Trying to hold off upgrading for a bit as I’ve been really content with my 12 Pro Max. Next to my 6s Plus it’s been my favorite iPhone. Aside from security updates is it possible the 12 line will be able to use the major updates for another few years (iOS 19 - iOS 21)? Or will this year be the last major update before it’s only security updates?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 12 Pro Max How long until the 12 series is “obsolete”?
- Thread starter Spencer_W23
- Start date
-
- Tags
- ios upgadating
- Sort by reaction score
At least will be iOS 20, but most probably iOS 21. The battery would be an issue sooner than that, but you could just replace it when it happens .
No one can say for sure... but the iPhone XS (2 years older than your 12) is still accepting iOS 18, and the iPhone X (3 years older) is not. Likely you have a couple of years of updates left.
You can expect perhaps 5-7 years of support, anything beyond that is a bonus.
iPhone XR/XS is expected to get iOS 19.
Assume iOS 20 will be limited to iPhone 11 and iOS 21 for iPhone 12.
Three more years for iPhone 12 is a reasonable expectation.
Assume iOS 20 will be limited to iPhone 11 and iOS 21 for iPhone 12.
Three more years for iPhone 12 is a reasonable expectation.
My 12 Pro Max still runs the latest iOS, I think. Even once that stops, it will take time for apps to become incompatible with whatever iOS the 12 is stuck on. My 6+ can still run Google Maps (at least, it could last time I checked), and a lot of other apps. Bottom line: Even my old iPhone 6+ remains usable, if limited. I wouldn't worry about the 12 for a while yet!
Last edited:
The 6S and OGSE still run pretty much everything that matters and are usable as daily drivers today. Newer phones provide QoL improvements such as better screens, speakers, chipsets, waterproofing, charging, cameras, etc… however still do the exact same thing as a device that came out 10 years before.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the 12 was viable as a main device until 2030.
It really depends on your meaning of “viable main device”.
In my case, without updated security patches, none is viable, because of the documents and home banking I’m using on my devices.
It’s viable as (some, not all) banking apps are still supported. They are encrypted by the banks and are secure which is why they are still safe to use on legacy devices. I can’t see the support lasting much longer than the tail end of this year though.
My personal opinion, but in general it doesn’t matter if the bank app is still supported: if I don’t have all the security patches, I’m not doing any home banking on it.
Same for some “mission critical” documents related to my job.
It’s totally fine if you want to be extra safe however it doesn’t change the fact that the 6S/OGSE line, from almost a decade ago, are still usable daily drivers in 2025. That’s a good example as it proves the 12 line will be viable for a long time yet.
My 6+ runs iOS 12 (not to be confused with the iPhone 12), which does not run everything that matters, but still seems to be usable as a daily driver. However, the 6S and the SE 1 (aka OGSE) run iOS 15, so those should run more modern apps than my 6+.
I own 12 Pro Max & its on latest iOS and runs good. We need not worry about software updates yet, usually i dont prefer updating IOS to 4 or 5 versions than actual version that it came out of the box with at launch . Because i think if an iphone (say iphone 12 pro max which came out of box with ios 14, it can run decent upto ios 18 and if you get a 5th gen major upgrade i.e ios 19 then it might behave sluggish. So i will turn off automatic updates once the much stabler version of ios 18 is reached
Apple don't get enough credit for maintaining iCloud services long past official support. Whilst they claimed (????) to have shut down Photo Stream it is still possible to upload an image from an iPhone 4S to Photo Stream and then download it for editing on Aperture. You can also create a shared album to edit Photos from an iPhone 16 in Aperture!
The old version of Reminders still exists underneath the new one too, useable by older devices.