Yeah, it feels like "damned if you do, damned if you don't". Folks would complain "why can't I buy a simple phone like the 6!" if Apple only sold the latest and greatest, but then when you sell something older, folks want to complain if it's not able to run the latest OS.

Not that Apple's being altruistic here, obviously they want to segment the market and get money from wherever they can. But, can't expect them to sell low price point devices that are as future-proofed (future-resisted?) as top end hardware.