Apple Is A Shady Company; Change My Mind.

I genuinely would like someone to tell me why Apple is not as bad as I think and change my mind. My problem with Apple boils down to three main issues (and a couple of examples):

Planned Obsolescence and All the Different Types with Examples

Planned obsolescence. Basically, products are designed by manufacturers to "wear out" after a certain period of time or amount of use. This is done to force consumers to repurchase products or purchase new versions of products. There are a few types of planned obsolescence.

First is contrived durability, which means a product is designed to deteriorate quickly. A great example is how disposable razor blades wear out so quickly.

The second type is prevention of repairs, which means a product is designed in such a way that it is either made to be a single-use item (like disposable cameras) or in a way that uses proprietary hardware to prevent repairs and even damage the products if repairs are attempted. Apple is guilty of this with the majority of their product lineup, even seeking legislation to make it illegal to provide the difficult repairs.

The third is perceived obsolescence, which means a manufacturer frequently releases new "versions" of a product to make consumers feel as if the old product is far inferior. This is incredibly common and, in the grand scheme of things, fairly harmless. This type of planned obsolescence doesn't force a consumer to purchase a new product but rather coerces them to, as do many other marketing campaigns. Common examples include new cars, phones, televisions, apparel, etc., for which new versions are released frequently.

Fourth is systemic obsolescence, which is when a manufacturer deliberately attempts to make a product obsolete by altering the system to make regular use difficult. Many people, including myself, accuse Apple of this when they release a new iPhone. Many people find that their old iPhone begins to run slowly after the latest iOS update following the release of the new iPhone model.

Last is programmed obsolescence, which is when a product contains a mechanical or electrical system that limits the amount of uses the product has. One notable example is printer cartridges, which use software to limit the amount of pages they will print, regardless of the actual ink level. Hewlett Packard was sued on allegations that their ink cartridges would "expire" on a certain date.

Altogether, these practices create an abundance of waste and unethically force consumers to buy more "stuff." This is a great way to make money hand over fist, and it is far more common than most people may think. People often complain that "things just don't last as long as they used to," which, excluding survivorship bias, is true because they are built not to.

The iPhone is exemplary of American capitalism in that it is produced almost entirely in the global South, with Southern resources and Southern labor, and yet the profits are booked as GDP in the USA. Also in that it takes the best of global creativity, productivity, and IP, repackages it, and sells it back to the world at a premium.

Don't forget that almost all of the tech for the product was developed in the public sector and gifted for free to the company. And planned obsolescence is a keystone of the business model, so more and more have to be produced and bought all the time—continuing the cycle of exploitation.

On the bright side, just like American capitalism, it's impossible to repair. Must be replaced. Classic case of American consumerism: use and throw.

For another reference reading, research by Donald A. Clelland, The Core of the Apple: Degrees of Monopoly and Dark Value in Global Commodity Chains, is recommended.

Apple Continues to Commit Anti-Consumer Practices

1. Apple continually denies when their products break due to faulty design or manufacturing processes, instead opting to blame the customer until they are forced to admit wrongdoing (usually due to overwhelming negative PR). (i.e. "You're holding it wrong" (iPhone 4) and "The MacBook/MB Pro 2015-2019 butterfly keyboard is great")
2. Apple is staunchly against the right to repair.
3. If I need a repair, I should be able to take it wherever I want to have it repaired or even broken further if I want to. As people like Louis Rossman have discussed, Apple makes it VERY difficult, if not impossible, for 3rd-party businesses to be able to repair Apple products and provide timely customer service.
4. On a side note, I should also be able to install Linux or even malware (other than Windows) easily on my purchased hardware if I want. Apple's TPM chip should not prevent me from doing that. But I love macOS, so this is not a big deal for me, just another gripe.

They Continuously Cut Corners on Their Hardware and Software at the Cost of the Customer

1. The $350 HomePod was designed WITHOUT BLUETOOTH OR A HEADPHONE JACK! And most of the cool features of the HomePod, like instantly transferring music to/from your phone, were only available if you used Apple Music. See MKBHD's review here.
2. Even now, after years of customers pleading for this, Siri's 3rd party music support (i.e., asking Siri to play music on Spotify) is nowhere near as good as Google Assistant's. I fully believe that Apple could change this if they wanted to, but they prefer to force the customer to use Apple Music without offering a superior service and competing on a level playing field.
3. IOS 14 comes with the ability to change the default apps for the browser and mail client only. This oddly leaves behind music and maps. When MKBHD asked Craig Federighi about this, he pretended that he wasn't aware that people wanted to change those apps just as much, if not more than, their browsers and mail clients. He then said that he would keep it in mind for next time. Again, I call shenanigans.
4. Lastly, Apple has decided that they would no longer ship the USB Type A power adapter in the box with the iPhone 12 while simultaneously changing the charging cable that is included in the box to a USB Type C to Lightning cable. The internet has talked about this at length, so I won't delve deeper into it here. Basically, they say that it's for environmental reasons, but that too seems like a lie.

I'll end my rant here. I am interested in knowing what you all think. Change my mind. Believe it or not, I tried to keep this short. Let me be clear. I know that these are incendiary statements, but I pride myself on not being a fanboy for any company. With the thoughts above, I feel jaded against a company that can't be as bad as I'm making them out to be in my head.

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