
So the 5s on iOS 11 was usable if a bit sluggish.Īfter using it in that state for a while, I decided to install iOS 12. I should add that I don't have nearly as much trash on any of my phones as most people, so that could be the reason. For whatever reason, I never felt the overwhelming slowness a lot of iPhone users complain about when their phone gets old. The good thing about the 5s is that even at its worst it was never unusable. Even though I stopped regularly using this device in the past couple of years, I did check on it every few weeks or so, especially when a new iOS version was released, so I already had an idea what the performance was like. The iPhone was regularly updated, so it already had iOS 11.4.1 installed. I've had this phone for four and a half years now and it has only seen infrequent usage over the past couple of years.īefore installing iOS 12, I acclimatized myself with it for a while so I could get a feel for what the phone was like pre-update.

So I pulled out my old iPhone 5s to see what all the fuss is about.


The more important thing, however, is that this particular version of iOS very specifically promises performance improvements for older devices, and I thought I would see if that claim holds up. That, in itself, is some sort of record, especially when you consider things on the Android side. Five years after launch, the iPhone 5s continues to get major software updates, with the latest one being iOS 12. It also launched with the controversial iOS 7, which has since improved considerably.Īnd that is exactly what I'm here to talk about today. A trend that exists to this day and will likely be spurred again with the launch of the gold iPhone XS.Īpart from that, it came with the usual year-over-year upgrades, including a significantly faster processor and improved camera over its predecessor. The lists of firsts continue with the debut of gold color in the lineup, which, as we all know, resulted in literally every other phone being sold in gold. It was also the first phone to have a 64-bit processor, which is so commonplace now we don't even talk about it anymore. One of them was the fingerprint sensor or Touch ID, which we take for granted these days (well before the iPhone X came around, anyway). It was the third time Apple had tried the 's' nomenclature, which eventually became a product cycle for the company.ĭespite the name, the iPhone 5s launched with several major advancements over its predecessor. The Apple iPhone 5s was launched back in 2013.
