Which iPhones still work with iOS 18? The answer is all about AI

This year, however, Apple did the opposite. It didn’t make any iPhone obsolete. The new iOS 18 supports the same older devices as iOS 17. The company now supports an incredible 28 iPhone models (counting the 2nd and 3rd generation iPhone SE).

Is Apple just being nice? Doesn’t he want billions of dollars in juicy “upgrade cycle” revenue? That’s part of it. Apple cares deeply about what users think about its technology. Building a lot of iPhones every year would go wrong.

There’s more to it, though.

The company is slowly rolling out new AI features for some of its newest iPhones. But this Apple Intelligence won’t be fully available until 2025.

Meanwhile, Google and Samsung already have Android smartphones on the market that offer much more AI features.

If Apple made 2 or 3 old iPhones obsolete right now, there would be millions of consumers looking to buy a new smartphone. What if some of those people decided to try out an Android device to check out the new AI bells and whistles?

Losing even a small percentage of these legacy iPhone users to Android would be a blow to Apple. The company has been gaining users over the past few years, so keeping them all on its iOS platform is essential.

“Apple doesn’t want defections,” Dan Ives, technology analyst at Wedbush Securities, told me Monday.

Some Android phone manufacturers have also made big promises when it comes to device support. At the beginning of this year, Samsung said it will provide software updates for its Galaxy phones for 7 years. Apple can match that commitment for a similar reason: It wants to keep users on its platform.

If it can succeed, all Apple Intelligence features will be available in 2025. Then a major upgrade cycle for Apple is possible.

Apple Intelligence will only work on the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max models. If these features are really compelling, there could be a real reason for users to trade in their old phones next year.

“They want to keep everyone active, and then they start the upgrades to Apple Intelligence,” Ives explained. “It’s about changing the pattern this time. The biggest upgrade cycle in Apple’s history is on the horizon.”