On which planet?
"...consumers have an obligation to vote with their wallet... By purchasing Android One devices, or phones from vendors like Fairphone, they can break this unholy cycle of planned obsolescence."
Such is the refrain of the middle-class professional & graduate idealist.
Except it ain't so.
Granted, consumers are partly responsible for the existing race-to-the-bottom dynamic yet they simply cannot change this on their own, nor be expected to. Indeed the likes of Google have, to say the least, either dragged their heels on this score and/or are guilty of maintaining the status quo by brute force. Then there are the regulatory bodies who have been slow in taking such perverse behaviour to task.
In general, if ethical consumerism was the force it was made out to be then by now at least half the third world would be on a much better footing and businesses like Fairphone would have a much longer lead. Yet after decades of such initiatives, and numerous scandals, the likes of the Co-op (Fairphone's erstwhile partner) are still not able to convince consumers that forking the extra is worth it.
Don't get me wrong: I'd like something like a Fairphone but it's simply out of reach and even if it wasn't, it would remain a somewhat dubious decision to buy one.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
