It seems that these days we’re constantly getting new tech every year. Whether it’s simply an upgrade for last year’s tech or something new, it’s pretty fun to see what’s coming. Because of this, older devices become irrelevant over time. This is something that people like to call planned obsolescence. Over the years I started realizing this is an issue. Why do tech companies have the need to do this?
My best guess is greed. Technology used to be upgradable so you can be somewhat up-to-date without having to buy a completely new device. Take the original MacBook for example. Steve Jobs was encouraging us to open up our MacBooks to replace stuff like the hard drive or the RAM. Over time, the MacBook started becoming more glued together until we reached the point where consumers can no longer do internal upgrades by themselves. Want to upgrade the hard drive in your 2022 MacBook Pro? Too bad. You’re not allowed to make any mods to your device. But what if there’s just one piece that will make it up to date? Again, too bad. Your device is pretty much obsolete and you can’t do anything unless you buy a whole new machine.
On the software side of things. Apple likes to update iOS every year. However, with each update more devices become unsupported. The current version of iOS, iOS 16, dropped support for the iPhone 7. I feel like it was just yesterday that it was released and for support to be dropped now is insane. There’s nothing about the iPhone 7 that feel out of date. The hardware is still fast enough and it doesn’t have a headphone jack which is a modern feature. I guess it’s just not modern enough compared to the models that came after it. It’s one thing for the main software to be maxed out since the device reach its limit. But there are some things that should still work. There are also now certain apps that no longer work on older devices. I can get behind games not being supported on older devices since games are becoming more technologically advanced. But for simple apps like social media or streaming services, it makes no sense. Streaming apps like Netflix being unsupported makes no sense to me since most of it is already internet based. Once the things you like stop getting support, you are pretty much left with no choice but to upgrade.
Sometimes, changing a thing on one device makes people buy new things. Firewire used to be a superior format to USB. Once USB started to beat firewire specs-wise, all of a sudden every device that was using firewire felt dated and people started switching over to peripherals that were USB based. Another example is when Apple switched from the 30-pin connector to lightning. Every accessory that used the 30-pin connector was obsolete and consumers were forced to buy the same things over again just to support the new connector. Now that USB-C is becoming more prominent, it won’t long until everyone is forced to buy adapters just so then we can still use all of our current devices on new machines. It’s surprising how people are able to accept this considering that they used to be furious about technology upgrades. Back when the Super Nintendo was being released, parents weren’t too happy that new games weren’t going to be released for the old Nintendo Entertainment System they just bought for their child. Now we’re okay with our old technology becoming out of style. Even when Apple removed the headphone jack starting from the iPhone 7, people were quick to defend their decision by supporting their new Airpods. I like wireless headphones but I would still pick wired headphones any day. I don’t want to resort to needing an adapter or going Bluetooth. I just want to connect my headphones to my cell phone without any issues. I love my Galaxy Buds but I still have problems connecting them. My phone sometimes doesn’t detect them right away and in the case of using them on my desktop or laptop, it took a while for them to finally be recognized. Not every technological advancement is perfect which is okay. But we still need the option to use our old tech for a while until they get it right.
Companies are becoming more greedy every year. They are always going to find a new way to make sure our device becomes obsolete. However, I think the dirtiest trick in the book is designing the device to essentially become a brick once it stops getting support. The Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 were designed to do this. Inside both consoles, there is a battery that runs things like the internal clock. However, in the case of the PS4, if the battery dies and you can’t connect to Sony’s online server (which will probably be shut down in the future), the console will no longer function. Thankfully a firmware update did resolve this issue. However, if this was ignored, then every PS4 would’ve gone to waste once the battery in all of the systems die. You wouldn’t even be able to sell it other than for parts. Technology used to be built for last but now it’s built for destruction, like IKEA furniture that moves.
Tech corporations are going to continue using tactics to make sure we upgrade to the latest tech. However, the current methods feel dirty and cheap. I feel like we need innovation again rather than meaningless upgrades. We also want quality again, not something that’s going to stop working in years. They need to understand why people still love a lot of old technology. They were built to last and have almost all the features they want/need. People want their headphone jacks back. They also want to upgrade parts not buy new machines. No one wants to see the tech they spent money on go to waste in just a few years. They want something that they can always rely on.