Is Planned Obsolescence A Thing Of The Past?

from the thanks-to-software-and-the-internet dept

For years, people have talked about the concept of planned obsolescence, where gadgets you buy are designed to basically wear out or need to be replaced, in an effort to get you to upgrade to the latest version. More recently, we noted that the continual advancement of new features meant that in some areas, people were upgrading even before the old devices hit that "obsolete" stage. Yet, it appears that planned obsolescence may be facing something of an unexpected challenge: easily updating old gadgets to have new features.

Thanks to the fact that many devices these days are connected to the internet in some manner and that many features are software, rather than hardware-dependent, it's possible for companies to continually upgrade "old" hardware, even at the risk of making you perfectly happy with that old hardware, instead of upgrading to the new hardware. Of course, smart companies recognize that this actually makes that old hardware more valuable, meaning that people are more willing to pay for it, knowing that it will be functional (and useful) for a longer period of time. It's unlikely that planned obsolescence is going anywhere soon, but it's nice to see some companies recognizing that people like things that not only last, but that get better with time.

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