Apple is famous for the long and active support it provides for its products. When you buy one of the company’s devices, you’re investing in what you know will receive (software and hardware) support for years to come. And that’s very reassuring for customers because people want to have this kind of peace of mind. Accidents and faults happen, so not having access to proper repair services can be problematic or even a dealbreaker for many users. However, all good things in life come to an end at some point, and so does the official support for Apple products. The 11-inch MacBook Air (Early 2014), 13-inch MacBook Air (Early 2014), and 13-inch MacBook Pro (Mid 2014) will become obsolete later this month — on April 30. Apple already lists them as vintage products since 2020, and they’re about to make the transition to the final stage in a few weeks.
11″ 2014 Air, 13″ 2014 Air, and 13″ 2014 Retina becoming Obsolete April 30, 2022
— Stella – Fudge (@StellaFudge) April 1, 2022
What’s an obsolete Apple device?
Apple has a long list of vintage and obsolete products. The former refers to those that the company has last sold in the past five to seven years. Obsolete products, on the other hand, refer to those that Apple hasn’t sold in seven or more years. So what does this actually mean? When a device becomes obsolete, the Cupertino tech giant drops hardware support for it. Additionally, it stops shipping spare parts to authorized repair centers. So if something breaks while using one of those, you will have to look for unofficial repair stores with (potentially) second-hand or unoriginal parts. It’s worth mentioning, though, that some of these MacBook models could remain eligible for battery replacements in certain regions — for a limited time only.
Via: MacRumors