Ask HN: Do you think planned obsolescence still exists?

The fact is that nearly every smartphone or tablet in the last 5 years, even $80 discount models, could run the latest Android. Or full Linux desktop.

They're discarded by the millions each year for being stuck on some old useless software version. Updates for a three year old phone is more than some do. I think it suggests the manufacturers have no intention of it being used more than a year or two out.

This might be a tinfoil hat take but for me the default is planned obsolescence, simply for the fact there is no reason for companies not to do so (negligible downside, a lot to gain). Right from slowing down old smartphones, college textbooks, un-repairable electronics, the examples are plentiful.

Yes, as strong as before, if not more. IMO Gates' Law -- the inverse of Moore's law -- doesn't help either. I have plenty of examples, from those pieces of software and appliances I use everyday:

- Power went on and off in our building for several minutes. That obviously turned off my always-on printer and all other devices. Now for some reason the printer won't turn on. All my other devices like my TV, Raspberry Pi and desktop computers plugged 24/7 and still work perfectly after the incident.

- Some appliances like vacuum cleaners and fridges and freezers made recently tend to break faster. And although they consume less watts of power when used, their relatively frequent need to be replaced generates more waste. In comparison, our 30 year old (I'm 28!) fridge is still functioning.

- About mobile devices, I have a Samsung tablet and an old Iphone whose batteries or screens can't be trivially replaced: I replaced the battery of my tablet now for some reason the touchscreen is messed up making it unusable although the display still works ok. A still older Android phone from 2014 won't install updates or most recent software. Not so long ago, Apple had been known to deliberatly slow down old devices, but no longer know to what extent that is still true.

- Car parts. Lots of progress have been made regarding fuel economy but Renault cars IMO could be made more reliable and user-friendly: changing a lighbulb on the Renault Modus requires you to disassemble the bumper [1] ... Changing the battery on a hybrid car... I'd rather not know.

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[1] http://www.fiches-auto.fr/articles-auto/entretien-automobile...

Naw I removed it. Just idle speculation. I'll put it in my about if you want to repost.

Yes. Think of airpods and their unreplaceable batteries for instance.