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I still use the 6s as my main phone. Most apps I do not wish to update. But how long my banking app will still be updated, is unknown. It was my first iPhone, and my first step into the Apple ecosystem 🥰
 
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Look how tiny that camera was!!!

I had ChatGPT do some quick math. The "camera mesa" on modern Pro iPhones (containing 3 lenses, LiDAR + flash) is about 65X larger than the single camera lens on the 6S. ;)
 
I’ve got 6s iPhone plus which I had screen repaired at apple last year but rest of phone is scratched at back and camera is broken.

It’s just a spare family phone/ipod.

Is it bonkers to get it fully repaired when they swap it for a refurb model and keep for posterity as part of my apple collection 🤔
 
I had ChatGPT do some quick math. The "camera mesa" on modern Pro iPhones (containing 3 lenses, LiDAR + flash) is about 65X larger than the single camera lens on the 6S. ;)
You better check that calculation again. ChatGPT did a sloppy calculation. Exaggerated by 65%!

The camera lens is 7mm wide, thus area 34.48mm2.
The Pro camera "mesa" is 39*40mm, area 1560mm2 - so almost 40X larger (I did not calculate the rounded corners).

According to ChatGPT's 65X larger would be an area of about 47*47mm (if it was square)
 
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The 2018 Mac mini came out before Apple transitioned to Apple silicon, and it was actually the last Mac mini that had Intel chips inside. It was equipped with Intel's "Coffee Lake" chipset with 4-core and 6-core options, plus it had Intel UHD Graphics 630.

A device is considered "vintage" five years after it was last distributed for sale. For vintage products, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) are still able to offer repairs, but only if the required parts are available.

Interesting the Mac Pro (Late-2013) is not Vintage but the Mac Mini 2018 (not to mention the MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019)) is? I would think parts for the latter would be easier to come by. If the issue is CPU/ISA, the former pre-dates Haswell (no AVX2) while the latter is a Skylake derivitative (plus has T2). Performance-wise, the former is beat by i5 variant of the Mac Mini and barely beats the i3 variant in multi-core (but not single-core). Then of course the obvious difference in original release dates and available purchase dates. Nothing against that Mac Pro -- I thought it was an elegant design despite all the complaints -- but surprised the Mac Mini 2018 was moved to the Vintage pile first. Mine still works like a champ.
 
Bring back 3D touch
Yes! Love the 6. Brilliant phones, thin, lighy. Great looking.

Used 3D touch constantly, it was a fantastic feature. Sad they got rid of it. But thats the apple way. Get rid of anything useful and add crapple innovations you dont need.
 
Interesting the Mac Pro (Late-2013) is not Vintage but the Mac Mini 2018 (not to mention the MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019)) is? I would think parts for the latter would be easier to come by. If the issue is CPU/ISA, the former pre-dates Haswell (no AVX2) while the latter is a Skylake derivitative (plus has T2). Performance-wise, the former is beat by i5 variant of the Mac Mini and barely beats the i3 variant in multi-core (but not single-core). Then of course the obvious difference in original release dates and available purchase dates. Nothing against that Mac Pro -- I thought it was an elegant design despite all the complaints -- but surprised the Mac Mini 2018 was moved to the Vintage pile first. Mine still works like a champ.
Products become vintage/obsolete based on the date they were last sold new by Apple. The 2013 Mac Pro wasn’t discontinued until December 2019.
 
I have a Mac Mini 2018, and if Apple stopped supporting it, I will install Linux or Windows on it... I will still buy a new Mac to continue using MacOS.

So this is the end of Intel Macs
 
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Apple today updated its vintage products list to add the 2018 Mac mini and the iPhone 6s, devices that will get more limited service and repairs now that they are considered vintage.

iPhone-6s-MacRumors-YouTube.jpg

The iPhone 6s initially launched in 2015, but Apple kept it around as a low-cost device until 2018, which is why it is only now being added to the vintage list. The iPhone 6s had Apple's A9 chip, and it was equipped with a strengthened aluminum chassis to fix the iPhone 6 "bendgate" design flaw. It was also the first iPhone with 3D Touch, and the last flagship iPhone with a headphone jack.

The 2018 Mac mini came out before Apple transitioned to Apple silicon, and it was actually the last Mac mini that had Intel chips inside. It was equipped with Intel's "Coffee Lake" chipset with 4-core and 6-core options, plus it had Intel UHD Graphics 630.

A device is considered "vintage" five years after it was last distributed for sale. For vintage products, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) are still able to offer repairs, but only if the required parts are available.

At the seven year mark after a device's last date of sale, it is considered "obsolete." Apple Stores and AASPs generally do not repair products that are obsolete, and parts are no longer provided by Apple.

Article Link: Apple Says These Products Are Now Vintage
6s is the current device in my hands. The best pack of technology I ever bought. Charging via lightning, while I listen to the radio with the headphones. Still very decent outdoor photos in 2025.
 
The 6s was such a great phone. The A9 chip was so much better than the A8 with much more speed, 2x RAM after 3 sequential years of just 1GB, and NVME flash. You could FEEL the difference between the 6 and 6s.
Yeah, the iPhone 6 was gimped with only 1GB of RAM. The 6s also introduced 4K30 video recording. I still have my 6s.
 
Agreed.

The 6S was a great phone, but it was dwarfed a year later by the iPhone 7, which felt so much snappier. The 6S fixed the disaster of the iPhone 6 though.
The 6s was snappy enough and performed great until I replaced it with my X. The iPhone 7 was more of a placeholder between the 6s and X as Apple recycled the 6 design a third time. When the 6s lost iOS support so did the 7 so it wasn’t powerful enough to get another year or two of iOS support over the 6s. Thinking back, I probably should’ve kept using my 6s another year and buy a XS instead of an X. I guess the ‘s’ model was often better for longevity than the redesigned model (4, 5, 6, X).
 
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Bring back 3D touch
Removing that feature from the iPhone and watch is one of the most stupid decisions they've made. I really hope they bring this back someday because it made interacting with the watch slower and more annoying.

On the watch, before I could tap anywhere on my notification list and tap clear, now I always have to scroll to reach the clear button, same for apps where it made changing settings so much faster; now we need dedicated on-screen buttons to do the same thing, which is a waste of valuable space.

For iPhone games like racing ones, it was like having a virtual analog trigger; as the gentler you pressed the screen, the slower you went; press harder to go faster, or if you maintained the same constant pressure, you could keep a car going at a single constant speed. That ability is now impossible without the 3D Touch hardware.
 
Nah man, the A10 in the iPhone 7 was a very big jump over the A9 and the iPhone 7 Plus had 3GB of RAM. The iPhone X, while is was an awesome new design with an improved camera, was not an impressive jump. The A10 was used in devices as late as 2022.

The next BIG jump came in the A13 a few years later, which brought some impressive performance only really outdone until the A15 Bionic which is still capable today.

Since then, while there have been advancements (especially over the last two years), they have not been as pronounced. That looks like it could change this year with the iPhone 17.
 
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I still use the 6s as my main phone. Most apps I do not wish to update. But how long my banking app will still be updated, is unknown. It was my first iPhone, and my first step into the Apple ecosystem 🥰
Are you holding out for the iPhone 17? I can imagine that is going to be a huge jump for you and would love to get your thoughts!
 
Gonna assume Apple will not give the 2018 Mini macOS 16 later this year. Currently the only Intel Macs that are unsupported are non-T2 Macs. So probably 8th gen Intel computers are on the chopping block. They're still alright machines though, especially for light stuff like a Plex server or a display computer at an office or coffee shop. And hey, they'll still get security updates for another year or two, so they'll be good for awhile as long as the machine doesn't have a hardware issue.
 
I remember calling up my nearest Apple Store in 2015 to inquire if they might do a battery replacement on my 2010 17 inch MBP (figured I would ask and possibly get it done properly before I resorted to ordering a Chinese battery of dubious quality online and did it myself) and the guy on the phone to me laughed and said "We don't stock parts for retro hardware". 😭
I never understood why Apple retail employees sometimes are so “full of themselves” … saying that is kind of like an insult in my opinion.

I don’t have money or don’t want to waste for the latest and greatest, there is no need to be rude. Just say “no” like a normal person.

#ventingoff sorry :D
 
I currently have an iPhone 16 Pro Max Plus Ultra, but I still keep my 6s updated and within reach on a table nearby. Not exactly sure why, but it doesn't matter.
 
You better check that calculation again. ChatGPT did a sloppy calculation. Exaggerated by 65%!

The camera lens is 7mm wide, thus area 34.48mm2.
The Pro camera "mesa" is 39*40mm, area 1560mm2 - so almost 40X larger (I did not calculate the rounded corners).

According to ChatGPT's 65X larger would be an area of about 47*47mm (if it was square)
Yup, even the latest versions of ChatGPT, including 4o, can't consistently do math properly, and it's unsure if OpenAI will ever really fix that, having "moved on" to other things, rather than simply go back to the normal strategy they briefly used a while back of embedding a calculator into it.
 
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