It’s only vintage if it works, otherwise it’s just old junk.
The iPhone 5s, launched in September 2013, hasn’t received iOS updates for years. Chances are slim that you still have a working one. Apple considers this device vintage and obsolete, and that has some implications.
Vintage means that Apple no longer makes parts for the product. If your iPhone 5s breaks down, it is therefore impossible to repair it. You won’t be able to go to Apple anyway, and you’ll have to be lucky if an unofficial repair shop still has a part lying around.
This is what happens when Apple labels products as vintage
If you still have an iPhone 5s, we recommend putting the device in your display case and thinking about all those great moments you experienced together. It may still be possible to get the device repaired at a phone store, but parts are quickly becoming scarce.
The last software update for the device was iOS 12 in 2018. That also means fewer and fewer apps can run on that smartphone, and security will continue to rattle. We have now reached iOS 17 and iOS 18 is just around the corner.
(Image: Christian Allard/Unsplash)
Besides iPhone 5s, more gadgets are retiring
The iPhone 5s not the only product Apple is labeling vintage. Even the sixth-generation iPod touch from 2015 and the 21.5-inch iMac from 2015 are now so labeled. So you can’t just fix those either if you want to keep using them.
The iPhone 5s was a special device in Apple’s history. It was the first iPhone with a 64-bit processor and also the first Apple product with a fingerprint scanner in the home button. Although practically every new iPhone has Face ID, Apple’s fingerprint scanner has not disappeared. It is still in the with the new iPad Air, for example.
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