Farewell iPhone 6 Plus, we hardly knew thee. Only seven years after Apple released that iteration of its smartphone, the tech has been sufficiently dated by successors – and time – for the iPhone 6 Plus to be rendered to the company’s list of vintage products this week.
Launched in September 2014 and sold through the same month two years later, the iPhone 6 Plus was the first Apple smartphone to feature an enlarged 5.5’’ screen, and – along with its (ahem) non-plussed, smaller display iPhone 6 sibling – sported curved edges.
The pair was also the first Apple phones to support Apple Pay, which along with the Apple A8 processor and cutting-edge camera sent them to the top of the company’s best-selling product list. From such heights was the iPhone 6 Plus’s fall to the ignominy of obsolescence yesterday.
Other new residents in Apple’s old tech home are the 9.7-inch iPad 4 (DOB November 2012) and late 2012 Mac Mini. The trio of henceforth vintage devices all met the company’s criteria for pulling its dated platforms from the active tech roster:
Products are considered vintage when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than 5 and less than 7 years ago.
Apple discontinues all hardware service for obsolete products, with the sole exception of Mac notebooks that are eligible for an additional battery-only repair period. Service providers cannot order parts for obsolete products.
Though rolled out at the same time as its plussed-up retiree, the iPhone 6 avoided forced retirement thanks to an extended distribution run. In 2017, Apple relaunched the product as a mid-range option to pricier iPhones – making it the first coming of the iPhone SE. That brief renaissance will permit Six to avoid joining Plus on the vintage list for a couple more years.
The last iOS update of the iPhone 6 Plus goes back to 2019, with servicing and replacement components now similarly set to go dark.
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