Engineer criticizes modern electronics: "designed not to last"

Engineer criticizes modern electronics: "designed not to last"

An industrial electronics engineer argued in a forum that modern electronics do not fail due to ignorance or bad luck, but because of design decisions. According to his presentation, cars are now computers on wheels, mobile phones have extreme density with no space to dissipate heat, and microscopic solder joints work at their limit. Heat degrades components, thermal cycles fatigue connections, and miniaturization reduces margins. It is not nostalgia, he claims: it is the laws of physics, which do not negotiate. The difference, he adds, is that technical excellence used to be measured in longevity and robustness; today it is measured in performance per cubic centimeter and time to market.

The car that becomes a paperweight

As stated in the thread, the embedded electronics in today's vehicles live in a hostile environment: constant vibrations, dust, humidity, and thermal cycles over many years. Control units are encapsulated in epoxy resin, making them impossible to repair. One participant argues that when a two-euro chip fries due to a lack of heat dissipation, the entire car can be immobilized. Some suggest this is not an accident, but a consequence of the model: if you cannot repair it, it is not yours. Planned obsolescence, it is argued, turns the owner into a service user rather than the owner of a good.

The phone that is old after six years

A user without technical training acknowledges that a current smartphone lasts them six or seven years with daily use, drops, cold, and heat. Extreme integration has brought a level of durability that did not exist before, according to their experience. The problem is not that it breaks: it is that software advances faster than hardware. By the time the device still works, it is already obsolete for applications. The economic question raised is whether it makes sense to manufacture something that lasts twenty years if it weighs a kilo and costs three thousand euros. The balance between durability, weight, and price is not trivial.

When repair is not worth it

Almost everything is repairable, another participant maintains. It is another matter whether it is worth it. The cost of spare parts is tiny compared to labor. Lithium batteries die due to an inherent limitation of the technology, and replacing them requires disassembling the device. Furthermore, consumers discard working hardware before obsolescence even manifests. The complaint is not just against the manufacturer: it is also against a market that rewards what is cheap and immediate.

Engineering as an alibi

In industrial electronics, failure is non-negotiable: heat breaks things, solder fails, components age. Physics imposes a clear end and protects the engineer's judgment, as defended in the thread. In systems and software, complexity justifies itself and error is diluted through layers. This difference would explain why professional responsibility blurs when the product is intangible. The discussion drifts towards the instrumentalization of engineering for organizational and control purposes, and towards the suspicion that the term "social engineering" is not accidental.

From slot cars to black boxes

The Scalextric sets of the eighties had visible, understandable electronics with a clear cause-effect relationship: you pulled the trigger and the car went faster. It was a lesson in physics without hidden layers, it is remembered. The germanium rectifier bridge, with its cooling fins, was honest. Today, the user sees nothing, understands nothing, and repairs nothing. The comparison with Maxwell Smart's shoe phone is not just nostalgia: it is the observation that consumer electronics have ceased to be objects and have become black boxes.

Given these circumstances, the prediction made is uncomfortable: if the market continues to reward immediate performance over longevity, the next generation of devices will be even denser, more integrated, and harder to repair. There is no technical reason why this should not happen. Consumers just need to stop paying for it.