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Comment by spun | Hacker News Reader

Aren't we comparing apples and oranges here? This is the O Beta. I'm sure O will be supported on the Nexus 6 once it's officially out.

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No, the Nexus 6 has reached end-of-life and will not be receiving any more non-security updates. It already missed the tiny 7.1.2 maintenance update, so Google is serious about their EOL dates.

https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705#nexus_device...

It is apple and oranges.

The situation is pretty complex but the support libs & play services are available on virtually all devices (API 9+ IIRC, but anything older would not be able to run most modern apps).

Does the same applies to old iPhones? Can the iPhone 5 run the most recent version of let's say the Facebook/Messenger app?

Yes. The iPhone 5 has received iOS 10, so it can run all iOS 10 apps in their most recent versions. There are some (mostly hardware) features that iPhone 5 users don't have access to (e.g. 3D Touch) so they might not be able to use all power features, but that doesn't prevent you from using the complete fully updated app catalog.

As an iPhone 5S user, I don't feel like I'm disadvantaged at all from having a phone that is three generations behind.

Sorry, I mean to ask about the performance aspect.

But I guess that's up to the developer anyhow.

Thanks for your reply. (A few of my friends also use 5s and they also feel it's still pretty okay.)

I believe the Nexus 6 is too old to get any future major updates. Last I read, they pulled the 7.1.1 update, downgrading these users to 7.0. It appears that you can still sideload 7.1 onto a Nexus 6, but will not currently receive OTA updates.

https://9to5google.com/2017/03/15/nexus-6-android-7-1-1-down...

Google has flat out said they won't support any devices past 18 months. The Pixel may not even receive any updates after O.

Well, to be explicit, they set the minimum timeframe. For example, the Nexus Player is still on the latest version of Android and will/should receive 'O'

(Not letting google off the hook here. What they're doing isn't great and they should do better. Just saying your statement isn't entirely correct)

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