Today Apple placed a number of the company’s devices on the list of “vintage” products. These include the iPhone X, the first-generation HomePod smart speaker, and the first-generation AirPods.
The list of old and obsolete products is a living document that Apple updates with products that the company no longer supports. Discovered by MacRumors, products are classified as vintage when Apple has stopped selling a device for more than five years, but less than seven.
While all three products can be taken to Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers for repairs, anyone using them still only has two more years of support before Apple discontinues it. That’s assuming parts are even available for the device at this point.
After seven years, Apple changes the classification from vintage to obsolete. The products are considered out of date seven years after Apple has stopped distributing the device for sale. At that point, Apple Stores and the company’s service providers will no longer offer repairs or other services for the technology.
While I’m still of the opinion that stuff from the 80s (or I guess 90s now) has long since reached vintage status, technology moves faster than that.
The iPhone X was announced in September 2017 and released for purchase in November 2017. The iPhone X, along with celebrating the 10th anniversary of the release of the iPhone made a number of changes to the iconic phone that have stuck in later versions.
Bezels around the screen began to shrink, the Home button disappeared, and it’s the first iPhone to feature FaceID instead of Touch ID. Powered by the A11 chip, the phone also introduced Animojis, a feature that is the only reason I had to upgrade the phone for my son.
The same year the iPhone X came out, Apple introduced the HomePod smart speaker. Although it didn’t come out until February 2018. Designed to integrate with Apple Music and AirPlay, it was an impressive speaker. However, Apple’s first smart speaker lagged behind Google and Amazon with Siri struggling with smart home tasks and only controlling Apple Music but not other services. The HomePod 2 and HomePod Mini solved some of these problems, perhaps putting the pin on HomePod’s longevity.
Finally, the original AirPods come out in December 2016. It could be argued that AirPods were the first true wireless headphones. They also heralded the end of headphone jacks on iPhones with the iPhone 7 “boldly” losing the port in favor of AirPods.
That’s not to say AirPods haven’t had an impact even though the originals have been superseded by later iterations. Even rivals like Samsung have started imitating the AirPods design.
One day, I’m sure, you’ll tell your grandkids about these gadgets or it’ll be a nice memory dump when you pull them out of boxes in an attic, even though they should have been recycled decades ago.
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