Apple removed the metal bracket and underfill to make the iPhone less durable than in the past.
You tell me:
This is a bad manufacturing choice. Apple design/engineering choice...of that of the manufacturer? Less durable, or cheaper to produce?
Hard to say. It is Apple's responsibility either way. My hunch is someone decided it was good enough, and keeps cost down. And it isn't.
Over the years, Apple has had a handful of hardware failures like this, including
GPU failure on some 2012 MBPs, antenna gate, bend gate,
screen coating peeling, and even going back to the iBook G4 mother board that would fail after about 2-3 years...nearly exactly the same as this current iPhone
underfill/cracked solder issue, and others.
All of these have caused bad press, mad customers, extended warranty programs (recalls). I am skeptical that any of these were "designed obsolesce", more likely real design/engineering mistakes....or worst case, cutting corners to reduce cost, with unintended consequences: early failures. I am sure all of them cost Apple money. Assuming this is true, no way they do it on purpose, with idea that devices will fail early Makes no financial sense.
The flip side is, we live in world of disposable
everything. The notion is simple: design things so they wear out about when folks are done with it. Nothing is built to last anymore, unless one seeks out very high end niche stuff. We get fun stuff as cheap prices
because it is
not built to last.
Example: was looking at furniture the other day, and ran across hand made, fabulous
Amish made dining set. Great design, fabulous wood, construction, finish, American made, etc. Heirloom quality. Taken care of, could last 100 years or more. But, the set cost about $7000. And I would say it was worth that.
But most folks buy a set closer to $700, and expect it to last about 10 years or so. Not to pass down to 2 or more generations. Read once that Ikea designs sofas so that the frame, springs, and foam lasts about the same as the covering fabric. When it is worn, pitch it. Back in the day, furniture had well made, hard wood frame, and would often get reupholstered several times. I have one chair from the 1930's and one that may be from the late 1800's. Still going strong, after being reupholstered. But that world is nearly gone now.
Consumer electronics is even worse. Pretty much everything, every brand, is built to last whatever the useable life is deemed to be......say about 5 years. Same with appliances, and just about everything these days. When I was kid—back when dinosaurs still walked the earth—it was not uncommon to see folks with refrigerators, stoves, toasters, etc. that were 30+ years old and still cranking away. And that had been repaired a few times. There once was world filled with TV repair shops. Really....it's true!
Like it or not, that's the world we live in.
Overall, Apple's record holds up that their hardware generally lasts longer than the industry average. But they have lemons, just like every other brand. I suggest they have less than most.
