Smartphones & Tablets | February 9, 2024
Until recently, Apple was the manufacturer that provided the most support in terms of updates for its mobile phones. Now, it shares this title with Samsung, which recently introduced the Galaxy S24 with 7 years of operating system updates. Apple’s update policy has been one of the reasons why many users have opted for iPhones, as they tend to age well over time. However, all support has an end, and this is where many wonder if their old phone will continue to receive updates and until when. This question arises for those who own the iPhone 11, as it is a device with several years of age, and it’s likely the reason you are here. To answer it, let’s see how many more updates the iPhone 11 has left.
The iPhone 11 was introduced in 2019, so it is almost five years old, reaching this milestone in September of this year. It was one of Apple’s best-selling phones and the one that underwent a significant design change. Initially released with iOS 13, it currently runs on iOS 17, having received four software updates. As expected, support for updates for this phone will eventually end, but the question is when. Let’s explore that now.
UNTIL WHEN WILL IT BE UPDATED? Apple has never been entirely clear about its update policy, but it is expected to exceed the average, which in Android is 2 to 3 years, depending on the phone and the brand. Some older iPhone models received 3 years of updates, such as the first-generation iPhone and the iPhone 3G. It later increased to 4 years with the iPhone 3GS, introduced in 2009. Apple then updated its update policy and offered 6 years of updates for the iPhone 4. However, with the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, this was reduced to 5 years. Thus, Apple has varied its update support between 4 and 7 years of iOS updates for its most recent iPhones, leaving us with an average of 5 years of updates.
In the case of the iPhone 11, it is expected to be updated until iOS 19, an update that will be released in 2025. In other words, it has 2 more years of updates, meaning two major updates are still to come. So, its final update support would be for 6 years, no more, no less.
In the worst case scenario, it would only have one more year, with iOS 18 being the last update it would receive. However, it seems unlikely that its update support will end this year, so this is not something to worry about. If Apple were more transparent in this regard, we would rule out this possibility completely, but that’s not the case. Regardless, it won’t reach iOS 20. This is something we can take for granted unless Apple decides to go for 7 years of OS updates for this phone.
In the case of the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, the update support for these phones would be the same as described for the iPhone 11 since they were launched at the same time. Therefore, we do not expect them to receive more than 6 years of software updates. This means they will also be updateable until iOS 19, an update that will arrive in 2025 alongside the new iPhone 17. If they are lucky, they might reach iOS 20, but that remains to be seen.
