Back to Basics: Why Tech Becomes Obsolete

By David Sandy

October 15, 2024

Blog

Back to Basics: Why Tech Becomes Obsolete

We see entropy’s influence wherever we go, whether it be our need to replace worn out clothing, buy new car tires, or have to continually clean our houses. Obsolescence is the technology outcome of entropy.

Welcome to Back to Basics, a series where we’re going to be reviewing basic engineering concepts that may require a more complex explanation than a quick Google search could provide.

When it comes to the tech world, we experience this entropy as a device's end of useful life. When we replace our computers, servers, phones, or software, it’s often not because they’re actually worn out or broken, but rather because they are out of date or slow.

So why does tech outpace entropy? How long can our tech really last? In this series, we’ll dig into the mysteries of software and hardware advances to help explain why the tech world progresses so quickly, and hopefully, how we can keep up with an ever-innovating world.

The Pros and Cons of Planned Obsolescence

We usually get new tech releases every year (sometimes sooner), but how much of that is actually new tech?

Obsolescence is often designed into products by tech companies in a device lifecycle management strategy of planned obsolescence. At its surface, planned obsolescence seems greedy, and unfortunately, it often can be. One form this can take is the somewhat unethical practice of deliberately putting flaws in hardware or software so that it will degrade over time, forcing consumers to buy or replace products at a faster rate.

Another way planned obsolescence comes into play is through marketing. Sometimes a company can market a product that is almost exactly the same as the last generation, but by telling the consumer that the newer product is better, they can trick them into thinking that the old product is no longer useful.

While planned obsolescence is sometimes detrimental to the consumer, it does have its upsides. By forcing themselves to create products at a constant rate, tech companies are forced into some level of innovation and competition.

Planned obsolescence isn’t the only kind of obsolescence, though. In our next article, we’ll look at why hardware has been continuously getting better over time, causing a more natural form of obsolescence.