Phoneblok, a Tonic for the iPhone's Planned Obsolescence | Motherboard: One reason iPhones are rendered steadily and predictably obsolete just months after it debuts heralded as world-changing—is tied intimately to what many like about the iPhone: the attractive and smooth design. Apple’s seamless aesthetic doesn’t leave room for you to customize or upgrade the hardware and once the hardware is worn out, dropped into water or at its limit. When one part goes or is faulty or just doesn't do what you want it to, the whole phone has to go. How many iPhones have been replaced just for want of an uncracked screen?
Apple is easy to point to, because it’s popular, and if you believe the lawsuits, where Apple goes, so do consumer electronics. But in at least one respect it's far from unique. As last year’s Apples go to the dump, so too do other electronics. In 2010 the United States generated an estimated 3 million tons of e-waste, and only about a quarter of that is thought to be recycled. The rest is going to the dump or incinerators. Cell phones, while small, are a special problem because they are replaced on average every 12 months.
It’s these growing problems that Dave Hakkens wants to ameliorate with Phoneblok, the modular phone that, in theory, could be the last phone you’ll ever buy.