The Challenges of Repairability and Predictability in Consumer Electronics

the difference with the razor blade model, which of course must be replaced weekly, is that these devices only concern defects or wear and tear over the longer term (
A defective screen is not predictable, so it is difficult to make a business case for it. Do you sell an average of 1, 2, 10,
The same applies to batteries. I think the lifespan of these devices is estimated at 2 to 3 years. The battery will last that long in most conditions (of course with reduced performance). And how many people with a bad battery will replace it? (how many devices are constantly connected to electricity?).
Production errors of course remain the responsibility of the manufacturer, and it would be foolish to make margins on this.

The business case is much more uncertain. With razor blades, console games, etc. it is much easier to determine how often people purchase these products, and this is usually a regular purchase (every month for example). That is why subscription forms are so popular with sellers. Guaranteed income for an agreed period. Preferably also with a complete lockout upon termination. Eternal money! (sunk cost fallacy).
In addition, although components would often be replaced, until now this always happened via gray/black channels (read: Aliexpress) and the manufacturer will not even have the information to make this business case.

If I were Microsoft, I wouldn’t want to gamble on an average of 0.7 battery and 0.2 display over the lifespan of a device. Just give me a healthy margin on the product, and we do the repairs mainly for marketing and a very small amount for the environment (because that is also marketing), they only have to cover costs (and you can assume that there are costs for each individual component that is offered, traceability, packaging, logistics, distribution) The end user or a 3rd party puts time into it, which is also less free as is always said. And don’t forget that it can also cost a little extra to make a product repairable at all.

[Reactie gewijzigd door kid1988 op 27 oktober 2023 08:34]

2023-10-27 05:45:16
#IFixit #starts #selling #original #Microsoft #Surface #parts