RIP iPhone 5S, as Apple updates its 'Obsolete' and 'Vintage' product lists
Goodbye, old friend.
If you're still using an iPhone 5S, listen up - Apple has marked the device as "obsolete" as part of its regular hardware updates.
As per the company's support site, the iPhone 5S is now considered obsolete, meaning it'll no longer receive repairs from Apple itself, or from Apple Authorized Service Providers. You'll likely still be able to get third-party repairs, however.
The iPhone 5S debuted in September 2013, arriving with a new 8 Megapixel iSight Camera, the A7 chip and the Touch ID Fingerprint sensor.
Apple called it "the most forward-thinking iPhone ever", and considering it made it almost a decade before Apple dubbed it obsolete, that's some going.
More Apple devices become 'Vintage'
Aside from obsolete, Apple also dubs devices older than five years as "vintage", which means you can expect another two years of repair servicing as long as the company or its authorized repair service providers can source the required parts.
New arrivals in this category include the iPod Touch sixth-generation and the 2015 21.5-inch iMac.
The iPod Touch arrived in 2015 with the Apple A8 chip, but even at the time, it felt like the iPhone had somewhat overtaken the product line, while the iMac design persisted right up until the arrival of the first Apple Silicon all-in-one Mac which arrived in 2021.
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iPhone 15 | $799 at Apple
Need to upgrade your 5S? You can't go wrong with the iPhone 15 - at least until the inevitable next model arrives later this year.
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Lloyd Coombes is a freelance writer with a specialism in Apple tech. From his first, hand-me-down iMac, he’s been working with Apple products for over a decade, and while he loves his iPhone and Mac, the iPad will always have his heart for reasons he still can’t quite fathom. Since moving from blogging to writing professionally, Lloyd’s work can be found at TechRadar, Macworld, TechAdvisor and plenty more. He’s also the Editor in Chief at GGRecon.com, and on the rare occasion he’s not writing you’ll find him spending time with his son, or working hard at the gym (while wearing an Apple Watch, naturally). You can find him on Twitter @lloydcoombes.