It’s been a very long time coming, but Apple has finally, as revealed in an email to employees, discontinued the third generation model of its media player and home hub, the Apple TV.
In that email, which was also sent to Apple’s education partners and obtained by 9to5Mac, Apple states: “Effective immediately, Apple TV (3rd generation), MD/199LL/A, has reached end of life and is now discontinued.” Apple had already started removing the third generation Apple TV from its retail stores, while there is no longer any listing for it on the Apple Online Store.
Apple has revealed that it will fulfill all shippable backlog for the device, and it’s still possible to buy a refurbished model for $59 – though, given the limited stock of refurbished devices, that might not stay the case for long.
The third generation Apple TV was originally released in March 2012, but had since been put in the shade by the fourth generation model, which was released in October 2015 and comes with the new features of the tvOS operating system, a dedicated App Store and the voice-controlled Siri Remote.
