Anyone still holding on to one of Apple's most popular products could be faced with a major issue in the near future, as the tech giant has recently entered it into the 'obsolete' category, leaving potentially millions of users without support.
Most people tend to upgrade their favorite tech and gadgets every couple of years alongside new product drops, as while you might not always need the next one up, new features and performance enhancements can be difficult to resist.
Not everyone will be so eager to throw away their most used devices though, using them for years upon years until they finally give up, but one recent decision from Apple could leave millions without the necessary means of support if anything went wrong.
Which Apple product is now considered obsolete?
As reported by the Daily Mail, Apple's latest entry into its dreaded obsolete category is the Apple Watch Series 1, which was originally released all the way back in 2016.
While the name itself is rather confusing as it was the second generation of Apple's popular wearable device, it could be a worrying move considering the devices popularity and sales numbers.
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Just over a year after its release it was estimated that around 33,000,000 Apple Watch units had been sold – with a significant portion of those being from the Series 1 launch – and a sizeable chunk of those buyers could still be holding on to their original device.
As mentioned, it's not uncommon for people to upgrade their phones every couple of years, but for most people there's not necessarily a reason to upgrade to a new Apple Watch unless your current one breaks, so there's a good chance that some have been rocking their Series 1 for nearly a decade now.
What does obsolete mean for Apple?
What's worrying then is what the obsolete categorization means for the Apple Watch Series 1, as it leaves the device without any official means of support, either from Apple itself or any other services.
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"Products are considered obsolete when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than 7 years ago," Apple's official support page denotes. It also adds that "Apple discontinues all hardware service for obsolete products, and service providers cannot order parts for obsolete products."
So, if you've still got a Series 1 on your wrist and it decides to stop working from now on, there's no option for you to take other than getting a completely new device.
It's not exactly unreasonable for support to end for a product quite as old as this, especially as there have been 13 different versions of the wearable released since the Series 1, but it will still sting for anyone that has held strong all these years.
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What is odd is that the Series 2 was already entered into the obsolete status last year, joining the original first generation device and its rare golden counterpart, but it won't be long until some of the later models start to meet the same fate.
Apple also end official support for its devices at an earlier point to the obsolete categorization, with the Series 6 being the oldest Apple Watch to still receive updates.