iOS 5 Won't Work With iPhone 3GS?

Apple's upcoming WWDC in June should reveal details on Apple's iCloud, OSX Lion, and the new iOS 5. And of course in the week or so preceding the event, we'll be hearing plenty of speculation on those details. Today an analyst and Mobile Review editor, Eldar Murtazin, claims that the iOS 5 will not be compatible with iPhone 3GS handsets.

Murtazin posted his claim via Twitter, where he wrote, "Just one comment. Apple iPhone 3Gs wont be upgradable to iOS 5.x. iPhone 4 will." Although there's no specific evidence to support his claim, Murtazin has been fairly accurate in the past with several of his claims, including the Nokia N8 and the Nokia/Microsoft deal.

It's believed that Apple has been testing iOS 5 on the 3GS and the third-generation iPod touch, but may have found that the new firmware doesn't run very fast or well on the older hardware. Apple also seems to have an obsolescence pattern of two years for its devices, with support for the original iPhone having been dropped with iOS 4 in the summer of 2010. The iPhone 3G and second-generation iPod touch were left behind with the release of iOS 4.3 earlier this year.

[via iPodNN]