Repair vs Replacement

Even if it's not made to be user-replaceable, surely it can be replaced by someone with the right skills and tools for much less than the full replacement cost of the entire device.

Seems like you're making quite the leap in assuming they can't buy effective replacement parts.

not difficult just expensive to repair.the cheaper it is to repair, the cheaper the device gets.the more expensive the repairs, the more expensive the device.

Its an interesting idea as the biggest problem where I live is the cost of labour to repair.By the time you get a serviceman out to take a look, order the part, come back and fix it the cost is approaching half that of a new machine.I've fixed my espresso machine, washing machine and fridge with parts that are usually sub $50, but they wouldn't have been viable to fix if I had to get a serviceman in for it.I'm not sure any of the repairs could have been made much easier,

this already happens with lots of car parts. One example: say 20 years ago you repacked bearings, now you "just" buy replacement OEM bearing assemblies because they essentially can't be repacked or even disassembled."Fixing" lots of appliances means wholesale replacement of the entire "board" (i.e. component representing 90% of the total electronics) which likely never makes the device as good as new but costs almost as much as a replacement unit.

You don't even have to go the conspiratorial route to realize that repair doesn't make sense to big businesses. The cost of diagnosing the problem, performing the repair, and validating the repair is fairly high. It is also difficult to ensure consistency in the quality of repairs. Then you have to consider that they think about things on a large scale, while repair is an individualized thing. Just look at how computers are repaired. The actual defective component may cost pennies, yet

What about more expensive items like big TVs, washing machine is it fair to replace them instead of replacing one small component inside it, and if they would have spent maybe a few cents more and not use the cheapest parts on this expensive object and maybe added some protection for electrical and mechanical damage(water,dust) your device would work for 10 years.

Can't be cheap to repair it.

The only problem with repairing devices is labour cost, nothing else.I've had a broken subwoofer that I took to a small electronics shop(in UK), and was quoted 60 pounds to even have it looked at. Not repaired - looked at. The subwoofer cost me 80 pounds on ebay. So predictably, it went straight to the bin.Same with washing machines, dryers, etc - I bought a Hotpoint washing machine for 220 pounds, but a standard call out charge for an engineer to come and have a look is at least 100

Component level repairs are definitely possible in many cases - particularly when the issue is a bad electrolytic capacitor or a cracked solder joint - but requires specific electronics experience, which many appliance technicians might not have. Replacing the board becomes a trade-off between more expensive labor vs more expensive parts.For smaller devices like cell phones it becomes much more difficult due to a combination of miniaturization, specialized parts not available on the general m