APPLE HAS A somewhat hard-hearted approach to products that are five years old or more: they basically don’t exist. Of course, it doesn…
APPLE HAS A somewhat hard-hearted approach to products that are five years old or more: they basically don’t exist. Of course, it doesn’t put it in such harsh terms, preferring the euphemistic “vintage and obsolete products” term to describe phones, computers and tablets that are, to all intents and purposes, dead to it.
That means that this year the iPhone 5 should sit atop the growing scrapheap that covers everything from the Apple II to the iPod Classic. But in a surprise twist, it looks like 2013’s must-have handset will get a slight stay of execution.
According to 9to5Mac, Apple is planning on rolling out a “Repair Vintage Apple Products Pilot” to extend the life of older models. Sources familiar with the plan told the website that this will start with the iPhone 5,2012 MacBook Airs and mid-2011 iMacs. Although only in the US and Turkey for the latter.
The report adds that the iPhone 4S and 2012’s 15-inch MacBook Pro will follow later this month, before the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro (2012 and early 2013), mid-2012 Mac Pro and GSM iPhone 5 are added on December 30. For now, that’s it – so bad luck if you were planning on taking in a Apple Newton for a service.
To be clear, just because these products are now eligible for repair, a fix isn’t guaranteed. The report does highlight that it’s dependent on part availability, which you would imagine in turn depends on the kind of repair you require. All the same, it’s nice to know that – if the pilot proves successful – your £1,449 512GB iPhone Xs Max won’t be completely worthless in 2023. µ
