the fact that apple took an entire product market and changed not just the product, but the market, to fit to their desire... like, electronic products are supposed to last, they are made to last for extended periods of time, that's the point. but then apple came along, and they suddenly realized they could change the whole game, because they got ahead on the smartphone trend and every other company was looking to them to decide what to do. so apple created "generations". usually, if your product isn't broken, you don't need a new one. you don't need to reenter the market. but they found a way to convince people, "oh, but just because you don't need a new one, doesn't mean you shouldn't get a new one. look, this new one is way cooler than the old one!" they turned a smartphone into a fashion piece, something that you should only have if it's "in-season". and people fall for it, hook-line-and-sinker, obediantly waiting in lines the week of the new iphone release while they have what should be a perfectly good phone sitting in their pocket, which is promptly going to be either sold third party for pocket change compared to the original price, or thrown straight into a landfill. perfectly fine, working parts, rare and valuable things, thrown straight away. but then, then, apple realized they could go further with it. because not everyone was doing that, and in fact many people either couldn't or didn't want to get replacements for their perfectly-good products, and that is how they became the forefront of planned obsolesence. if they had their hardware components abruptly stop working, people would become upset and outraged, and would demand investigation. so they turned to software. they said, "every once in a while, your device will need to update. these updates are good, because they will bring you new and improved features!"- but that was only half-true. if your phone was new, yes, this would happen, but if it was older, the update would slightly degrade it, so much so that you wouldn't notice it. but then after only a couple of years, you would notice it- your phone slowing down, lagging randomly, maybe a few weird glitches here and there, not enough to brick your phone but enough to make its original sleekness seem distant. and you would be frustrated, and you would wonder why this was happening, and apple would reach down and say, "why, that is because your phone is getting old. you need the next generation!" so then even those resistant to change would be forced to get a new phone every couple of generations, and anyone who didn't was fully seen as an outcast or an idiot. and apple realized how well this work, and they extended it in full to tablets and computers, and other companies took note, and they began to very slowly do the same. and now, instead of electronics being the old, ugly tv your grandparents have that still works, or the vintage computer in your dad's attic that has a graphical hole in the corner but still works, or your aunt's old record player that has gather decades' worth of grime and dust but still works, electronics is your friend's beautiful, clean iphone from two and a half years ago that has the capacity to do a thousand things, but it won't turn on because the charger port is fried, and when you ask them why, they go, "oh, it's out of season."
