Cost of ownership is a price divided by the years you keep the thing, and Apple publishes exactly one number on the second half of that sum. It is four years, and it appears in the eligibility wording for AppleCare One Family: most devices less than four years old and in good working condition.
Everything else has to be read off compatibility lists rather than commitments. iOS 27 still supports the iPhone 11, which went on sale in 2019. watchOS 27 does not support an Apple Watch Series 8 from 2022. Apple has published no statement anywhere in this launch material about how many years of software any new product will get.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Only published age limit | AppleCare One Family covers most devices less than four years old |
| Oldest iPhone on the iOS 27 list | iPhone 11, plus iPhone SE 2nd generation and later |
| Apple Watches watchOS 27 leaves off | Series 7, Series 8, SE 2nd generation, the original Ultra |
| Support-length commitment | None published |
| iPhone 18 Pro 256GB | $1,199 with carrier connectivity |
| Apple Watch Series 12 | From $399 |
| Trade-in guidance Apple publishes | A range of $175 to $885 in the US, no per-model table |
The four-year line Apple does draw
AppleCare One Family is $49.99 a month from Monday, September 14, covers up to six people set up through Family Sharing, allows six total claims a year across the group, and adds newly purchased devices automatically at no extra cost with the price unchanged. The age rule is the interesting part: eligibility stops at four years.
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That is the only place in this launch where Apple attaches a number of years to a device you already own. AppleCare One at $19.99 a month covers up to three products with each additional product at $5.99 a month, and Apple has not published a per-device AppleCare+ price for a single product it launched in September 2026, so there is no second age or price to compare it against.
What the compatibility lists actually prove
Apple’s iOS 27 device list runs from iPhone 11 and iPhone SE 2nd generation up to iPhone Duo, and it drops nothing that ran iOS 26. An iPhone 11 bought in 2019 is on a 2026 list, which is seven years on our arithmetic.
The Apple Watch side is shorter and blunter. watchOS 27 names eight watches, and Series 7, Series 8, the Apple Watch SE 2nd generation and the original Ultra are not among them. A Series 8 that went on sale in 2022 took its last major release in September 2025, three years later on our arithmetic.
| Device | On sale | Position in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 11 | 2019 | On the iOS 27 list, seven years on |
| Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 | 2023 | Oldest watches on the watchOS 27 list |
| Apple Watch Series 8 and the original Ultra | 2022 | Last major release was watchOS 26 in September 2025 |
| Apple Watch Series 7 | 2021 | Also stops at watchOS 26 |
Cost per year, on our arithmetic
Divide the published prices by plausible ownership periods and the spread is wide enough to change buying decisions. A $1,199 iPhone 18 Pro is $399.67 a year over three years, $299.75 over four and $171.29 over seven. A $399 Apple Watch Series 12 is $99.75 a year over four. A one-third share of AppleCare One adds $79.96 a year on top. Those are our figures, not Apple’s, and the $100 price rise on this generation moves every one of them.
One more figure rewards a long hold, and Apple publishes it only in a PDF. The Product Environmental Report puts an iPhone 18 Pro at 63 kg of CO2e at 256GB, rising to 109 kg at 2TB. Spread over seven years rather than three, that is the same manufacturing cost divided by more use.
Why this still is not a calculation
Three gaps stop the sum closing. Apple has published no repair price for any September 2026 product, so the cost of keeping a four-year-old phone alive is unknown. It has published no policy document about how long it keeps signing an older iOS version, so the option of staying put is undocumented too.
The third gap is resale. Apple’s own quotable trade-in wording is a range, $175 to $885 in credit for an iPhone 13 or later in the US, and it publishes no per-model table. It also cut every iPhone trade-in payout on September 9, some by as much as $120, which is a reminder that the residual value at the end of an ownership period is set later and not by you.
What Apple has not said
Apple has published no software support commitment for iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone Duo, AirPods 5, Apple Watch Series 12 or Apple Watch Ultra 4, no per-device AppleCare+ price, no repair or battery service pricing, no age rule for AppleCare One beyond the family plan’s four years, and no forward trade-in value for anything it sells. Every per-year figure here is our arithmetic on Apple’s published prices and dates, not a forecast of how long any product will be supported.
iPhone 18 Pro pre-orders open at 12:00 UTC today, Saturday, September 12. iOS 27 and watchOS 27 arrive free on Monday, September 14, and the hardware, including Apple Watch Series 12, reaches stores on Friday, September 18.
