The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) last week announced that a report for a “Framework on Repairability Index (RI) in Mobile and Electronic Sector” had been submitted to the government. Under the RI, consumer electronics and electronic appliances would be assigned a score depending on how easy they are to repair by evaluating products under criteria like availability of spare parts, cost of repair, software updates, and availability of information.
... While “planned obsolescence” — selling consumers less durable products intentionally so that they come back to buy a newer model — is often cited as a reason for this, there is often a simpler reason: companies are cutting corners on raw materials and manufacturing, under the strain of increasing metal costs and price competition.