Is your iPhone model eligible for the iOS 16 update this September? Check list

The day has finally come when Apple CEO Tim Cook will take to the stage and set the ball rolling on the new iPhone 14 series announcements. Today, the tech giant is also expected to announce the official rollout of its latest mobile operating system — iOS 16.

Apple announced the iOS 16 at the Worldwide Developers Conference back in June. The new version of iOS will feature an overhaul, user-editable lock screen, editable iMessages, shared iCloud Photo Libraries, boosted user privacy features, improved Live Text (similar to Google Lens), and other, under-the-hood quality-of-life improvements.

Apple's iPhones usually get an industry-leading five years of OS updates from the date of release and Apple faithfully stuck to this pattern until the iPhone 6s — launched in 2015 — bucked the trend by getting a whopping seven years of updates. This initially raised hopes that all iPhones released after the 6s will get similar treatment, but Apple soon put that to bed by announcing that only iPhones released in and after 2017 will get iOS 16.

So, will your iPhone get iOS 16? Check out the list below.

iPhone 8

iPhone 8 Plus

iPhone X

iPhone XR

iPhone Xs

iPhone Xs Max

iPhone 11

iPhone 11 Pro

iPhone 11 Pro Max

iPhone SE 2020

iPhone 12 Mini

iPhone 12

iPhone 12 Pro

iPhone 12 Pro Max

iPhone 13 Mini

iPhone 13

iPhone 13 Pro

iPhone 13 Pro Max

If your iPhone is on the list above, then gear up to enjoy another year of official iOS support. Now that Apple appears to have fallen back on its five-year support timeline, the next lineup to face the axe would be its 2017 series — iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X.

Apple normally allows for preorders to go live the Friday after launching the new iPhones. This year, that should be September 9. The sales of the iPhones begin the following Friday — September 16.

And, given that Apple usually releases OS updates or security patches on a Tuesday, expect iOS 16 to hit your devices around September 14.

That said, considering that this is the earliest iPhone launch we will have had since the iPhone 7 in 2016, it will not be surprising if iOS 16 is launched when open sales of iPhone 14 begin on September 16, and no later than that.