Mobile phones engineered 'not to last'

[Lynx-lynx]

We knew this to be the case, but now they're proving it ....

News Item the Aus Broadcasting Corporation (ABC):

Mobile phones engineered 'not to last'
'It is a common scenario: a customer is nearing the end of a 24-month mobile phone contract and despite taking impeccable care of the device, suddenly and for no apparent reason, it stops working like it should.

University of Sydney Professor of Media and Communications Gerard Goggin said technology companies across a range of consumer goods were increasingly using the "built-in obsolescence" tactic, so manufacturers could "flog" another product.

"It's a concept that has been obvious for a long time in terms of a consumer society," he said.

"And there's a sense now in which the built-in obsolescence in devices is shorter than usual."

He said the mobile phone industry had adapted to the concept by setting up plans that allowed customers to "post pay" on 24-month plans with telecommunication companies, so they could avoid paying lump sums for new handsets.

Professor Goggin said manufacturers used cheaper components in products and experimented with more plastics in an effort to push for a "quick turnover" of products.'

Rest of Article:

Spoiler:

He said the phenomenon first emerged for the mobile phone industry in Hong Kong about 10 years ago.

"That had to do with the conspicuous consumption phenomenon - an intersection between the phones being fashionable and people increasingly wanting to have a new phone regularly," Professor Goggin said.

"It was also catered for by being able to change the features of the phone, such as being able to change the face of a Nokia."

Professor Goggin said there was still a market for longer lasting products - made obvious by the sale of heavy duty cases for mobile phones and other protective accessories - but when it came to the phones themselves, "it was a bit hard to point to example sometimes".

He said Nokia Vertu was an example of a luxury, high-end brand, but companies "clearly believed there was an upside in having built-in obsolescence".

"One of the features of mobile phone culture is novelty," Professor Gerard said.

"People want the latest mobile, and there's still enough innovation in them to justify upgrades, although in three to five years time that won't be the case.

"There won't be that much new in this mobile market, and I feel a bit like that at the moment. I've just got an iPhone 5, why would I want an iPhone 6? There's not much difference in it."

Further down in that Article:
Manufacturers 'dropping the ball' on software

Spoiler:

JC Twining, the owner of 14-year-old Adelaide-based mobile phone repair company Axiom Communications, has been fixing phones for 20 years and said one of the areas that manufacturers were most culpable was software.

Mr Twining said they were "dropping the ball a bit".

"When Apple release a new software update, they release it for the current generation that's out, as well as the previous one," he said.

"They also release it for a couple of older generations, but if you install that, your phone really starts to slow down."

He did not believe it was a deliberate move but said shareholders were "obviously very interested" in getting a return on their investments.

"There is that conflict of interest," Mr Twining said.

"Do they make a phone that people want to replace every two years? Or do they make a phone that the consumer wants and wants to last a long time?

"The tension between shareholders and customers is always interesting to me."

Still further down in that Article:
iPhone 6 spurs 'abnormal' repair numbers

Mr Twining said the longevity of hardware components, such as speakers, microphones and buttons, generally had not changed for 20 years.

He has, however, received an abnormally high rate of repair requests for the new iPhone 6 "from day one" following its launch last month.

Spoiler:

"Previously all the phones could be gripped in your hand while you're walking down the street," Mr Twining said.

"But the iPhone 6 is a much bigger size and people are just balancing them on their hand rather than gripping them, and they're falling."

Another typical repair he made was to the Samsung Galaxy S5 that was released earlier this year, as a water resistant device.

"It's designed to be water resistant and it's pretty good, but the small print says that under no condition is this phone impervious to water," Mr Twining said.

"But people see the adverts and see people falling in swimming pools and think it's fine."

A spokesperson for Apple declined to comment on the lasting integrity of iPhones or built-in obsolescence, but said its recent models had made a new sales record by selling more than 10 million devices in the first three days of its launch.

Samsung did not respond to a request for comment.

[Cyberman tM]

Is there any actual proof in there? Or just speculation?

It's not surprising things are not built to last.
But it's different to claim that things are built to not last.

Of course they use cheaper material - if they know that more than half the buyers will replace the device within a few years, why use material that definitely lasts longer (and likely costs more) ?

Regarding software - well, yeah. Hardware is cheap. Software design isn't.

[jgaiser]

Well.. I have an iPhone 2 that still works just fine. I have an iPhone 4s that's my primary phone that's over three years old and still works fine. Everything is built as cheap as it can, but 'engineered to not last"? I don't think so.

[wodin]

I'd think that much depends on usage. If I push a button ten times per day and you push yours 100 times, I'd expect my button to last ten times longer than yours.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Well.. I have an iPhone 2 that still works just fine. I have an iPhone 4s that's my primary phone that's over three years old and still works fine. Everything is built as cheap as it can, but 'engineered to not last"? I don't think so.

Not saying it is 100% fact but the movie The Lightbulb Conspiracy discusses planned obsolescence. Interesting, thought provoking.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Not saying it is 100% fact but the movie The Lightbulb Conspiracy discusses planned obsolescence. Interesting, thought provoking.

I guess, lightbulbs are one of the most critical examples.
About 25 years ago, as a student one of my friends was working as an intern for one of the 3 big corporates manufacturing lightbulbs.
He told us, those 3 have an agreement: If one has a bottleneck in his production, the other 2 jump in. Meaning: They all basically can manufacture the same product, it's just labeled differently.
In a stagnating market, from a manufacturer's perspective this probably makes sense: Why fight over some 5% market share and killing margins? Why not instead each stick to about 1/3 of the market and all keeping margins high?
And one only can speculate about the other agreements in place: Price, quality, durability, new technologies, energy consumption, .....

But I can't imagine such scenarios for many other market segments.
Do Samsung and HTC have such an agreement? I wouldn't expect so...

As long as each is on all other's throats, such agreements are impossible.
Even more so in highly dynamic markets...

[meeera]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Well.. I have an iPhone 2 that still works just fine. I have an iPhone 4s that's my primary phone that's over three years old and still works fine. Everything is built as cheap as it can, but 'engineered to not last"? I don't think so.

I'm gonna one-up you there: an original iPhone, bought second-hand, still chugging along. Heck, I'm pretty sure there's a still-working original iPod around here somewhere.

[bfisher]

I've got a video ipod that's 8 years old and works fine. However, the li-ion battery was basically dead after 4 years, and designed to not be user-replaceable. Luckily, i can use it in a dock, but I'd need a heck of a long extension cord to jog with it.

That's very common for portable electronic devices now. I expect my 1 year old tablet to be effectively dead two years from now, due to a non-replaceable battery and probably a non-upgradeable OS.

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by wodin

I'd think that much depends on usage. If I push a button ten times per day and you push yours 100 times, I'd expect my button to last ten times longer than yours.

That depends. On some components failure rate is time based e^(-kt), on some it is cyclic (number of cycles). Electrical usually are time based, although a button coiuld be a combination of both.

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Not saying it is 100% fact but the movie The Lightbulb Conspiracy discusses planned obsolescence. Interesting, thought provoking.

Planned obsolescence is a fact in the coporate world. There is always a trade off where one has to consider the cost of a new unit vs the development of a unit that will last longer.

[Shane R]

My suspicions are aroused about this article, though I agree in general with the premise.

Every iPhone 6 sold is still under warranty. Why are consumers taking them to him for repair?

[Ekaros]

Originally Posted by Shane R

My suspicions are aroused about this article, though I agree in general with the premise.

Every iPhone 6 sold is still under warranty. Why are consumers taking them to him for repair?

Accidental damage needs extra coverage. Warranty normaly only covers defects in manufacturing.


Batteries are one clear component that age in the 2 year time period and this is due to them being chemical devices where irreversible reactions happen.

[Quexos]

My father had a Philips electric shaver which he got in the 70's and I remember how after 20 years it was still working fine. Mine is not even 2 years old and though it sill works, it's already showing signs of diminished performances as I must rub my face much more with it to get the job fully done...

Companies are screwing us with built-in obsolescence, everybody knows it but since we live in a "corporo-cracy" nobody will ever do anything about it. If people try to defend their interests like they do in cases of downloaded stuff (so called piracy), everybody frowns upon them like good little brain-washed consumers that they are.

[jj2me]

Ever wonder why automotive engines last so much longer nowadays? I heard someone claim on a car show on the radio that the industry found it in their interest to lower the ring-to-cylinder engine tolerances and wear tolerances because of the EPA's federally mandated 8-year/80,000-miles catalytic converter warranty. The less blowby, the less cat failure within 80,000 miles.

It's highly likely that CARB (California Air Resources Board) and the EPA and European pollution control regulators weren't thinking of that positive side effect when they wrote the first pollution control regulations.

[mpeg2]

This may not be solely due to corporate planning. It seems that we've had a part in this too - with the primary trend in deciding what to buy based primarily on lowest price. If we put emphasis on price rather than longevity in our purchase selections, then companies will engineer the price point of their products downwards to remain competitive. The primary way to do this is in less expensive components that simply don't last as long.

Rich