iPhone: First Device Set To Become 'Obsolete'

Apple's first iPhone will become obsolete on June 11, 2013, according to a document circulating online.

Six years after it launched, the company appears to be set to classify its first-generation model as "vintage" in the US and "obsolete" in the rest of the world.

The firm does not provide service parts or service documentation for obsolete products, and they cannot be sent to Apple engineers for repairs.

For products classified as vintage in the US, spare parts will still be available for the next two years for customers who purchased their iPhone in California, due to an anomaly of American consumer law.

Consumers who still want to service or repair their original iPhone can still do so through independent service centres.

The document - believe to be an internal Apple communication - appears to show that a number of Mac computers will become obsolete on the same day.

The original iPhone was discontinued in 2008 when it was replaced by the iPhone 3G.

In the US, Apple products are labelled as vintage between five and seven years after being discontinued and as obsolete after seven years.

Apple reportedly sold 6.1 million first generation iPhone units in the year or so before the iPhone 3G was launched.