Ask HN: Why can't older iPhones be upgraded to the latest iOS versions?
What stuff in iOS 13.x+ is so magic that it isn't compatible with older iPhone versions?
I still have an iPhone 6 that does what it's supposed to do.
I still have an iPhone 6 that does what it's supposed to do.
I have several apps that prompted me to upgrade my phone because they no longer support such and such iOS version. Some of them still work in legacy mode though.
But this is just planned obsolescence[0] in action.
It's like asking what's so special about Windows 11 that can't run on my Gateway from 2012. Except that far more smartphone innovation has occurred in the last decade than computer innovation, so make it a netbook from 2008.