Apple has added the last 12-inch Retina MacBook to its list of obsolete products, permanently ending hardware support for the notebook. The company will no longer offer repairs or supply spare parts to independent repair providers. Apple has also placed the sixth generation iPad and several Beats X colorways on the same list, meaning Genius Bar help will not be available for these devices.
Designating a product obsolete is not unusual for Apple, which typically does so about seven years after a device leaves the Apple Store. What makes this move notable is that Apple has never released a comparable successor. The device launched in 2015 with many innovations that made its thin, lightweight design possible, including the haptic Multi-Touch trackpad, USB-C and the much-criticized butterfly keyboard.
Weighing just 920 grams and measuring 3.5 millimeters at its thinnest point, the MacBook is thinner and lighter than every current MacBook. It is 320 grams or 26.2 percent lighter than the MacBook Neo ($689 on Amazon), yet it still featured a backlit keyboard. The article argues that Apple's more efficient ARM chips could allow a new ultralight model to address the main criticisms of the original, whose Intel chip never quite impressed in performance.
Even so, the device's very good speakers, excellent display and silent operation would still hold up well in 2026, according to the review cited in the article.
Source: AppleInsider · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing