If you have an iPhone 8 or iPhone X—or even something older—and are excited about the new features in iOS 17, you might want to consider an upgrade to a new iPhone this fall. When the iOS 17 update is released, it will not be possible to install it on the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, or anything older than those iPhones.
In September 2023 those phones turned six years old, so their omission isn’t really surprising. Apple generally supports iPhones up to about five years old with its latest operating systems, and of course, some features require even newer hardware to be supported.
For more advice see: iOS compatibility, the latest version your iPhone can run.
iPhones compatible with iOS 17
Here are the phones with which you’ll be able to use iOS 17.
- Phone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone SE(2nd gen or later)
The features that require newer iPhones
Some features require newer hardware. For example, the enhanced autocorrect that uses a new machine learning model and supports in-line corrections and full-sentence completions requires an iPhone 12 or later. Other features require other specific new hardware. For instance, while FaceTime on Apple TV will work with any iPhone that supports iOS 17, it requires a 2nd-generation Apple TV 4K.
iPhones not compatible with iOS 17
The iPhone 8 and iPhone X will not run iOS 17, and nor will any iPhones from before those models launched in 2017.
However, that doesn’t mean that the iPhone 8 and iPhone X don’t have a future. Those iPhones will still be supported by iOS 16, which Apple is likely to maintain for some time with security updates. See How long does Apple support iPhones? for all the information on how Apple supports older iPhones.
However, those phones will miss out on the new features in iOS 17. Find out what the differences are in our comparison of iOS 17 vs iOS 16.
Author: Jason Cross, Senior Editor
I have written about technology for my entire professional life - over 25 years. I enjoy learning about how complicated technology works and explaining it in a way anyone can understand.