Deliberate design of products with limited lifespans to force repeat purchases
Planned obsolescence is the deliberate engineering of products with artificially limited useful lives to compel consumers to purchase replacements. The practice encompasses design choices that ensure physical failure after a predetermined period, software updates that slow older devices, and styling changes that make functional products seem outdated.
The concept has documented historical roots. The Phoebus cartel — a consortium of major light bulb manufacturers including General Electric, Osram, and Philips — agreed in 1924 to reduce bulb lifespans from 2,500 hours to 1,000 hours, with fines for companies whose bulbs lasted too long. This is one of the earliest confirmed examples of industry-wide planned obsolescence.
In the technology sector, Apple agreed to a $113 million settlement in 2020 over allegations that software updates deliberately slowed older iPhones — the "Batterygate" scandal. Printer manufacturers have been found to include chips that disable cartridges after a set number of pages regardless of remaining ink. The right-to-repair movement has emerged in response to manufacturers designing products that cannot be serviced by independent shops or consumers, effectively forcing replacement of devices with minor faults.
