Also worth noting that the most recently sold device (correct me if I'm wrong) that this release is supporting is the 6th gen iPod Touch, which was discontinued in May 2019. That's over 3 years of security updates at the worst case.
I often see apologists claim that supporting old products is SO MUCH WORK and companies can't afford the developer time and money to support them, as if supporting an older device requires several full time people to do nothing but constantly pore over source trees in a never ending loop.
Apple did something similar when they had Airport updates for devices going back to the Airport Express from 2008.
Kudos for not cutting people off after three years, like Google does with Android.
No they aren't, only since Android 10 and later, and only the APEX modules marked as updatable via Play Store, and for everything else, those lucky owners of flagship phones might get a couple of additional updates.
Lets not mix up Google's marketing with what happens on the field.
Feel free to correct me if I interpreting this wrong, but I believe this is an area that Android is better in.
iOS 12.5.6 patches notes indicate this is merely an update to WebKit. The latest Android Webview, which coincidentally also released today, supports way back to Android 6.0. It is half the download size, gets day-1 patches, and doesn’t require a OS level reboot to install.
To further put this into context: the Nexus 5 (2013) still supports the latest web browser security patches. Same as iOS 12.5.6 running on an iPhone 5s (2013). But unlike the iPhone it didn’t forego a year of browser updates to accumulate security vulnerabilities.
9 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 28.1 ms ] threadI often see apologists claim that supporting old products is SO MUCH WORK and companies can't afford the developer time and money to support them, as if supporting an older device requires several full time people to do nothing but constantly pore over source trees in a never ending loop.
Apple did something similar when they had Airport updates for devices going back to the Airport Express from 2008.
Kudos for not cutting people off after three years, like Google does with Android.
You're comparing a modular OS against one that needs a full update for a browser patch and it's not the same thing.
Lets not mix up Google's marketing with what happens on the field.
iOS 12.5.6 patches notes indicate this is merely an update to WebKit. The latest Android Webview, which coincidentally also released today, supports way back to Android 6.0. It is half the download size, gets day-1 patches, and doesn’t require a OS level reboot to install.
To further put this into context: the Nexus 5 (2013) still supports the latest web browser security patches. Same as iOS 12.5.6 running on an iPhone 5s (2013). But unlike the iPhone it didn’t forego a year of browser updates to accumulate security vulnerabilities.