Original iPhone Declared Obsolete Everywhere But California
Apple to declare first generation iPhone obsolete from 11 June, but awards it ‘vintage’ status in California
The original iPhone is to be declared obsolete from 11 June 2013, according to Apple documentation, meaning the company will no longer repair or service the smartphone in all territories, except for California, where it has been granted ‘vintage’ status.
In accordance with Californian law, owners of the original iPhone will still be able to obtain service and parts from Apple Retail stores, along with a number of other Apple products that have been made obsolete elsewhere.
Vintage iPhone
Bafflingly, Apple defines vintage products as those that were discontinued more than five years ago and less than seven years ago. The original iPhone was released in 2007.
It remains unclear as to whether the vintage iPhone will be popular with true hipsters who still prefer to play the original Game Boy, but few people are likely to still be using the smartphone, which doesn’t even support 3G networks.
Indeed, the last version of iOS to be made available to the handset was iOS 3.1.3. It boasted a 3.5-inch screen, 128MB of RAM and was available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB varieties.
The original iPhone represented Apple’s first foray into the smartphone market and the company is currently the world’s second largest manufacturer of high-end devices in the world. It has since been succeeded by the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and most recently, the iPhone 5, which was launched in September 2012 with a larger screen and support for LTE networks.
A new version of the iPhone is widely expected to be launched this summer, with reports suggesting the device is set to go into production this quarter
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