Apple, the California based MNC is known for its world-class gadgets and technology-driven products – built on class, finesse and innovative design. It covers gamut of smartphones, laptops and PCs, smartwatches and more.
When an Apple product reaches a certain shelf life, Apple renders it either as ‘vintage‘ or ‘obsolete’. For people still toting around a second-gen Apple Watch, your time has come now. Apple put the Series 1 model on its obsolete list, which means the company has run out of parts and the watch is no longer serviceable at Apple-owned or operated service centres. It joins the Series 2 in the list, the other half of the second generation of Apple Watches, which was added to the obsolete list last year in 2024. For the uninitiated, the Apple Watch Series 1 and Series 2 are both considered a part of the same generation.
What is the 2nd Gen Watch History?
Back in the olden days, the original Apple Watch didn’t have an official Series designated to it. Thus, when the Series 1 was launched in 2016, the original Apple Watch was retroactively referred to as Series 0. The Series 2 was subsequently launched in 2016, alongside the Series 1, making both fall under second-generation products from Apple.
While the Series 1 was basically a repackaged Series 0 with a faster processor, Series 2 was the true successor of the original Apple Watch, also adding GPS and water resistance as the new upgraded features. On August 3, the Apple Watch Series 1 was officially moved from the ‘vintage’ to ‘obsolete’ list, joining the Series 2, which was already a part of it.
Apple stopped selling the Series 2 when the Series 3 came out but left the Apple Watch Series 1 on sale for another year as a low-cost option alongside the Series 3. Thus, the Series 2 went to the vintage and obsolete lists a year before the Series 1. The good news is that the whole second generation is now on the obsolete list, so the confusion ends today.
Moving forward, each Series is its own generation, starting with Series 3.
What does it mean when an Apple product turns obsolete?
The way Apple’s product life works is fairly simple and predictable. Apple releases a product, sells it for a while, and then stops when a newer product comes out.
- After five to seven years (depending on the product), Apple puts the product on the vintage list. This means Apple has ceased making new parts that the company can use to repair broken devices.
- However, Apple and Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) can still repair the devices as long as they still have the parts to do it.
Once Apple runs out of all the parts, the product winds up on the obsolete list and can no longer be repaired through Apple. Since parts can come and go at varying intervals, that likely explains why the Apple Watch Series 4 is already on the obsolete list, despite being a couple of years younger than the Series 1 or Series 2.
What does this mean for you?
If you own an Apple Watch Series 1, it simply means that you can no longer get the watch repaired through Apple authorized centres. Third-party repair shops may be able to repair the watch, but they won’t have access to official Apple parts to do it. This implies that it’s probably finally time to get for yourself a newer variant and bid adieu to your aging watch.
Why the time frame difference?
While Apple can tag a product as vintage or obsolete once the five- or ten-year mark has passed, it often waits until it runs out of service parts to make the change. In this case, the company likely ran out of parts for the Series 2 before it did for the Series 1. Now, it’s probably out of parts for both.
If you’re still sporting a Series 1 Apple Watch, it’s not necessarily the end of the line – however, getting repair support will certainly become trickier, as you’ll now have to rely on select third-party service centers.