Planned obsolescence is a strategy used by some businesses where they deliberately design products with a limited lifespan or by intentionally making it so that they are incompatible with new software or hardware. Essentially, what this means is that we are forced to make an upgrade sooner than we would necessarily like.
Planned Obsolescence in Technology
Technology is a key area which thrives on planned obsolescence. Some examples include:
- Devices which have non-removable parts, such as batteries and screws which you can’t remove, making repairs difficult and expensive, encouraging you to buy a new model
- Batteries which deteriorate after just a few years
- Software updates that aren’t available on your device due to it being too old, and in turn, the apps you want to download require you to have this latest software
- New releases of gaming consoles leading to them no longer producing games for the console you already have, meaning if you want any new gameplay you must buy a new console
Real Life Example: Apple’s 2017 ‘Batterygate’
In 2017, data from Geekbench revealed that Apple had been deliberately slowing down older iPhones with aging batteries, meaning those with older batteries had slower phones. Apple acknowledged that this was the case, though stated this slowdown was to lengthen the lifespan of phones and prevent unexpected shutdowns. However, this practice was criticised as a form of planned obsolescence.
Apple has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to settle lawsuits in the US and France, but the ‘batterygate’ case in the UK has still not been fully settled yet. The UK claim led by Justin Gutmann is £853 million lawsuit on behalf of affected device owners alleges that Apple deliberately slowed down older iPhones through software updates to hide issues with batteries. This case has been cleared to proceed to court by the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal.
Consequences of Planned Obsolescence in Technology
- Environmental damage due to increased electronic waste (which you can read more about the dangers of here) and pollution
- Depletion of our resources – constantly replacing our devices requires huge amount of raw materials, depleting our natural resources
- Financial pressures to the individual – not only is this constant cycle of chucking and rebuying bad for the environment, it’s also bad for our bank accounts!
What Can You Do?
Even as individuals working on a small-scale, we can take steps to counteract planned obsolescence as best we can by:
- Supporting sustainable businesses
- Selling or donating used products rather than throwing them away
- Being mindful of unnecessary purchases. We can’t help it if a device stops working… however, there is also such a thing as ‘style obsolescence’ wherein we start to think our device is undesirable or unfashionable simply due to a change in trends, even if it still works absolutely fine