No repair possible for a 22 month old iPhone 5S

My Apple iPhone 5S which I bought on 29 July 2016, needs a new battery.

This morning (28 May 2018) I was told by my local iStore (Port Elizabeth, South Africa) that they do no longer supply nor fit batteries for the iPhone 5S.

I find it totally unacceptable that, according to Apple, I must throw away a perfectly good 22-month-old phone because Apple no longer services this product.

Doesn’t say much about Apple’s support for their products, does it?