with a public beta tester version following in July. The final releases are set to arrive in the fall, as usual.
(Source: Ars Technica)
