Minimum Required PHP version for Plugins

WordPress development is taking a big step forward to in encouraging adoption of up-to-date technologies, And this time its in the form of “Minimum PHP version” required to run a plugin. As of yesterday, plugin developers can set the minimum PHP version required in order to run their plugins. A Small Step for WordPress, a Giant Leap for Plugin Developers
For the last several years plugin developers requested more flexibility with their plugins. Many developers don’t want to support old PHP versions, they prefer to adopt new language-inherited features and the latest PHP standards.
Up until now, plugin developers could not set the minimum required PHP version just like they could set the minimum required WordPress version. The plugin directory and WordPress core did not support that. So, many developers used their own custom solutions to limit plugin activation on sites using old PHP versions. As of now, no custom solutions are necessary, WordPress will handle that in Core.
The change didn’t happen due to developers request, it was part of an effort to make people upgrade to newer PHP versions and to help accelerate the abandonment rate of PHP 5.2.
The first step
Source: https://managewp.org/articles/16027/minimum-required-php-version-for-plugins

source https://williechiu40.wordpress.com/2017/09/02/minimum-required-php-version-for-plugins/