Apple has officially added the iPhone 5 and the 8GB iPhone 4 to its list of obsolete products, marking the end of service support for the two older iPhone models. The devices have now been moved from the company’s vintage list to the obsolete category.
If you are still using these devices, this change may affect your ability to access official technical support.
What do ” vintage” and “obsolete ” mean
According to Apple’s classification, a product is considered “vintage” when an Apple device completes five years from the time it was discontinued by the company. While it is labelled “obsolete” after seven years.
An iPhone device that falls into the vintage category may still receive limited services, but it depends on parts that are available from an Apple service provider. On the other hand, if an Apple device is declared obsolete, then it will no longer be supported with repairs or any other services through Apple stores or its authorised service providers.
Apple ends repair support for iPhone 5 and iPhone 4
The iPhone 5 was originally launched in 2012 and discontinued a year later following the debut of newer models. It was added to the vintage list in 2018, which meant that partial repair services were already restricted. With its recent transition to the obsolete category, official repair options for the device are now going to be completely unavailable.
Similarly, the 8GB variant of the iPhone 4 was introduced in 2011 and discontinued in 2013. With Apple’s recent announcement, this device has also reached the end of its service lifecycle.
With this update, users still holding on to these devices will have to rely on third-party repair options, as Apple has effectively ended hardware support for the two models.
For context, the iPhone 5 was launched in India at a base price of Rs 45,500 and featured a 4-inch Retina display and was powered by Apple’s A6 chip. It sported an 8-megapixel rear iSight camera capable of recording 1080p videos, along with a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera. The iPhone 5 was available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB storage options, and it originally shipped with iOS 6, later upgradable to iOS 10.
