How Long Apple Supports Its Devices

What the Numbers Show

Across all 79 models tracked here the average is 4.8 major operating system versions each. That figure is a floor, not a total: 70 of these devices are still receiving updates, so their counts keep rising. The longest run on record belongs to the Apple TV HD (2015), carried through 11 major versions over 10 years.

For the question people actually mean — how long does support last — only a finished record answers it. 9 devices here have reached their final version, and those averaged 6.2 major versions over 5.2 years. Everything else is still in progress, which is why we report the two separately rather than blending them into one average that would understate both.

The clearest pattern in the table below is the Apple Watch. It has both the lowest version average of any device class here and the four shortest completed records on the page, and that gap is not small — it is worth knowing before buying a watch on the assumption it will last like a phone. Where a class shows no completed records at all, we leave the years column blank rather than infer a number from devices whose support has not ended.

One arithmetic note, because it changes every figure on this page. Apple renumbered all its platforms in 2025, jumping straight from 18 to 26 so the version would match the year. Counting versions by subtracting one number from another would therefore overstate every modern device by seven. The counts here are index arithmetic on each platform's real published sequence instead — the method is set out on our methodology page.

iPhone

32 iPhone models tracked, averaging 5.2 major versions each. Rows in grey have reached their final version; the rest are still receiving updates, so their counts will keep rising.

iPad

14 iPad models tracked, averaging 4.8 major versions each. Rows in grey have reached their final version; the rest are still receiving updates, so their counts will keep rising.

Mac

17 Mac models tracked, averaging 4.8 major versions each. Rows in grey have reached their final version; the rest are still receiving updates, so their counts will keep rising.

Apple Watch

11 Apple Watch models tracked, averaging 3.6 major versions each. Rows in grey have reached their final version; the rest are still receiving updates, so their counts will keep rising.

Apple TV

3 Apple TV models tracked, averaging 7.7 major versions each. Rows in grey have reached their final version; the rest are still receiving updates, so their counts will keep rising.

Vision Pro

2 Vision Pro models tracked, averaging 3.0 major versions each. Rows in grey have reached their final version; the rest are still receiving updates, so their counts will keep rising.

Using This Data

Two devices with the same number of versions can have had very different lives: a model that shipped late in a cycle effectively loses most of its first year, and one dropped early in a renumbering gets a count that looks worse than the experience was. The years column is the corrective — read the two together rather than either alone.

Each model name links to its full page, which covers whether it runs the current beta, whether its chip clears the Apple Intelligence bar and what to expect from battery and storage. If you want the answer for one specific device, the compatibility checker is faster than reading a table. Every figure here is derived from the same records, so the two cannot disagree.

You are welcome to cite or reproduce these figures with a link back. If you find one that looks wrong, tell us at hello@betaprofile.dev — the underlying data is maintained by hand and corrections are worth more to us than being uncorrected.