Apple is adding new products to its obsolete list
Legacy Apple owners, your time is now. The Cupertino tech giant has quietly tossed more of its aging gadgets onto the Obsolete List. This time around, the original iPhone SE has officially joined the "trash bin," alongside a handful of 2nd-gen iPad Pros, the Nike and Hermès variants of the Apple Watch Series 4, and the Beats Pill 2.0.
The iPhone SE was Apple’s first true budget phone. Launched in 2016 alongside the iPhone 7, the SE arrived with a bargain-bin (by today’s standards) price tag of $399. To be fair, even the iPhone 7 debuted at just $679, a number that feels almost mythical now compared to the current price of an iPhone 17.
The SE represented Apple’s compromise for fans who didn’t want to shell out for the increasingly pricey flagship models and who preferred the compact size of older phones. Borrowing the design of the iPhone 5, it sported a 4-inch display, a Touch ID home button, and that classic aluminum-and-glass frame with chamfered edges. Under the hood, it packed the A9 chip from the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
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Fast-forward nearly a decade, and the SE line is effectively discontinued. After the third-gen SE was released in 2022, the lineup disappeared until the introduction of the iPhone 16E in February 2025.
As a reminder, Apple labels products as "obsolete" seven years after they are no longer sold. That’s why only the Nike and Hermès editions of the Apple Watch Series 4 made the cut this round; the standard Series 4 is on the Vintage list — reserved for products that haven’t been sold for at least five years.
Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and Mother Jones.
In his free time, he cooks, loves to sleep, and greatly enjoys Detroit sports. If you have any tips or want to talk shop about the Lions, you can reach out to him on Bluesky @offbrandchance.bsky.social or by email at [email protected].
