Alleged iOS 6 beta details suggest support for iPhone 3GS
New details from the Far East purport to show the full list of supported devices for Apple's iOS 6 beta, and included among those is the iPhone 3GS, first released in 2009.
The details come from a list of links to the Apple Developer Connection website for an iOS 6 beta build labeled "10A5316K." The links are not active, as Apple has yet to formally announce iOS 6 or release a beta to developers.
The full list of links to Apple's developer site were provided to AppleInsider on Saturday, but the links are not active, so they could easily have been faked. The links appear to have originated from the Chinese website WeiPhone.com.
The provided links give a "Session Expired" page when accessing them is attempted. Changing the links slightly sends users to a page that instead reads "Access Denied."
The full list of devices claimed to be supported by the iOS 6 beta are the iPad 2, and third-generation iPad; the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S; the fourth-generation iPod touch; and the second- and third-generation Apple TV.
If the links are legitimate, they would suggest that Apple plans to drop support for the third-generation iPod touch and first-generation iPad with the first beta of iOS 6.
Also included among the list of links is an unannounced Safari 6. They include a developer preview for OS X 10.7 Lion, and a separate uninstaller.

The appearance of iOS 6 at this week's Worldwide Developers Conference was revealed last week, when Apple began hanging banners inside Moscone West in San Francisco, Calif. The conference will kick off on Monday.
iOS 6 and other products are expected to be officially introduced by Apple in a keynote presentation on Monday at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern. AppleInsider will have full, live coverage of the event.
The details come from a list of links to the Apple Developer Connection website for an iOS 6 beta build labeled "10A5316K." The links are not active, as Apple has yet to formally announce iOS 6 or release a beta to developers.
The full list of links to Apple's developer site were provided to AppleInsider on Saturday, but the links are not active, so they could easily have been faked. The links appear to have originated from the Chinese website WeiPhone.com.
The provided links give a "Session Expired" page when accessing them is attempted. Changing the links slightly sends users to a page that instead reads "Access Denied."
The full list of devices claimed to be supported by the iOS 6 beta are the iPad 2, and third-generation iPad; the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S; the fourth-generation iPod touch; and the second- and third-generation Apple TV.
If the links are legitimate, they would suggest that Apple plans to drop support for the third-generation iPod touch and first-generation iPad with the first beta of iOS 6.
Also included among the list of links is an unannounced Safari 6. They include a developer preview for OS X 10.7 Lion, and a separate uninstaller.
The appearance of iOS 6 at this week's Worldwide Developers Conference was revealed last week, when Apple began hanging banners inside Moscone West in San Francisco, Calif. The conference will kick off on Monday.
iOS 6 and other products are expected to be officially introduced by Apple in a keynote presentation on Monday at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern. AppleInsider will have full, live coverage of the event.
Comments
How do we know these links even exist if they're not active? You can type anything you want and have it look like a URL.
This is the first I'm hearing of first-gen iPad support, particularly since it has been missing the last few days.
Also, booyah, Safari 6. 5.2 is dandy, but if they're jumping a whole number then they must be adding something good.
Hardware-accelerated compositing I imagine but hopefully also stopping the random refresh as well as fix the performance of plugins.
It seems weird to have three different iPhones but only one iPod Touch?
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
The provided links give a "Session Expired" page when accessing them is attempted. Changing the links slightly sends users to a page that instead reads "Access Denied."
The first message is just telling you that the file exists but you have not agreed to the additional NDA/terms of use, which is because you have not yet been presented with the form that you need to submit, thus you have no session, expired or otherwise just missing. The second message is actually a more secure way of saying file not found.
Quote:
Originally Posted by THEMAC1NT0SH
It seems weird to have three different iPhones but only one iPod Touch?
Yeah, if they are supporting the iPhone 3GS, it makes little sense to not support the third-gen iPod Touch since it's essentially the same hardware so it'd be minimal effort. Without a cellular radio and fewer background programs, supporting the 3rd gen iPod Touch should be even simpler than supporting the IPhone 3GS.
Supporting 3rd gen devices in general with iOS 6 isn't out of the question since both 3rd and 4th gen devices use the same Cortex A8 CPU and SGX535 GPU so compatibility is not an issue. 3rd gen devices are just a little slower on the CPU side, but a little faster on the GPU side due to lower resolution. Since iOS 6 already needs to fit into 256MB of RAM for the 4th gen iPod Touch, RAM is not an issue for 3rd gen devices either.
Double post.
I read somewhere that this same website had links last year which proved to be real.
2) the 3GS will be around for a while
Quote:
Originally Posted by saarek
Makes complete sense, as it's a current selling product there'd be an uproar if it could not run iOS 6!
Which could mean that iOS 6 will be released before the next iPhone. I'm pretty sure the 3GS will be history after the next iPhone is released, which would make it obsolete and unsupported for iOS 6 if it was released in conjunction with the new iPhone. Either way I'd wait and see what kind of user experience 3GS users have upgrading to iOS 6 even if it is supported as it may actually prove to be too slow or unstable like what happened with the 3G on iOS 4. Even if they do support the 3GS you can expect it to be lacking some features due to hardware incompatibility.
.
Quote:
Originally Posted by asdasd
1) the links were genuine, it wasn't a 404
2) the 3GS will be around for a while
Then why can't the third-gen iPod Touch it's basically the same thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by saarek
Makes complete sense, as it's a current selling product there'd be an uproar if it could not run iOS 6!
It WON'T be a currently selling product when iOS 6 comes out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
It WON'T be a currently selling product when iOS 6 comes out.
True. but the 3G wasn't a currently selling model when iOS 4 came out, and it was still supported. Same with the original iPhone and iOS 3.
The 'session expired' lends credence I'd have thought.
Quote:
Originally Posted by melgross
I read somewhere that this same website had links last year which proved to be real.
That is the scary part. How do they know the directory structure? Do they have an admin password or something?
Quote:
Originally Posted by hittrj01
True. but the 3G wasn't a currently selling model when iOS 4 came out, and it was still supported. Same with the original iPhone and iOS 3.
They don't have to support anything below the 4.0 models or anything that shipped with iOS 4.
It looks like they probably will however (because of the "uproar"), but personally I wish they wouldn't. Support of old devices, especially on such a rapidly evolving platform that's essentially in it's early days, is usually a mistake. Apple is being hobbled here by the very popularity of their products, it would be better for all concerned in the long run to cast off the 3rd generation devices.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
It WON'T be a currently selling product when iOS 6 comes out.
and what was Apples claim around supporting software on currently selling or recently selling hardware?
Ios 5.1.1. iOS6? Seems like Apple is jumping the gun and jumping os versions rapidly. Why not iOS 5.5 instead of iOS6? Also why the jump in Safari versions. I am running the 5.2 beta. Why jump to Safari 6 when the 5.2 beta is not even main stream? Doesn't make sense.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hittrj01
True. but the 3G wasn't a currently selling model when iOS 4 came out, and it was still supported. Same with the original iPhone and iOS 3.
Because they hadn't yet received their three years' support. The 3GS has. Unless Apple is changing that, in which case I expect iOS 7 to also run on the 1st gen iPad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cycomiko
and what was Apples claim around supporting software on currently selling or recently selling hardware?
*shrug* What was it?