iOS 4 Device Eligibility Breakdown and Matrix

There’s one thing for certain about iOS 4 that I’ve seen over and over again is the confusion over what devices are eligible and what features will those devices get.  So, here’s a little breakdown to help bring reason to the madness that I created to help determine if your 3rd generation iPod Touch will get multitasking (it doesn’t), or if your iPhone 3G is eligible for homescreen wallpapers (it’s not).

The basic crux of iOS 4 is that it is targeted at the latest iPhone and iPod Touches, anything that is not current may receive the update but those devices will lack features.  The “current” devices are the iPhone 3GS and the new iPhone 4 along with the 3rd generation iPod Touch (16gb and 32gb versions).  Anything else will get some subset of features of iOS excluding the original iPhone (iPhone 2G) and the original iPod Touch which are not eligible for the new OS on any level.

So here we go:

Device	iOS 4 Eligible	Features	iMovie
iPhone 4 Release: 2010	Yes, Ships With	All	Yes
iPhone 3GS Release: 2009	Yes, Upgrade	No Video Zoom (camera has digital zoom)	No
iPhone 3G Release: 2008	Yes, Upgrade	No Multitasking, No Homescreen Wallpaper	No
iPhone “2G” Release: 2007	Not Eligible
iPod Touch 16,32,64GB Release: 2009 3rd Gen	Yes, Upgrade	All	No
iPod Touch 8GB Release: 2008 (Current 3rd Gen 8GB Model)	Yes, Upgrade	No Multitasking, No Homescreen Wallpaper	No
iPod Touch All Sizes Release: 2008 2rd Gen	Yes, Upgrade	No Multitasking, No Homescreen Wallpaper	No
iPod Touch All Sizes Release: 2007 1st Gen (Plastic Screen)	Not Eligible