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Comment by eugeniub | Hacker News Reader

It's worth noting that Apple also sometimes releases security updates for devices that no longer support the latest iOS. For example, Apple released security update iOS 12.5.4[1] on June 14, 2021 for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6.

[1]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212548

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That's the sort of thing that buys a LOT of good will for me.

But does it really do anything to secure a device that’s past EOL? Or is it a marketing action?

Long official support is absolutely a benefit when looking at smartphones, however, articles keep popping up about Apple basically buying and sitting on vulnerabilities for latest and greatest iOS, because that’s what works economically.

What? Yes, Security updates for eol devices is clearly better than doing nothing. Apple’s externally facing vulnerability management program has a bunch of issues but I don’t see how that is relevant

Better for whom? It’s EOL. Are they just plugging high-visibility issues? That’s not doing anything for individual device’s security. They need a giant INSECURE sign instead of giving that false hope for people: “they might patch me past EOL if it’s bad enough”.

Better for the users and for Apple. "less bad" is another way to put it, but it's the same result. I don't see what you're not getting: one security fix is good, even if there's 3 other huge security gaps. Makes the overall situation less bad (or "better"). You can debate about the magnitude of the improvement, but I really don't see how it can be argued there is no improvement...

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