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A great part of the problem is planned obsolescence - through one of many avenues. A lot of modern Capitalist economy is based on massive continuous consumptio

A great part of the problem is planned obsolescence - through one of many avenues. A lot of modern Capitalist economy is based on massive continuous consumption. So much so that if a company sell a viable, well-manufactured, robust product - it might be digging its own grave, because people won't need to buy the same or slightly-better product next year or in a couple of years. So, what does the economic incentive make manufacturers do? * Make parts that are sensitive to the elements or to pressure, so they are likely to sustain damage faster. * Make mechanical parts that are flimsy, thin, or just naturally wear out quickly. * Use electric components with short lifespans: Batteries that can charge less and less (while consumption is kept high), capacitors that pop and leak, solder spots that heat up and detach etc. * Write software or promote software that uses ever more computing resources even for the same functionality. * Invest in advertising, "news" and cultural products which encourage repeated consumption, fashions, disdain for what's older etc. * In extreme cases like that spoiled-princess company, Apple - they actively sabotage their own hardware with lock-ins, slow-downs on upgrades and other such goodies. and there's more, I suppose.

barbecue_sauce 6y ago
I always see Apple cited as some malevolent king of planned obsolescence, but I have a 2013 MacBook Pro and an iPhone 6, both under constant use, both of which I have never had any significant issues with and do not plan to upgrade any time soon. I know they oppose Right-To-Repair, but so far their hardware has been fairly robust for me.
- Wingman4l7 6y ago
  They've intentionally made battery replacement more difficult on their laptops by using strong adhesive on in their batteries (they used to screw them in). What's more damning IMO is their propensity to solder RAM, and now SSDs, to the motherboard. If permanently affixing the most commonly upgraded parts for laptops isn't planned obsolescence, I'm not sure what is.
  - Bud 6y ago
    Please don't be obtuse and intentionally ignore all the of the legitimate reasons why they are doing all these things. You're clearly and obviously smart enough to know what those reasons are. Hint: they're not "planned obsolescence" or any such bullshit. It would be better if we could discuss those issues honestly.
    - ClumsyPilot 6y ago
      If you are going to accuse the other person of being obtuse, you should at least answer the question: "what would apple have to do for you to admit that they are definately going for planned obsolescence?"
      - Bud 6y ago
        For starters, instead of providing software updates for THREE TIMES AS LONG as their main competitor in their main product space (iPhone), they'd need to start providing updates for, say, less long. :) Then, after that, they would need to start making products which, instead of holding their resale value for much longer than competing products (which they clearly and obviously do), hold their value for less long. I could go on, but really, for anyone paying attention? To the facts which really matter? This stuff is pretty obvious.
Bud 6y ago
Everything you said about Apple was completely false. Please substantiate it or retract.
pritovido 6y ago
There is lots of ideology in your post that blinds you and make you don't see reality. The concept of "planned obsolescence" is wrong in so many levels. It makes companies bad and customers good, but the reality is that most of what people call "planned obsolescence" is just offering products cheap enough. The fact is that most people want to buy as cheap as possible, and today polymers could make things extremely cheap to manufacture, but polymers do not last like good quality metals or polymers. You sell at the store a washing machine with the drum made in stainless steel or polymer and most people choose the polymer one, because it is so cheap, compared to manufacturing in steel. You put as an example capacitors that pop and leak as part of the "master plan of planned obsolescence". Most of the capacitors leaking in the millions were the consequence of China doing industrial espionage of Western companies, selling those caps super cheap, but doing it badly and those millions of caps failing very early. Of course the same people that buy cheap and put with their decisions out of business the quality product, then will complain about the cheap product when it fails. Most companies just can not manufacture high quality products because it is so expensive for them, and will not be able to recoup the investment, not enough people will buy. Apple can do that and does that. Their products are high quality. They use high quality materials like aluminum to make their computers, and almost nobody can compete with them because they sell in volume. For example they manufacture clocks with a precision that no company in the world used in volume before they did. You can like or dislike what they do, but insulting them only shows how biased are you against them.

barbecue_sauce 6y ago

I always see Apple cited as some malevolent king of planned obsolescence, but I have a 2013 MacBook Pro and an iPhone 6, both under constant use, both of which I have never had any significant issues with and do not plan to upgrade any time soon. I know they oppose Right-To-Repair, but so far their hardware has been fairly robust for me.

Wingman4l7 6y ago
They've intentionally made battery replacement more difficult on their laptops by using strong adhesive on in their batteries (they used to screw them in). What's more damning IMO is their propensity to solder RAM, and now SSDs, to the motherboard. If permanently affixing the most commonly upgraded parts for laptops isn't planned obsolescence, I'm not sure what is.
- Bud 6y ago
  Please don't be obtuse and intentionally ignore all the of the legitimate reasons why they are doing all these things. You're clearly and obviously smart enough to know what those reasons are. Hint: they're not "planned obsolescence" or any such bullshit. It would be better if we could discuss those issues honestly.
  - ClumsyPilot 6y ago
    If you are going to accuse the other person of being obtuse, you should at least answer the question: "what would apple have to do for you to admit that they are definately going for planned obsolescence?"
    - Bud 6y ago
      For starters, instead of providing software updates for THREE TIMES AS LONG as their main competitor in their main product space (iPhone), they'd need to start providing updates for, say, less long. :) Then, after that, they would need to start making products which, instead of holding their resale value for much longer than competing products (which they clearly and obviously do), hold their value for less long. I could go on, but really, for anyone paying attention? To the facts which really matter? This stuff is pretty obvious.

Bud 6y ago

Everything you said about Apple was completely false. Please substantiate it or retract.

pritovido 6y ago

There is lots of ideology in your post that blinds you and make you don't see reality. The concept of "planned obsolescence" is wrong in so many levels. It makes companies bad and customers good, but the reality is that most of what people call "planned obsolescence" is just offering products cheap enough. The fact is that most people want to buy as cheap as possible, and today polymers could make things extremely cheap to manufacture, but polymers do not last like good quality metals or polymers. You sell at the store a washing machine with the drum made in stainless steel or polymer and most people choose the polymer one, because it is so cheap, compared to manufacturing in steel. You put as an example capacitors that pop and leak as part of the "master plan of planned obsolescence". Most of the capacitors leaking in the millions were the consequence of China doing industrial espionage of Western companies, selling those caps super cheap, but doing it badly and those millions of caps failing very early. Of course the same people that buy cheap and put with their decisions out of business the quality product, then will complain about the cheap product when it fails. Most companies just can not manufacture high quality products because it is so expensive for them, and will not be able to recoup the investment, not enough people will buy. Apple can do that and does that. Their products are high quality. They use high quality materials like aluminum to make their computers, and almost nobody can compete with them because they sell in volume. For example they manufacture clocks with a precision that no company in the world used in volume before they did. You can like or dislike what they do, but insulting them only shows how biased are you against them.