A process which involves a manufacture to develope a product (such as a car, video game console, TV) with the intentions of making it obsolete and/or non-functional after a certain period of time in order to sales and profit. It has benefits for a producer (repeat purchases) but disadvantages for the consumer(waste of time and money).
Man, I have to go to the store again; my toaster broke and it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one. Freakin' planned obsolescence.
by Yza February 02, 2008
A business strategy where a company plans the obsolescence of a product to encourage the purchase of a newer version of a product. This can be done in several ways, ranging from bad engineering to breaking updates. Apple most famously uses this strategy to slow down iPhones and iPads of 1-2 generations back to encourage people to buy a new more expensive iPhone.
Person 1: "My iPhone is slow! I can't believe it, I have an iPhone 6 which is only 1 generation behind!!!"
Person 2: "Yeah, Apple slows down the iPhone a lot via updates to try and get you to buy a new one. That's called planned obsolescence."
Person 2: "Yeah, Apple slows down the iPhone a lot via updates to try and get you to buy a new one. That's called planned obsolescence."
by pokemoneuro August 22, 2017