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Reports in the past few weeks claimed that Apple's main focus remains Apple Intelligence. The company was working on the now-released iOS 18.2, which brings ChatGPT integration to the iPhone and iPad, and iOS 18.4, which will deliver a smarter Siri.
Those reports said work on iOS 19 had been delayed. Therefore, some iOS 19 Apple Intelligence features might see delays similar to what happened this year.
As for the non-AI features in iOS 19, I said at the time that I expect Apple to ship novelties in next year's operating system. After all, Apple Intelligence will only work on the iPhone 17, iPhone 16, and the iPhone 15 Pros.
While we're yet to find out the big non-AI features of iOS 19, there is good news for iPhone owners that use older models. A leak says that all the models that can run iOS 18 will also run iOS 19 next year. The only compatibility change will impact the iPad, as certain models will lose support for iOS 19.
French blog iPhoneSoft learned from a purported source inside Apple that development work on iOS 19 had not started for this particular person. That's a first for the leaker compared to previous years. Instead, they're supposedly working on iOS 18.x updates and visionOS.
This person reportedly learned the iPhone models that will run iOS 19 next year, telling the blog that all the iPhones compatible with iOS 18 will also support the next OS upgrade. iPhoneSoft listed all the iPhones that will support iOS 19 next year, including the unreleased iPhone 17 and iPhone SE 4 models:
Regarding iPadOS 19, Apple will stop models for some older iPads that can still run iPadOS 18. You'll need an iPad with an A12 chip or later to run iPadOS 19 next year. Here's the list of supported iPads:
While these early iOS 19 and iPadOS 19 compatibility claims make sense, there's no way to confirm any of them. Apple will hold its WWDC 2025 event next June. We'll see plenty of iOS rumors by then, which will shed further light on the features Apple might be working with and the devices that will support them.