Apple will soon be getting rid of its retail employees’ iPhone XS models, replacing them with the brand new iPhone 14 variants instead. This upgrade is said to make the employees’ jobs a little easier, according to the latest report.
Retail employees were complaining that owning a significantly older iPhone XS makes daily operations difficult
Individuals stationed at Apple’s retail outlets use an iPhone XS as a point of sale, or POS terminal, allowing customers to make their payments seamlessly. However, using older iPhones has its drawbacks. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, several employees were complaining that they would have to swap out each iPhone XS multiple times a day. In response to Gurman’s Twitter thread, a former Apple retail employee says switching those iPhones ‘was the worst’ as the process had to be completed two or three times a day.
When it first launched back in 2018, the iPhone XS was powered by Apple’s A12 Bionic and featured 3GB of RAM. The newest iPhone 14 lineup features an A15 Bionic as the bare minimum and 6GB RAM, making it a significant upgrade. The iPhone XS is also the oldest model that is compatible with Apple’s upcoming iOS 17 software update, so there was a chance that the company would replace it in the coming weeks anyway.
Apple retail stores will begin moving their point of sale systems (called Isaacs) from old iPhone Xs to iPhone 14s. This won’t mean anything for customers, but it’ll make things quicker for retail employees who often have to swap the aging iPhones out multiple times per day.
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) June 26, 2023
Gurman’s tweet did not go in-depth as to which specific iPhone 14 version would be provided to Apple’s retail employees in the future. Since four models were launched last year, our guess is that the company will provide the base variant. From a software perspective, both the ‘Pro’ and non-Pro members will get the same features that Apple outlined during its latest WWDC keynote, and both will likely be supported for the same number of years unless the company changes that plan.
It is also unclear when Apple intends to send out those iPhone 14 units, but if employees have to continue swapping out multiple iPhone XS models for several transactions, it can affect the technology giant’s sales negatively, so that is one motivation for Apple to get the ball rolling quickly.
News Source: Mark Gurman
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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