APPLE

iPhone XS is now vintage

The list of products that Apple considers “vintage” continues to grow, and if you still use an iPhone that’s a few years old, this is news that will interest you directly. Apple has officially added the iPhone XS to its list of vintage products, a step that symbolically marks the end of an era. With this addition, all models of the “X” generation — the iPhone X, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max — are now in this category.

Launched in September 2018, the iPhone XS was officially discontinued a year later. However, it continued to be sold by authorized resellers for some time, which is why it only now reaches the five-year milestone since its sales ended, qualifying for vintage status. But in practice, what does this change for you and your device?

In the Apple universe, the word “vintage” does not have the romantic connotation that we might associate with it. It is a technical classification that dictates the level of support that a product can receive. This is the first step towards the end of a device’s useful life, and it’s important that you understand the implications.

A product is placed on the “vintage” list when Apple has stopped selling it for more than five years and less than seven. During this period, your iPhone XS can still be repaired at Apple Stores and authorized repair centers, but with one very important condition: only if the necessary parts are in stock.

This means that a repair is no longer guaranteed. If you need a screen or battery replaced and the store doesn’t have the part in stock, you may not be able to get the repair through official channels. In terms of software, a vintage iPhone no longer receives the major annual iOS updates. In very rare cases, Apple might release a security update to fix a critical vulnerability, but this is not the norm.

After two years on the “vintage” list, the next step is classification as “obsolete.” A product becomes obsolete when Apple stopped selling it for more than seven years. For the iPhone XS, this milestone will be reached in two years.

When a device is considered obsolete, official support ends completely. Apple repair centers stop accepting the device for any type of intervention, even if you are willing to pay, and no further software updates are released. Recently, for example, it was the 5th generation iPad that made it to this final list.

Apple's support compared to the competition...Despite this well-defined life cycle, it is fair to recognize that Apple's support policy is one of the longest and most consistent in the industry. Offering around seven years of hardware coverage (albeit limited in the vintage phase) and software is a remarkable achievement.

To give you an idea, it is only very recently that its main competitors have started to follow suit. Samsung only began promising seven years of operating system updates with the launch of the Galaxy S24 series in early 2024. Google did the same in late 2023 with the Pixel 8 series, also promising seven years of updates and parts availability.

This is a positive trend for users, as it ensures a longer lifespan for devices. After all, there is no point in having software support for seven years if it is not possible to keep the hardware working for the same period.

mundophone