Well, you want more people to buy your product so you get growth year over year. You can't do that with a basic widget that will last 10++ years. Otherwise your

Well, you want more people to buy your product so you get growth year over year. You can't do that with a basic widget that will last 10++ years. Otherwise your growth would plateau to the natural population growth rate and there would be a thriving 2nd hand market because your stuff rarely breaks. Adding complex electronic features is an obvious choice now. You can just stop providing updates or the electronics will fail. Cheaper things aren't necessarily bad either. You don't want things like fridges and blenders to be items only the rich can afford and less robust things are probably fine if it was clear under what conditions you can use the item to make it last and if the item was easily repairable. Lastly, I don't think you can blame the manufacturers alone either. I know people who don't like used things even if they are still good and will always buy new.