Roger Fingas
Apple this week added the second-generation Apple TV to its list of "vintage" and "obsolete" products, rendering it ineligible for repairs in most parts of the world.
The only places where service and parts may still be available are in Turkey and California, where the "vintage" label is in effect, according to an Apple support document. Vintage devices are defined as being made over 5 but less than 7 years ago, and the category typically excludes products from support except where required by law.
In the rest of the world the set-top has been declared "obsolete," which normally refers to products discontinued over 7 years ago.
The second-gen Apple TV is actually a more recent device however, having launched in Sept. 2010 with production ending only in 2012, when the third-gen model went on sale.
The product was a radical re-think of the Apple TV concept, dropping an internal hard drive in favor of streaming from the internet or local network sources. The hardware itself shrank into a small, black case with only 8 gigabytes of internal storage, just enough for the OS and temporary caching.
Apple is already largely distancing itself from the third-gen model, providing minimal updates. A fourth-gen model with support for apps and Siri went on sale in Oct. 2015.
An upcoming fifth-gen device is expected to add 4K resolution support and likely a faster processor to match, but not much else.
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14 Comments
...how does this relate to corporate claims of sustainability...?
I have a 2nd gen and 3rd gen Apple TV. There are no problems whatsoever with the 3rd gen unit. It always works every time we turn it on. The 2nd gen unit seems to have some software problems. It loses connection to Apple and has to be restarted to recover. Most of my obsolete Apple products still function as they hit the obsolescence mark with pretty solid software. Guess I have to consider buying a new one and retiring the 2nd gen. It isn't that huge of a deal given the price and how much we got out of it. It has just performed below Apple's standards from my perspective. Now the problem of trying to figure out when the 5th gen will come out and if I should wait for it.
If the last one was sold in 2012, and they are obsolete by the beginning of 2017, is that normal? Less than 5 full years of repair support?
I have one of each generation hooked up in various rooms and all still working fine even if the older ones have less abilities. Can't complain if an older one dies now I guess but I suspect they'll go on working for a while as long as Apple don't somehow effectively brick them with an remake of their end the older ones can't handle. That would be sad.
Oh no! What will I run XBMC/Kodi on now?