Unfortunately, however, that secure release looks set to be used by its successor to deliver crushing news to millions of iPhone owners…
‘Great Secret Features’ and ‘Nasty Surprises’ are my regular columns investigating operating system updates for the best features / biggest problems hidden behind the headlines.
In short: iOS 10.3.2 appears ready to cut off support for several iPhone models mid-cycle, the first time Apple has ever done this before a major version change.
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The models in question are the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 5C. The problem is they are both built on 32-bit architecture whereas iOS 10.3.2, after two beta releases, has only delivered support for 64-bit iOS devices. No previous iOS release (beta or otherwise) has skipped support for 32-bit, unless it was a dedicated bug fix for a single device.
But iOS 10.3.2 does not follow the path of limited releases like iOS 10.0.3 (which was iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus compatible only) and its betas are available for all other iOS 10-compatible devices which means the iPad Mini 2 and newer, iPod touch sixth generation and newer but only the iPhone 5S and newer.
For the record its release notes simply say it solves problems with third-party VPN apps and fixes SiriKit car commands.
So how many iPhone users will this affect? Apple has never disclosed iPhone 5C sales figures (despite its myth-busting popularity), but the iPhone 5 sold over 90M units. Consequently, even allowing for upgrades, this is still going to leave a lot of disappointed users. Especially with iOS 10 expected to release a number of significant upgrades before it is replaced by iOS 11 in September.
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The flipside, of course, is Apple already supports its devices far longer than rival manufacturers. Notably even Google only promises two years of Android support for its premium Pixel and Pixel XL, whereas the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C came out in September 2013.
That said iOS 10.3.2 doesn’t only deliver a nasty surprise to iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C customers, it should make all iOS device owners a little nervous.
Why? Because unless there is an unprecedented U-turn before final release, iOS 10.3.2 sends out the message to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners that Apple is no longer guaranteeing support throughout a full iOS generation. It can in fact be cut off at any time…