Submitted by Fred Straker on
Time marches on for Apple peripherals recently added to the company's Vintage and obsolete products support document. The second generation Apple TV is now officially "obsolete" in most of the world. Only in places where legal restrictions keep the device labeled "vintage" can owners still receive service and parts from Apple service providers.
This means for anyone who is not residing in the state of California or the country of Turkey, Apple has discontinued all hardware service for the Apple TV 2G with no exceptions. Service providers outside these two areas are unable to order replacement parts for the 2nd-generation Apple TV or any other products determined to be obsolete.
Typically there's a 7-year window after a product is discontinued before it makes Apple's obsolete list. Having only been discontinued in March 2012, the second generation Apple TV would normally be classified as "vintage" for another two years. However, Apple reserves the option to discontinue support for technologically obsolete products.
In September 2010, the 2nd-generation Apple TV introduced the Apple A4 processor and a modified version of iOS 4 to the platform, while removing internal storage in favor of streaming video. The 3rd-generation Apple TV launched in March 2012, replacing the Apple TV 2G and sporting an A5 processor, double the memory and 1080p HD output. After a minor revision in January 2013, the 3rd generation unit was discontinued in October 2016.
Apple currently offers the Apple TV 4G with 32 or 64 GB of on-board flash storage and the Siri Remote. A fifth-generation model adding 4K video support is rumored to be in the pipeline. See the complete list of vintage and obsolete products at Apple.