Apple’s entire lineup of AirPort products is now obsolete, except for the first-generation Express, which is strange.
Apple AirPort Era Officially Comes to an End as Entire Lineup Now Considered Obsolete, Except for the First-Generation Express
A lot of new Apple users do not know that the company used to make excellent Wi-Fi routers. The entire lineup was discontinued back in 2018, which included the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule.
Today, the entire lineup is marked as obsolete by Apple, which means it won’t be serviced nor will it be supported.
The way it works is when Apple stops selling something, it is marked as vintage after five years and obsolete two years after that. But the interesting thing is, the first-generation AirPort Express is still marked as vintage.
What that means is, if you have it with you and something goes wrong with it, Apple will still be able to service it, as long as the parts are available.
I find it really strange that the second-generation AirPort Express is obsolete, but the first one isn’t.
This model was released in 2004 and discontinued in 2008, and it was replaced by the second-generation model, which was discontinued in 2018.
Though chances are very low, Apple should make a new Wi-Fi router, and I really wish it does, that too with full HomeKit support and mesh capabilities.
There are a ton of great options available from third-parties, but if you’ve ever used AirPort, you already know how well they used to perform in any situation.
Rumor has it that Apple is working on its own Wi-Fi chip, so there is still hope out there.
