Apple's iOS 27 keeps all iPhones, drops only three older iPads

Apple's latest operating system updates, iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, bring mostly good news for users of older hardware. iOS 27 maintains full backward compatibility with every iPhone that could run iOS 26, stretching all the way back to the iPhone 11 and second-generation iPhone SE. For iPad users, the picture is slightly less generous: the update drops support for three models that rely on the older A12 Bionic chip — the 3rd-generation iPad Air, the 8th-generation iPad, and the 5th-generation iPad mini. All remaining supported iPads now use an A13 chip or better. Apple notes that older iPhones will see performance improvements thanks to an updated CPU scheduler that was previously limited to newer devices but has now been ported back.

Despite the broad device support, many of the headline features in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 remain locked behind Apple's hardware requirements. Apple Intelligence, the company's suite of on-device AI capabilities, still demands at least 8GB of RAM, meaning it only works on the iPhone 15 Pro and newer, iPhone 16 and newer, iPhone Air, or any iPad with an M1 chip or later. Even more restrictive are the advanced local AI models Apple announced, which require a newer Apple Silicon chip and at least 12GB of RAM — limiting them to the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone Air, M4 iPad Air, and M4 or M5 iPad Pro. Developers can access the first beta today, with a public beta arriving in July and the final release landing this fall.