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Apple Adding iPhone 5 and Additional Macs to Pilot Program Allowing Repairs of Select 'Vintage' Products

Thursday November 1, 2018 12:42 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Normally, an Apple product becomes vintage once five years have passed since it was last manufactured, meaning that Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) will no longer repair or service the product.


In late January, however, Apple launched a pilot program that permits Apple Stores and AASPs to continue servicing select vintage products, subject to parts availability. The program started in the United States and Turkey with the Mid 2011 iMac and expanded worldwide with the 2012 MacBook Air in August.

Now, Apple is further expanding the program to include the iPhone 5, which became vintage on Wednesday. In an internal document, Apple says Apple Stores and AASPs worldwide are authorized to continue servicing the CDMA variant of the device through October 31, 2020, and the GSM variant through December 30, 2020.

Apple's internal document, obtained by MacRumors from multiple sources, also outlines other soon-to-be vintage iPhones and Macs that will also be added to the pilot program at various dates throughout the remainder of this year:

Effective November 30, 2018:
  • iPhone 4S
  • MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)
Effective December 30, 2018:
  • MacBook Pro (13-inch, Retina, Late 2012)
  • MacBook Pro (13-inch, Retina, Early 2013)
  • MacBook Pro (15-inch, Retina, Mid 2012)
  • MacBook Pro (15-inch, Retina, Early 2013)
  • Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
If parts are unavailable for a specific repair for these vintage products, Apple Stores and AASPs are instructed to decline service. This is a pilot program to begin with, so it is subject to change or end at any time.


The exact reason for the pilot program is unclear, beyond Apple apparently having a surplus of service parts for these specific vintage products. Apple's internal document states that inventory of service parts will not be replenished, so repairs under the pilot program are certainly not guaranteed.

Tags: vintage and obsolete, AASP
[ 58 comments ]


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baryon
11 weeks ago
At Apple, we believe that our computers belong in the landfill after a few years of use, and that our customers should just buy a new one instead of selling it or giving it to a less needy family member. Did your battery die? Time to buy a new computer. Oh you want the battery replaced? Too bad, we don't do that. Oh, you want someone else to replace the battery? Haha! Too bad, we've made that illegal.

Because here at Apple, we believe you're our b*tch, and you do as we say. Now, go and buy the new MacBook Glue. It's an iPad with a keyboard, sort of. But for twice the price. And best of all? There is no way anyone can ever repair it. Not even us. Yep, the new MacBook Glue. It's made of mostly glue! Starting at only $1799 if you're okay with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It has one USB port. Shut up. It's rose gold.
Rating: 12 Votes
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keysofanxiety
11 weeks ago
Oh no, my trusty 15” 2012 finally becomes obsolete at the end of this year. Wow, it’s been that long. It’s like waking up one day and realising you’ve been with the same woman for 14 years. :(

She’s been a good workhorse and I’d hate it when she finally dies. The laptop that is, not the wife.
Rating: 11 Votes
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radio893fm
11 weeks ago
I can't go pass the "vintage" word. I keep thinking about Mac IIs, Commodore 64s and Vic 20s, etc.
Rating: 9 Votes
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keysofanxiety
11 weeks ago

I wonder if Louis Rossmann is listening ?


Louis Rossmann is an self-inflated pompous goon who lambasts Apple for all these practices, whilst simultaneously ignoring that every other OEM he defends does exactly the same thing.

If you’re catering for consumer repairs, or even professional repairs, there isn’t a company out there that would carry out on-the-spot component level solder (sorry, SODDER) repairs.

I used to love his channel as it was interesting, really impressive, and sure, he had a whinge about Apple. Now all his videos are nothing but anti-Apple clickbait to rile up the natives and get more money.
Rating: 6 Votes
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Defthand
11 weeks ago

I wonder if this has anything to do with the bad rap Apple is getting from the “right to repair” crowd.


Of course it is. It’s an attempt to cushion political disagreement with their current monopoly on service repairs.

Apple’s “technicians” don’t repair defects. They perform expensive shotgun part replacements. Instead of replacing a problematic part, they replace an entire assembly. I doubt you’d find a solder iron in their shop.
Rating: 5 Votes
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sir1963nz
11 weeks ago

Oh no, my trusty 15” 2012 finally becomes obsolete at the end of this year. Wow, it’s been that long. It’s like waking up one day and realising you’ve been with the same woman for 14 years. :(

She’s been a good workhorse and I’d hate it when she finally dies. The laptop that is, not the wife.


Yeah, it was a really sad day for me when my 15" 2011 MBP died.
I had upgraded the memory myself to 16GB and replaced the HD with a 512GB SSD myself.
I really really miss all of those ports and the ability to upgrade the important things myself .
I have NEVER bought an Apple product based on how thin it was, and never will.
I am keeping my iPhone SE until it dies and then reluctantly going to replace it with an Android phone because everything that Apple now makes is too big, they may as well call it the pocket iPad.
Rating: 5 Votes
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kemal
11 weeks ago
It is certainly better than sending the spare parts to the grinder.
Rating: 2 Votes
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keysofanxiety
11 weeks ago

Yeah, it was a really sad day for me when my 15" 2011 MBP died.
I had upgraded the memory myself to 16GB and replaced the HD with a 512GB SSD myself.
I really really miss all of those ports and the ability to upgrade the important things myself .
I have NEVER bought an Apple product based on how thin it was, and never will.
I am keeping my iPhone SE until it dies and then reluctantly going to replace it with an Android phone because everything that Apple now makes is too big, they may as well call it the pocket iPad.


Yeah, I miss the upgradability too. Back at my final year in University I bought my 15” 2011 for around £1250 with student discount and free AppleCare. That promptly died multiple times due to Logic Board failure and they replaced it with the 2012 I still have today.

I spent probably £300-400 on upgrades in that time, putting it to less than £2000. I actually love the new MBP build quality and I think they’re overall much stronger machines, and upgradability wouldn’t be the biggest concern for me if they just priced the components more reasonably.

To get a machine suitable for my next 5 years, with enough overhead to handle future projects, I’ll be looking at a top spec 15” MBP with a 1TB SSD and that will cost about £4500 with AppleCare. It’s just too damn much knowing how much I originally paid and it’s not an investment I can justify. The SSDs are fast, but they’re just the Samsung NVMe Pro chips which are at least twice as cheap (depending on the storage size) on the new market.
Rating: 2 Votes
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ThunderSkunk
11 weeks ago
Since they’ve failed to produce an updated model of 17” MacBook Pro, they could extend repairs to the existing ones out there (prone to overheating as they are) as a show of meeting those customers halfway, rather than just writing off those users altogether and sending them off to HP and Acer.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Victor Mortimer
11 weeks ago

He has an agenda, that is obvious.

I wonder where is the MacBook Pro 13 inch from mid 2012 (non Retina)? Probably still "young" for being labeled as vintage, considering it got discontinued in 2015.


October 2021, it was actually discontinued in October 2016.

It's a shame the real MacBook Pro didn't last that long. (The 2012 15" non-retina MBP, which was the last actual pro laptop Apple built.) (And no, the current 15" "Pro" doesn't count. It's better than last year's joke, but it's still stupid thin, has soldered RAM, and worst of all soldered storage. It's ridiculous.)
[doublepost=1541121037][/doublepost]

My Sony laptop has lasted 10 years and I still use it everyday. Would a MacBook last that long?


Yes.

You can't abuse it, but no laptop will last 10 years if you abuse it.

And of course there's getting lucky enough to avoid one of the problem machines. Sony used the same problem Nvidia chip Apple did in 2011, and got hit with the same class action.

I know of several 2008 MacBooks that are still in use. I wouldn't want to use one daily, the Core 2 Duo is really slow compared to the i7 from a few years later. But people absolutely do.
Rating: 1 Votes

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