Sometimes it's "conscious" on the part of the brand, they deliberately release a substandard v2. But it can also happen organically. There's a book called "Poo

Sometimes it's "conscious" on the part of the brand, they deliberately release a substandard v2. But it can also happen organically. There's a book called "Poorly made in China" [*] which explains a common dynamic here which I found surprising. Major brands and retailers try to squeeze every last penny out of the outsourced manufacturers. The manufacturers often respond with "quality fade", cost optimising the product without the brand's consent. There is an element of "cat and mouse" to this. And this can happen at every step in the supply chain! So the outsourced manufacturer can also suffer quality fade from their suppliers via a similar dynamic. Often the brand doesn't have that much insight or input into the product itself because they no longer "make" it. They got it made by giving a Chinese factory an item to clone, or by picking an item from a catalog of samples and suggesting customisations and branding. If the brand "falls out" with the factory they risk having nothing to sell. Their main leverage is being able to switch suppliers. But when they do this the item doesn't come out the same anymore because the new factory has different tooling or processes. [*] This is not to say that China can not make excellent products. They can, and they often do! But the dynamics of everybody trying to squeeze the last penny out of everyone else can lead to substandard results.