Where is the Issue Occurring?
Apple Products
“Apple sees self-replacement as a threat, and they are working on making it harder to open your own phone.”
- Ifixit, 2011
Before the iPhone came around, almost all phones had user-replaceable batteries. Apple decided to change that. They figured out that they could sell more phones with integrated batteries, meaning that users would have to upgrade their phones when the battery wore down. This idea may have been good for them, but it has proven to be a horrible idea for everyone else. For example, Catherine Rampell states that;
“At first, I thought it was my imagination. Around the time the iPhone 5S and 5C were released, in September, I noticed that my sad old iPhone 4 was becoming a lot more sluggish. The battery was starting to run down much faster, too. But the same thing seemed to be happening to a lot of people who, like me, swear by their Apple products. When I called tech analysts, they said that the new operating system (iOS 7) being pushed out to existing users was making older models unbearably slow. Apple phone batteries, which have a finite number of charges in them to begin with, were drained by the new software. So I could pay Apple $79 to replace the battery, or perhaps spend 20 bucks more for an iPhone 5C. It seemed like Apple was sending me a not-so-subtle message to upgrade.”
- Rampell, 2013
To make matters worse, Apple won’t authorise independent iPhone battery replacement centers, because they don’t want you to replace the battery. They just want you to buy a new phone. However, they have decided that if you really want to replace the battery, they want to make money from it. That is why, despite the fact that iPhone batteries retail for just $20 and cost Apple far less than that, they can only be replaced for $85.95. According to Ifixit;
“They’re not selling us phones—they’re leasing them to us! This isn’t just planned obsolescence—this is planned failure. Apple is making billions by selling us hardware with a built-in death clock. It is designed to fail after 400 cycles, conveniently coordinated with their annual hardware release cycle. Dead, hard to replace battery every year. New iPhone every year.”
- Ifixit, 2011
So, as you can see, Apple are a prime case of planned obsolescence. Now for an example of perceived obsolescence, the fashion industry.
Fashion
“Department stores and fashion retailers like GAP and Ann Taylor would find themselves in a lot of trouble if our grandmothers’ sturdy nylon petticoats from the 1950s were still considered wearable today.”
- Chan, 2014
Perceived obsolescence in the fashion industry is simply when something goes out of style or when something suddenly becomes what you apparently need to wear to be fashionable. So why is that such a big deal? Because, when something suddenly goes ‘out of fashion’, people start to throw it out. But just because it is out of fashion, doesn’t mean it suddenly doesn’t function correctly anymore. Here is a good example of perceived obsolescence:
“A football shirt, for a supporter. Professional football clubs change their design of kit in subtle ways, in time for the new season. The colour scheme remains the same. This puts pressure on many supporters, as they do not wish to be seen in last seasons shirt. The perception is that a supporter in the old shirt, is a less committed supporter, than one in the new shirt. Also, wearing a shirt that is out of date, could be embarrassing in a crowd of supporters wearing the new version. Subtle pressure is applied, so that the supporter buys the new shirt, which may be only slightly different from last seasons.”
- Ryan, 2013
Things like ‘the latest trend’ make items of clothing seem obsolete, meaning that people get rid of them. This creates more waste than is necessary, which is really bad for the environment as the majority of textile waste ends up in landfills.
What is the scale of the issue?
What is the scale of the issue?