Our Stuff is Built to Break: This History and Impact of Planned Obsolescence

Have you ever wondered why, despite advancements in technology, our phones, laptops, and microwaves don't last longer? Why do we need to replace them every few years? Why does your battery life get shorter and shorter? And why is it so difficult to get our tech repaired?

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If it feels like your gadgets aren’t made to last as long as they used to, that’s because they’re not. Nowadays, manufacturers intentionally avoid building for longevity, and it’s incurring a huge cost on our wallet and the planet.

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Planned obsolescence is when manufacturers intentionally make products obsolete through frequent design updates, limited availability of spare parts and repair services, or the use of materials not intended for long-lasting use.

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This practice actually started 100 years ago.

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The creation of a lightbulb with a shorter lifespan

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In December 1924, major lightbulb manufacturers from around the world gathered in Geneva to form the Phoebus Cartel, the first global cartel in the lightbulb industry. Their primary objective was to increase profits and sales in the industry, as the demand for lightbulbs had decreased due to their increasing efficiency.

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To tackle this issue, they devised a strategy called planned obsolescence. They decided to reduce the lifespan of incandescent lightbulbs from 1500-2000 hours to 1000 hours.

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The cartel established a central testing laboratory in Switzerland, where all participating factories had to send their bulbs for evaluation against the cartel standards. If a bulb performed better than the cartel standards, the factory would be fined.

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This strategy compelled consumers to purchase incandescent bulbs more frequently, resulting in increased sales and profitability for the cartel.

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Planned obsolescence and the rise of General Motors over Ford

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In the 1920s, the auto industry was also facing a decline. Those who could afford cars had already made their purchases. To increase sales, General Motors' CEO at the time, Alfred Sloan, and his team implemented their own version of planned obsolescence. They began convincing people that they needed to buy new car models to align with their personality and social status.

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Sloan and his team aimed to persuade people to buy things they didn't actually need. In contrast, Ford continued to sell one model in one color and kept lowering the prices of its vehicles. Unsurprisingly, by the end of the 1920s, General Motors had surpassed Ford in size.

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Modern-day brands also learned the art of planned obsolescence

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In the 1950s, advertisers adopted this concept and began prompting people to replace their old items with newer sleeker, shinier, and better ones, even if they didn't actually need them.

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A few decades later, IKEA utilized this concept in its Chuck Out Your Chintz campaign to encourage British women to dispose of their old possessions and purchase more fashionable versions from IKEA.

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In 2001, Apple released its first iPod with a non-replaceable battery that had a lifespan of only 18 months. According to iFixit, the same approach was taken with the iPod shuffle, where the cost of battery replacement ($49 + $6.95 shipping) exceeded the retail price of the product ($49, free shipping). This model of planned obsolescence was then continued with their iPhones.

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The intention behind this strategy was to encourage consumers to purchase new versions of the products instead of sticking with the older ones. Apple actively opposed the right to repair for 22 years until finally endorsing it in September 2023.

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After about a century, we can see some progress being made against planned obsolescence. The right to repair act being rolled out in different states across the U.S. will make it easier for consumers to get their electronics repaired without depending on the manufacturers and use them for longer.