Original iPhone Will Soon Be 'Obsolete' In Apple Retail Stores

The original iPhone will soon be considered obsolete in Apple Retail Stores according to an internal Apple document shared by 9to5Mac. Products considered 'obsolete' are ineligible for service parts and documentation at retail stores and cannot be repaired at mail-in AppleCare Repair Centers.

Apple typically makes products 'obsolete' or 'vintage' five years after they are discontinued, though there are some exceptions where required by law. The original iPhone went on sale in June 2007 and was discontinued in July 2008 when the iPhone 3G was released.

Iphone
Other Apple products that will be considered 'vintage' as of June 11, 2013 include the mid-2007 models of the iMac, the late 2006 model Xserve, and the original Mac Pro. 9to5Mac has the list of newly minted vintage and obsolete products, while Apple maintains a list of all products named vintage or obsolete going back to the Apple II.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

M5 MacBook Pro

Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models. In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB. Like...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

Apple Debuts New iPad Pro With M5 Chip, Faster Charging, and More

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips. The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
apple oct 2024 mac tease

Apple Expected to Announce These Two to Three Products 'This Week'

Sunday October 12, 2025 7:05 am PDT by
Apple plans to announce new products "this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple's "Mac Your Calendars" teaser last October In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the products set to be updated this week include the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, and "likely" the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, with all three likely to receive a spec bump with Apple's next-generation M5 chip. Gurman...
maxresdefault

Here's Everything Apple Announced Today

Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below. MacBook Pro M5...
joz macbook tease

Apple Teases Upcoming M5 MacBook Pro Launch: 'Something Powerful is Coming'

Tuesday October 14, 2025 11:59 am PDT by
Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak today teased the launch of an upcoming product, saying "something powerful is coming" on social media. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. A short animation accompanying Joswiak's teaser reveals a brief glimpse of a MacBook Pro along with the words "coming soon." The shape of the MacBook Pro is a V, which is the Roman numeral...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday October 14, 2025 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version? According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new AirPods Max will be lighter than the current ones, but exactly how much is as yet known. The current AirPods Max weigh 0.85 pounds (386.2 grams), excluding the charging case, making it one of the heavier...
Vision Pro M5 Announcement

Apple Updates Vision Pro With M5 Chip, Dual Knit Band, and 120Hz Support

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band. The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM. With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...
macbook pro blue

Apple's M5 MacBook Pro Imminent: What to Expect

Tuesday October 14, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by
Apple is going to launch a new version of the MacBook Pro as soon as tomorrow, so we thought we'd go over what to expect from Apple's upcoming Mac. M5 Chip The MacBook Pro will be one of the first new devices to use the next-generation M5 chip, which will replace the M4 chip. The M5 is built on TSMC's more advanced 3-nanometer process, and it will bring speed and efficiency improvements. ...
MacBook Pro M5 Screen

New MacBook Pro Does Not Include a Charger in the Box in Europe

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:59 am PDT by
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and others, according to Apple's online store. In the U.S. and all other countries outside of Europe, the new MacBook Pro comes with Apple's 70W USB-C Power Adapter, but European customers miss out....
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...

Top Rated Comments

rmatthewware Avatar
163 months ago
This phone was revolutionary. There were none like it ever before.

Now we got Tim Cook.

The problem with the Tim Cook bashing is that you don't seem to understand how CEOs really work. Steve Jobs was an exception. The CEO isn't supposed to innovate. They're supposed to run the day-to-day business end of things. Cook is perfect for what he's supposed to be doing. It's Jonny Ive's job to innovate.
Score: 57 Votes (Like | Disagree)
komodrone Avatar
163 months ago
"But I'm still using an original iPhone..." - no one sane in 2012-2013.
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ybz90 Avatar
163 months ago
A handheld device that's over 6 years old is considered obsolete by the manufacturer. Exactly 0 people in the entire world are surprised by this "news".
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
historyteacher Avatar
163 months ago
The problem with the Tim Cook bashing is that you don't seem to understand how CEOs really work. Steve Jobs was an exception. The CEO isn't supposed to innovate. They're supposed to run the day-to-day business end of things. Cook is perfect for what he's supposed to be doing. It's Jonny Ive's job to innovate.

Great point. Well stated.

mm
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
spyguy10709 Avatar
163 months ago
Woah.

I still remember that warm June day. It was truly magical. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE wanted one of those phones. Something like 75% of all Americans new the iPhones release date - andApple had a $0 marketing budget for it.

RIP little guy.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dark Dragoon Avatar
163 months ago
I have the original iPhone which I purchased the day after launch in the UK back in November 2007. I've yet to upgrade and have used the phone every day since, I think it may only have been turned off for a maximum of a few hours at a time for things like exams many years ago.

Some of the more amusing moments recently have been when people ask if it's the new iPhone, I guess they had forgotten what the 2G looked like.

The only part thats failed on the phone is the headset which I had replaced once under warranty, the current one has also stopped working. The phone has also never been in a case, though I've been careful with it over the years, so it's still in good condition, no scratches on the screen and only one hard to see dent on the back. The chrome strip around the screen is looking a little worn though.

So whats it like for my day to day use.

Phone Calls - Works fine
Text Messages - Works fine
Email - Works fine
Web Browsing - Slow, but if you can wait its fine
Camera - Low quality, no video
Calendar - No sync services for it anymore so I sync via iTunes
Contacts - No sync services for it anymore so I sync via iTunes
Music - Works fine, can listen to music for quite a few hours.
Movies - Plays back standard def videos fine, playback lasts a few hours
Games - Angry Birds, Star Defense, Zenonia, Zen Bound, Galaxy on Fire, Monkey Ball and others play fine though some are a little slow. Can only play for around an hour or so on the battery.
Updates and New Applications - There are none available, make sure not to auto update the apps in iTunes.

Overall its slow and there are no new apps or updates for it, but it still works fine. The most frustrating thing is that older versions of the apps are not available so apps that used to work fine on it can no longer be purchased or downloaded for it.
The battery life is still not bad, I leave everything turned on (WiFi, Bluetooth, Location, Notifications), and charge the phone at night so it's good for the next day. Though this isn't completely necessary as it will run for a good few days of light usage.
The lack of 3G is annoying but most places I go have WiFi. The lack of GPS is another issue, though not one that I'm that bothered by.

As well as the original iPhone I also have an Apple Bluetooth Headset to go with it, the battery life on the headset isn't that great any more but it does the job, though I rarely use it.


When I first bought the phone I said I would use it until it broke, was lost, or the battery life became so bad that it's unusable. It isn't that time yet though probably soon it will be. I've watched the release of every new iPhone since, where I've been pretty excited to see it but decided not to buy as it either wasn't a big enough change (the earlier models) or was out of my budget especially as my phone still works (newer models).
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)