Why can't older iPhones be upgraded to the latest iOS versions?

Question

What stuff in iOS 13.x+ is so magic that it isn't compatible with older iPhone versions?I still have an iPhone 6 that does what it's supposed to do.

sysadm1n · Accepted Answer

Apps stop supporting older/legacy devices because of all the new hardware/software improvements. If you're lucky, some apps will be backwards compatible and will run on older iOS releases, but that's rare.
I have several apps that prompted me to upgrade my phone because they no longer support such and such iOS version. Some of them still work in legacy mode though.
But this is just planned obsolescence[0] in action.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

gjsman-1000 · Answer

Your iPhone 6 was released in 2014. It's now 2023.It's like asking what's so special about Windows 11 that can't run on my Gateway from 2012. Except that far more smartphone innovation has occurred in the last decade than computer innovation, so make it a netbook from 2008.

mattl · Answer

RAM. Devices with less than 2GB RAM were dropped.

Why can't older iPhones be upgraded to the latest iOS versions?

What stuff in iOS 13.x+ is so magic that it isn't compatible with older iPhone versions?
I still have an iPhone 6 that does what it's supposed to do.

Your iPhone 6 was released in 2014. It's now 2023.
It's like asking what's so special about Windows 11 that can't run on my Gateway from 2012. Except that far more smartphone innovation has occurred in the last decade than computer innovation, so make it a netbook from 2008.

RAM. Devices with less than 2GB RAM were dropped.