The Design of Planned Obsolescence

The effects of the Phoebus Cartel

Author

Jon Haines
February 27, 2025

This week’s edition:

  • The Design of Planned Obsolescence: The effects of the Phoebus Cartel

  • Design articles i found interesting

  • Design jobs I found interesting

In 1924, there were secret meetings held in Geneva by some of the biggest lighting companies in the world. This group, known as the Phoebus Cartel, wanted to standardize the life expectancy of light bulbs.

At the time, lightbulbs were able to run successfully for 2,500 hours. However, the Cartel agreed to reduce bulb life expectancy to 1,000, lowering operational costs and increasing prices.

This is not a clean tactic, but it is widely done.

These days, I use an iPhone 13. It’s great. It has a camera better than any of the digital ones I used in my teenage years. It shoots movies, stores a ton of information, and has hardly any scratches, since I keep it in a protective case.

But here’s the thing. Three years in and this device that is more powerful than the computers used to put astronauts on the moon is starting to show signs that I need to buy a new one.

Don’t get me wrong. I got a lot of mileage (3-ish years) out of my current iPhone. It’s more that the practice of planned obsolescence is a tactic used by all industries — in this case, tech — to keep the customer base coming back for more. New software updates are tactically used to slow down battery life until the customer has no other decision than to get the latest model.

Will I do so immediately? Probably not. I still have a decent working phone with the occasional freeze. It’s more that I find it funny that Nokia phones from the early 2000’s (you know, the phones with Snake) were built like bricks and would probably still work today.

Alas, the cycle continues.

Design Articles for the Week

A new Adobe Photoshop app is coming to iPhones

Adobe has launched a brand new Photoshop app for iPhones, which it says was built from the ground up.

www.engadget.com/apps/a-new-adobe-photoshop-app-is-coming-to-iphones-140003461.html?src=rss&utm_source=news.todayin.design&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=photoshop-comes-to-the-iphone&_bhlid=4b2a7c3e9daab0c2fdb0f135268924bb252e9d02

Thousands of exposed GitHub repos, now private, can still be accessed through Copilot | TechCrunch

Data exposed even briefly can live on in generative AI chatbots long after the data is made private.

techcrunch.com/2025/02/26/thousands-of-exposed-github-repos-now-private-can-still-be-accessed-through-copilot

Why AI chatbots are so unbearably chatty

Just like us, AI tends to talk too much when they don't know the answer.

www.fastcompany.com/91282577/why-ai-chatbots-are-so-unbearably-chatty?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

Design Jobs for the Week

Hi, I’m Jon, a UX and Product Designer from Brooklyn, New York. I write the Design Breadcrumbs newsletter to express my own thoughts on the design world, freelancing, and career advancement. Subscribe to get this news delivered to your inbox every week.