In order to provide a well-rounded answer, it would help if you could share how many users that 1% actually represents. Without knowing whether that’s a few hundred or tens of thousands, it’s hard to meaningfully weigh the impact of this change.
Also, to be clear, no one’s suggesting that the other 99% should be held back. But this doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing decision. Many platforms maintain a basic compatibility mode or fallback experience for users on older systems—enough to stay functional, even if some newer features aren’t available. That kind of approach supports both progress and accessibility.
So the real question is: was a fallback mode ever considered? If so, why was it rejected in favor of a hard cutoff?
Some transparency here would go a long way in helping communities understand whether this is truly a user-centered decision or just a technical convenience.