It could be the opposite. Eg, instead of limited runs of electronic boards dedicated to a particular model, you use a collection of standard boards made in the

It could be the opposite. Eg, instead of limited runs of electronic boards dedicated to a particular model, you use a collection of standard boards made in the zillions. I think your 5x example is unrealistic. It might be that much currently because long-lived rapairable devices are a boutique niche. But if stuff in general were built more with commodity modules (of whatever quality), it could actually be cheaper than custom designs, with their design overhead and lower-mass production. But the thing is, even if it's slightly more expensive to manufacture initially (and with electronics, it's often about mere pennies), the actual cost, if you factor in all the external costs transport/transport infrastructure, disposal, etc, etc, and especially the environmental cost, it's much higher for 'fast appliances' (ala fast fashion) than for longer-lived, more repairable choices.