Apple has officially updated its vintage and obsolete products list, marking the end of the road for some iconic, and some infamous, devices. Among the most notable additions is the 2013 Mac Pro, better known as the “Trash Can” Mac, which now earns its vintage badge—twelve years after its radical but ultimately flawed debut.
Unlike most products that hit vintage status five years after sales end, the 2013 Mac Pro held out longer because Apple sold it until December 2019, when the more modular “Cheese Grater” Mac Pro replaced it. The cylindrical Mac Pro was a bold design experiment, but its lack of upgradeability proved to be a major misstep for pro users. Even Apple admitted its shortcomings in 2017, with Craig Federighi famously saying they had “designed themselves into a thermal corner.”
It’s also the product that inspired then marketing chief Phil Schiller’s memorable but ill-fated defence: “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass.” History has been less kind to the quote.
Also added to the vintage list:
•2019 13-inch MacBook Air
•2019 iMac
•2018 11-inch iPad Pro
•2018 third-gen 12.9-inch iPad Pro
•128GB iPhone 8 (joining the 64GB and 256GB variants already listed)
Devices are labelled vintage five years after their last sale and may still be eligible for repair, depending on parts availability. But they’re halfway to being declared obsolete, which occurs seven years after last distribution, at which point official repairs cease altogether.
Speaking of which, several accessories have now made the full transition to obsolete status, including:
•Second-gen AirPort Express
•2TB and 3TB AirPort Time Capsules
•802.11ac AirPort Extreme
While some Mac laptops may still qualify for battery-only repairs for up to 10 years, that too depends on whether parts are in stock.
As Apple continues to push forward with its silicon transition and future hardware ambitions, the vintage graveyard grows—and with it, a quiet nod to designs that were once daring, but didn’t quite age well.
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