As a hardcore PC gamer, I am certainly down for modular replacements. I'm not sure the how feasable the phone actually is though if you go look at lots of the other treads on the engineering. I'm just not sure that the modular replacements are offering a real benefit to the environment, though as you mention, there…

Right, but we have style and technical obsolesces as someone else just pointed out to me.

However, given the wording and the examples via that link, I would still argue that the term does not apply to the iPhone 5 after the 5S is released at least from the users perspective. If they've completely stopped production and sales of the 5, then it has certainly been replaced, but it isn't rendered obsolete…

Taking from the style definition you could maybe argue semantics, but from the "no longer in use and no longer useful" definition...I would disagree. :) They will be obsolete at some point, but that's further down the line than many are willing to wait.

Maybe, I'm still not sure about that. There are other factors like the manufacturing of the bricks as self contained units might use more chemicals and such for the housing and cost more energy to produce. Plus, packaging for these modules would increase as well.

I'm not ignoring these factors you list, nor am I attributing this to everyone. People love tech and will just want the latest and greatest things, even though they don't really "need" it. Lot of people will just need new phones, or other family members need phones down the chain, there are millions of reasons…

Oh I agree...but it is the status symbol aspect that makes lots of people perceive that their current and well functioning device is somehow obsolete. I'm not faulty anyone for wanting all the toys, I just dislike the idea that someone the device you were using yesterday is somehow garbage when the new device is…

That was so awesome! Thanks!

Agreed...you need to have a good working phone. I never said it was all about status for everyone, but for a good chunk of people it certainly is. It is this status that makes people think their "old" device is suddenly garbage when the new device comes out, even though their current device does at least 90% of the…

They don't have to...there are LOADS of people who will spend good money on very mediocre upgrades. :) Still, there are people needing new phones every year, so it does make sense to keep slowly upgrading them. Also, by not radically changing the devices, they keep their App ecosystem fairly fluid between the…

Sure, I've had lots of broken devices. Not phone in particular, but 360/PS3/etc. I electronically recycled them. I recycled all my old phones as well, aside from a couple that I've kept purely for "look at this old tech" reasons. I'm getting old, so I have some MONSTER old cellphones on shelves. :)

Can I ask how old you are? I'm 41 and couldn't give a crap what I project to others. However, many of the teens and early twenties crowd can be pretty fashion warped. It is status, just like that expensive purse, those shoes, those clothes, that car, etc etc. I am TOTALLY with you that it is ridiculous, but that…

The problem is that for some, purely the status of their phone makes them unhappy with it. I agree though, use the device as long as it does what you need it to do.

So you upgrade. I'm not saying people shouldn't upgrade when their devices cease to b e useful to them. Your phone is 5 years old...that's ancient for smartphone but yet it still is working. Batteries get old and crappy and things get slow.

The iPad 1 is three years old though and is a first generation product, there are bound to be support issues with those as well as the early iPhones (not that this makes it any better). I think Apple has done a fairly good job with support for the phones though. My wife's iPad2 is two years old and still seems to be…

There will certainly be a point like all computers when the hardware needs to be upgraded since it is no longer supported. I'm not saying you have to keep all your hardware forever, but people with much newer iPhones don't have to jump to the 5S just because it is there. The 4S didn't suddenly stop working when the…

Yeah, but your hardware likely won't even take advantage of a lot of the upgrades. Was there a new feature you are looking forward to that you can't have?

Yeah, I have to disagree with the status symbol aspect. Lots of people are so horny to show people their new phones. Sure, they want the hardware for themselves, but the newest generation really isn't doing anything for you that the last generation didn't. What is does do though is show everyone else that you have…

No. My wife's iPad2 is the only tablet in the house. She works for a Telco, so we get a bit of a break on phone hardware every two years, but not a lot. My son wanted an iPhone and I kinda wanted a voice navigation GPS for the car, so all that combined to getting an new iPhone. I would have honestly been fine with…

Maybe, depends on what you mean by "support". Sure, you won't be able to get the latest and greatest OS, but your phone won't support most of the new features anyhow. However, your "old" phone still works the way it did before and still has software available for it.