The iPhone XS has become “vintage”: Apple has officially ended the iPhone X era

Apple continues to add to the list of “vintage” devices, which includes products discontinued more than five years ago. This time the iPhone XS, one of the company’s key smartphones of the late 2010s, has joined the list. It marks the end of an era, as the iPhone X and iPhone XS Max were previously included in the vintage category.

iPhone XS: the end of the road

The smartphone was unveiled in September 2018 as the successor to the revolutionary iPhone X. It offered a higher-performance A12 Bionic chip, an improved camera and dual-SIM support (a first for an iPhone). Sales of the model stopped in 2019, but the device remained in circulation at third-party retailers for some time. It’s only now reaching “vintage” age by Apple’s standards.

From now on, iPhone XS repairs are possible, but not guaranteed – only if the right parts are available at authorized service centers. If the parts aren’t available, the company isn’t obligated to accept the device for repair. After two years, the iPhone XS will become obsolete, at which point Apple will officially end both technical and software support.

What’s going on with software and security

Older iPhones on the vintage list no longer receive regular iOS updates, except in the rare case of critical security patches. But even this limited support is rare in the industry.An example: the 5th generation iPad, which recently became “vintage” is now not supported at all.

Apple is the leader in length of support

The company remains one of the best in the industry for length of software and hardware support. Apple devices receive an average of up to 7 years of updates and repair options. That’s especially impressive considering that many competitors have only recently started catching up to Apple.

The company remains one of the best in the industry for software and hardware support.

Samsung, for example, introduced seven-year support with its Galaxy S24 series in early 2024, and Google made a similar move with the launch of the Pixel 8 in late 2023. And both companies are promising not only updates, but also parts availability.

Conclusion

The addition of the iPhone XS to the vintage list is a symbolic end to an entire era. It’s a reminder of how quickly technology is evolving, and how important it is for manufacturers to not only release new devices, but also maintain older ones. Against Google and Samsung’s new durability standards, Apple’s seven-year lifecycle still looks decent – but the competition for long-term support is just beginning.

Material iPhone XS has become «vintage»: Apple has officially ended the iPhone X era was first published on ITZine.ru.