the three iphones you can't update after ios 26 – including 2019’s bestseller

Goodbye friends (Picture: AP)

October 2018. Lady Gaga,Calvin Harris and Nicki Minaj were in the charts,Theresa May was prime minister,and Apple’s iPhone XR was about to debut.

It doesn’t feel that long ago,but prepare for time to hit like a rogue wave… that iPhone will become nearly obsolete this week.

You may have sent all your millennial gifs in capital letters on it,swiped your way through Tinder with it,or perhaps you still use it today.

But it can’t download the latest software update now Apple has released iOS 26,just before the newly released iPhone 17 and iPhone Air hit shelves.

That means that,while you can still use it and get critical security patches (for now),it won’t get the latest features,and app developers will gradually stop catering to it.

This is bad,not only because valuable metals are lost to recycling (so more have to be dug up),but because the phones contain materials that can be harmful,such as heavy metals,which can leach into soil and groundwater,contaminating them.

Meanwhile,their lithium-ion batteries can catch fire or explode.

So if you are saying goodbye to a phone in the coming months,do it properly. You might even get some money for it.

A version of this article was first published on September 2,2025.