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WIn a year filled with pressure on our wallets, comfort and climate, technology took a back seat in 2022. But a change for the better is slowly taking place as big tech companies meet consumer demand for better, longer-lasting, and more sustainable products. Tools.
The trends established in the past two years continue to gain momentum. Recycled material has become mainstream. Devices containing at least some recycled plastic, metal or minerals are found in every category. The number of recycled materials is increasing – an important step towards a circular economy, even if it is far from being fully realized.
One side effect of the tightening economy is the acceleration of the recycling trend. As manufacturers and retailers look to boost sales, deals for new purchases have exploded, offering huge discounts on old devices that are often refurbished, sold or recycled to offset the residual value.
Design changes to aid maintenance
Ensuring equipment lasts as long as possible is the best option for the planet and the wallet. According to data from CCS Insight, people keep their phones for an average of 4.2 years, making access to affordable and effective repair options crucial.
Apple has taken a surprising step in the right direction this year. The exterior of this year’s iPhone 14 looks similar to previous models, but a new interior design allows it to be unlocked from both the screen and the back. That makes common repairs, such as a broken rear window or battery replacement, quicker, easier and cheaper.
In the year The modular, user-repairable design seen in 2021’s Fairphone 4 isn’t great. But the change from Apple is a big deal because the iPhone sells more phones than any other phone, and where the industry typically goes, it follows.
Apple expanded its DIY repair program to the UK and Europe in December. Taking apart an iPhone or Mac isn’t recommended for beginners, but the step gives technicians easy access to genuine spare parts and repair instructions. Apple is still using digital locks to prevent unauthorized repairs, so there is more work to be done.
Other manufacturers have also made changes to assisted maintenance this year. Among these, Microsoft has promised to provide service manuals and accessories for Surface laptops and tablets, and has made certain parts like solid state drives (SSDs) usable. Valve has provided easy access to authorized and DIY maintenance for the handheld gaming PC, including Steam Deck, spare parts, instruction manuals and tools. Meanwhile, France’s repairability index continues to force the release of more official repair documents from negligent manufacturers.
One of the highlights of the year is the Framework Laptop, which delivers on its promise of a notebook PC that you can take not only to repair, but also to upgrade yourself. Not only is the first version a surprisingly good laptop, but the company has kept its promise to upgrade the 11th-gen Intel chips to the latest 12th-gen models. May it continue for a long time.
True wireless headphones, however, remain a low point. Many of them are very comfortable, durable and long-lasting products. But because very few are repairable, the batteries that can be used are impossible to replace and are eventually used up. Especially since more than 252 million were sold last year and 170 million in the first nine months of 2022, according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) device tracker.
Long lasting tools
While hardware lasts a long time—as long as you don’t drain it—batteries still only hold about 80% of their original capacity for about 500 charge cycles. That’s why your phone’s battery life gets shorter at the end of the second year.
Improving efficiency so you don’t have to charge the battery as often is one way to make it last longer. But changing battery construction and implementing systems to maintain battery health while charging can prevent long-term degradation. OnePlus has put a battery in the latest 10T that holds at least 80% charge for 1,600 full cycles, giving the phone at least 6.5 years of life.
Unfortunately, the company only supports the 10T with four years of Android updates, meaning that while the hardware may last longer, the phone should not be used after August 2026 due to potential security issues.
Software support remains a separate issue for phones. While Apple, Google, and Samsung provide at least five years of security updates for their high-end and mid-range phones, there are many add-ons that last up to two years, which is unfortunate. The longer a phone gets software support, the longer it can stay in circulation, even with a second or third owner.
More efficient for the planet and the wallet
The drive to improve the battery life of mobile devices has also affected plugged-in devices, as they typically use the same chips and technology.
Tasks that used to require demanding and power-hungry processors can now be done with cheap, low-power chips. That means, in general, many modern devices are more efficient and less expensive. A good example is the new satellite-free Sky TV box, which consumes a third of the electricity of a satellite-fed Sky Q box when watching TV.
With the cost of living putting an emphasis on energy consumption, this is a positive trend that will continue.
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