AirPods Pro 2nd generation compatibility with iPhone 8

Yesterday I bought a pair of Airpods Pro 2 from the Apple Store in Leeds. Whe I got home I went to connect them to my iPhone 8. When I followed the instructions implicitly I got them connected. However, from everything I have seen, once connected when you go back say the next day to use them all you need to do is open the case near the phone and the picture of the case pops up and you touch the connect button on the image. This does not happen with my phone. I get no image and the only way to connect them is to go back int my bluetooth settings open the case lid and pess the buttin on the back of the case.

I have followed instructions regarding connection issues and removed them from my phone and then re-set them but to no avail. the same issue still occures. But when initalising them again an image pops up saying I need to upgrade to the latest IOS version. Looking at my phone it says I have the latest version 16.7.5.

So, I rang Apple Support who told me the latest software version is 17 something and that is why I cannot connect as normal. In other words I need to buy a newer iPhone that will allow the more recent software to be updated.

However, looking on the Apple website at the airpod Pro 2's specification, it clearly states that they are compatible with the iPhone 8. When buying the airpods I had my phone with me openly on display on the table as the shop assistant sold me the airpods but they never mentioned that they were not completely compatible.

So, can anyone please clear up for me if what I was told by the support, that because my iPhone 8 has a software version (which by the way was only updated a couple of weeks ago automatically to version 16.7.5 and says it is up-to-date) that is not version 17+ will not have the connection function as expected.

[Re-Titled By Moderator]