Every year at WWDC, Apple introduces its major new software updates, and typically, support for some older devices gets dropped. Last year, the company focused on performance on those older devices, actually supporting everything that was supported by iOS 11.
Because no devices got the chop last year, we shouldn"t be surprised that some are getting cut this year. iPhone Soft published a list today (via ZDNet) of iOS devices that won"t be supported by iOS 13, and to be clear, it really doesn"t make much sense, if true.
According to the report, the iPhone 5s, iPhone SE, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Mini 2, and iPad Air won"t be getting the update. That means that supported iPhones will include the 6s and higher, and supported iPads will include iPad Air 2 and higher, iPad 5 and higher, and iPad Mini 3 and higher.
The range of iPhones being cut from support include the A7 chip in the iPhone 5s, the A8 in the iPhone 6 series, and the A9 in the iPhone SE. Both the iPad Air and iPad Mini 2 have an A7 chip. This is where it gets confusing.
It"s certainly wouldn"t be a surprise if the A7 chip is no longer supported; however, that chip is used in the iPad Mini 3. In fact, the Mini 3 was almost the same device as its predecessor, except with Touch ID. The A8 is included in the iPad Mini 4, and the A9 is in the iPad 5, along with an A9X in the early iPad Pro models.
Typically, Apple doesn"t just kill off models of its devices; it kills off the hardware that those devices run on. Take this as a rumor for now, and we"ll find out more when WWDC kicks off in June.