Planned obsolescence (also built-in obsolescence [UK]) is the decision on the part of a
manufacturer to produce a
consumer product that will become
obsolete and/or non-functional in a defined time frame. Planned obsolescence has potential benefits for a
producer in that it means a
consumer cannot just purchase a product once that will last indefinitely - the life of the product's usefulness or functionality is fixed, so that at some point the consumer must purchase again, whether returning to the original manufacturer for a newer model, or buying from the
competition. It also has potential benefits for consumers, because they are not forced to spend extra for an over-engineered product, thus becoming unable to afford a more technologically advanced product, with greater functionality, in the future. For an industry, it stimulates demand in the
marketplace by ensuring a customer must come back into a buying mode sooner than had the product been built to last longer or indefinitely. It exists in many different products from vehicles to lightbulbs, from buildings to software. There is, however, the potential backlash of consumers that become aware of such obsolescence; such consumers can shed their loyalty and buy from a company that caters to their desire for a more durable product.
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a tactic by which a manufacturer deliberately seeks to make earlier versions of its product appear undesirable in the eyes of consumers who have purchased them in order to expand the market for later versions by improving the characteristics of later versions or by altering consumers' perceptions of the desirability of the models they have already purchased.
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