14 DAY TRIAL // Being widely expected to introduce new hardware at WWDC 2010 two weeks from now, Apple has seemingly discontinued the iPhone 3G, leaving the 3GS model as the only one available at least at AT&T stores. According to The Boy Genius Report, Apple has stopped supplying AT&T stores with the device, leading to assumptions that the 3G model is being phased out.
The BGR notes that it “heard that Apple has stopped shipping iPhone 3G 8GB units to AT&T stores and orders are not being placed for the device.” The generally reliable source of Apple rumors speculates that iPhone 3GS may drop to $99 soon, making way for a new model, even. It sounds like a fair prediction, with Apple being expected to announce iPhone 4 (or iPhone HD, as some believe it is called) at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference next month. “Or maybe the 3GS would disappear altogether?” another, less likely prediction goes.
Soon after BGR broke the news to the world, MacRumors did some checks with the Australian Apple store and found that iPhone 3G was “currently unavailable” for purchase online. Some of the site’s readers noted that shortages of the iPhone 3G had also been spotted in other countries. Just like in Australia, where Apple sells contract-free iPhones at unsubsidized prices, “customers looking to order iPhone 3G models in the United Kingdom through carrier O2 similarly appear to be having a difficult time, with a drop-down menu on O2's iPhone ordering page showing only new and reconditioned iPhone 3GS options despite the menu's description noting an iPhone 3G option,” readers pointed out to MacRumors.
Softpedia note
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Apple is preparing to stop producing the iPhone 3G, mainly because of the obsolete hardware. There are hardware discrepancies between the iPhone 3G and the 3GS model that make a world of difference when it comes to iPhone OS 4.0, the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system powering not only iPhones, but also the iPod touch and iPad.
OS 4.0 is set to deliver key enhancements like multi-tasking, application folders, a feature called Game Center and more. Some of these new features will not work on iPhone 3G hardware, one of which is actually multitasking – the most important of all. The iPhone 3GS does not only boast a better processor, but it also packs twice the amount of RAM compared with its 3G sibling, making it more than capable of handling the new OS. The iPad is also on track to receiving the respective software update, but at a later date.