Reports in recent weeks have claimed that Apple’s main focus remains Apple Intelligence. The company was working on iOS 18.2, now available, which brings ChatGPT integration to the iPhone and iPad, and iOS 18.4, which will offer a smarter Siri.
These reports indicated that work on iOS 19 was delayed. As a result, some Apple Intelligence features in iOS 19 may see delays similar to this year.
As for non-AI features in iOS 19, I said at the time that I expected Apple to offer some new features in next year’s operating system. After all, Apple Intelligence will only work on the iPhone 17, iPhone 16, and iPhone 15 Pros.
While we haven’t yet discovered the major non-AI features of iOS 19, there is some good news for iPhone owners using older models. A leak indicates that all models that can run iOS 18 will also run iOS 19 next year. The only compatibility change will affect the iPad, as some models will lose support for iOS 19.
French blog iPhoneSoft has learned from a purported source within Apple that development work on iOS 19 has not begun for this particular person. This is a first for the fugitive compared to previous years. Instead, they are supposed to be working on iOS 18.x and visionOS updates.
This person reportedly learned which iPhone models will run iOS 19 next year, telling the blog that all iPhones compatible with iOS 18 will also support the upcoming OS upgrade. iPhoneSoft has listed all the iPhones that will support iOS 19 next year, including the unreleased iPhone 17 and iPhone SE 4 models:
- iPhone 17, 17 Air, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max (2025)
- iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max (2024)
- iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max (2023)
- iPhone 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max (2022)
- iPhone 13, 13 Mini, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max (2021)
- iPhone 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max (2020)
- iPhone 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max (2019)
- iPhone XS/XS Max (2018)
- iPhone XR (2018)
- iPhone SE (4th generation) (2025)
- iPhone SE (3rd generation) (2022)
- iPhone SE (2nd generation) (2020)
Regarding iPadOS 19, Apple will discontinue models for some older iPads that can still run iPadOS 18. You will need an iPad with an A12 chip or later to run iPadOS 19 next year. Here is the list of supported iPads:
- iPad mini (5th generation or later)
- iPad (8th generation or later)
- iPad Air (3rd generation or later)
- iPad Pro (2018 or later)
While these early claims of compatibility with iOS 19 and iPadOS 19 make sense, there’s no way to confirm them. Apple will host its WWDC 2025 event next June. We will then see a lot of iOS rumors, which will provide a better understanding of what features Apple might be working with and what devices will support them.
