At the same time, just expanding a device with new parts is a far cheaper way to get more performance than buying a new device - after all, whatever price problem there is with some kinds of parts, it will be the same whether they’re sold as lose parts or as part of a device.
Poor working class young me in a poorer European country after getting his first PC quickly found out that to get more a more powerful machine he had to start upgrading that machine because there wasn’t money to buy a whole new one every couple of years.
My point is that it might very well yield the very opposite effect of what you describe - buying whole devices to replace older models becomes too expensive so people favor more expandable devices - because those can have their performance improved with just some new parts, which are cheaper than getting a whole new device - and the market just responds to that.
I think people in countries which until recently are wealthier, such as the US, are far too used to the mindset of “throw the old one out and but a new one” which is not at all the mindset of people in places were resources are constrained or require a lot bigger fraction of people’s income to buy.
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 14 hours ago
didn’t actually read the article, but the Micron/Crucial announcement was about leaving the DIY direct market, as opposed to not keeping supply deals with OEMs. Though new contracts with them will be higher.