{"id":210147,"date":"2026-02-04T19:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/apple-just-killed-the-myth-of-iphone-forced-obsolescence\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T00:15:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T05:15:14","slug":"apple-just-killed-the-myth-of-iphone-forced-obsolescence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/apple-just-killed-the-myth-of-iphone-forced-obsolescence\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple just killed the myth of iPhone forced obsolescence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple just killed the myth of iPhone forced obsolescence<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.cultofmac.com\/news\/iphone-forced-obsolescence-bs<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-02-04 19:38:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.cultofmac.com<\/a><\/p>\n

A conspiracy theory argues that Apple does everything it can to force people to buy new iPhones. That\u2019s Grade A certified bullplop, and I can prove it. How? Apple recently released iOS updates for every single iPhone going back to 2013.<\/p>\n

If you still own a 12-year-old iPhone 5s, it just got an upgrade to iOS 12.5.8, so you can continue to use it for years to come. So tell us again how Apple hates old iPhones? <\/p>\n

iPhone updates are a middle finger to forced obsolescence conspiracy theorists<\/h2>\n

With every major iOS release, online forums and social media fill with anecdotal reports of lagging iPhone performance, apps taking longer to open, or batteries draining more quickly. This happens because the software updates take days to fully install, with a temporary impact on performance and battery life.<\/p>\n

But some people don\u2019t understand what\u2019s happening, and jump to the worst possible conclusion. They accuse Apple of deliberately using software updates to reduce the performance of older iPhones to force people to buy new ones.<\/p>\n

All these old models got software updates that\u2019ll keep services active beyond 2027.
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/span><\/p>\n

If that\u2019s true, then why did Apple just release iOS software updates for every iPhone introduced since 2013?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re on iOS 26, but last week brought iOS 12.5.8, iOS 15.8.6, iOS 16.7.13 and iOS 18.7.4. These update the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s (all models), iPhone 7 (all models), iPhone SE (1st generation), iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR.<\/p>\n

Apple also released iOS 26.2.1, the current version, which runs on every handset since 2019\u2019s iPhone 11.<\/p>\n

To be clear, the updates to iOS 12 through iOS 18 don\u2019t include new features. But they do make a change needed to keep legacy models functional. As Apple says of all of them, \u201cThis update extends the certificate required by features such as iMessage, FaceTime, and device activation to continue working after…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apple just killed the myth of iPhone forced obsolescence https:\/\/www.cultofmac.com\/news\/iphone-forced-obsolescence-bs Publish Date: 2026-02-04 19:38:00 Source…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":210148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.cultofmac.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/iPhone-5s-iOS-12.5.8.jpeg.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[69,150,130,95,77],"class_list":["post-210147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iphone","tag-ios","tag-ios-15","tag-ios-16","tag-ios-18","tag-ios-26"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210149,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210147\/revisions\/210149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}