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Will your iPhone or iPad run iOS 15 or iPadOS 15?

For once, I have some good news for you when it comes to iPhone and iPad updates.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Senior Contributing Editor

Apple's WWDC 2021 keynote is over, and we get a glimpse into what's going to be Apple's focus for the coming year. We also got our first look at the software that's going to be driving iPhones and iPads next year.

But the big question on a lot of people's minds will be, will their current hardware run iOS 15 and iPadOS 15?

Well, here's some good news for you. If your hardware runs iOS 14 or iPadOS 14, you'll be able to run iOS 15 and iPadOS 15.

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There had been some very convincing rumors circulating that Apple would drop support for the A9 processor, but it seems that it has been given a reprieve for a year.

What does this mean? It means that the following iPhones will run iOS 15:

  • iPhone 12 / 12 mini / 12 Pro / 12 Pro Max
  • iPhone 11 / 11 Pro / 11 Pro Max
  • iPhone XS / XS Max
  • iPhone XR
  • iPhone X
  • iPhone 8 / 8 Plus
  • iPhone 7 / 7 Plus
  • iPhone 6s / 6s Plus
  • iPhone SE (1st generation)
  • iPhone SE (2nd generation)
  • iPod touch (7th generation)

On the iPad front, the following iPads will all get iPadOS 15:

  • iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation)
  • iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation)
  • iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation)
  • iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation)
  • iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation)
  • iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation)
  • iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation)
  • iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st generation)
  • iPad Pro 10.5-inch
  • iPad Pro 9.7-inch
  • iPad (8th generation)
  • iPad (7th generation)
  • iPad (6th generation)
  • iPad (5th generation)
  • iPad mini (5th generation)
  • iPad mini 4
  • iPad Air (4th generation)
  • iPad Air (3rd generation)
  • iPad Air 2

The same pattern holds true for watchOS 8, with every device capable of supporting the current watchOS 7 surviving another year:

  • Apple Watch Series 3
  • Apple Watch Series 4
  • Apple Watch Series 5
  • Apple Watch SE
  • Apple Watch Series 6

Not all models will get all the features, and it's unclear what the performance will be like, but Apple is keen not to allow hardware to fall out of the ecosystem.

Mac users are, unfortunately, not so lucky, with some currently supported Macs losing support come macOS Monterey.

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