After more than a decade, I still have not seen someone saying the realization I had about the iPhone and planned obsolescence when it was first introduced

TLDR:

the iPhone reflects a smart embrace of how several of its driving technologies have a short lifespan

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When the iPhone was first introduced, a lot of commentators complained that the battery was not removable and replaceable like other phones, which meant that it was doomed to a lifespan of just a few years as the battery slowly degraded

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For several years now occasional projects crop up either proposing or seriously trying to create modular smartphones, so that one can swap out the battery, camera, cellular tech, et cetera.

These always fail, because they seem like a cool idea ... until you think about them.

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The battery is not the only component of a smartphone which ages badly.

Computer, cellular data, WiFi, and digital camera technologies all get a LOT better in just a few years. Cutting edge marvels become obsolete fast.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law

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Even displays are trapped on a conveyor belt toward obsolescence. The time horizon is a longer than the other smartphone components, but they get a little better every year, while old ones start to get bad pixels and other failings.

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I have an iPhone on my desk which is several years old, which still works fine as a music player ... but it is crap compared to the cheapest available new one

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Apple understands that if you commit to an integrated system — if you know that a particular chip will be connected only with THIS camera and THIS display and THIS everything else — you can make them work better

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An integrated iPhone which is all one piece is better in several ways than any modular equivalent could be:

cheaper, more reliable, more efficient, and — essential in a product that goes in one’s pocket — SMALLER

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When the iPhone was first introduced, THESE were some of the best and best-selling phones on the market.

Integration was one important reason why the iPhone was so much better.

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Planned obsolescence has long been a sleazy tactic of corporations trying to squeeze money out of consumers:

deliberately designing products to break down or become outdated or merely unfashionable

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

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The core technologies of a smartphone are not quite planned obsolescence; they are ANTICIPATED obsolescence.

A better phone will be invented next year. So why fight the way lithium batteries degrade quickly? Why not EMBRACE it and replace the whole phone in a few years?

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The pace of advancement of silicon technologies, together with our inability to make powerful lightweight batteries which last, results in an expensive product where replacing it every few years proves to be a good user experience solution

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With the iPhone, Apple understood that they had found a product where the capitalist dream of an expensive mass-market appliance with a rapid replacement cycle emerges from the nature of the materials

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It is worrisome that smartphones last such a short time and are not recyclable ... but on the scale of the environmental evils of capitalism, remember that we also have automobiles, and countless products which COULD last longer but don’t, by design

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