Prime Day Fuels Disposable Tech

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Amazon is America’s most trusted company—but can we trust Amazon not to deliver unrepairable, unsupported, disposable tech junk into our homes? Prime Day, which happens in July, is in many ways, a holiday promising to solve your everyday problems simply by purchasing more products.

The top two items based on total dollars spent during Prime Day are, unsurprisingly, consumer electronics. With the sheer volume of electronics bought on Prime Day, there is a big flood of devices that will be abandoned in the coming years—and these top two products are prime examples:

1. Apple Watch Series 8
2. Blink Outdoor Camera 3rd Gen

The issue with the Apple Watch is that it has not nearly enough software support. Apple has already ended support for three fairly recent models: the Series 5, Series 4 and the original SE. The Series 5 Apple Watch launched in September 2019, far shorter than the now-standard seven years of software support for smartphones. Not only will products that lack software support become slower and buggier, but they will also become less secure when they don’t receive regular updates. Just this February, there was a reported wave of hackers targeting Apple Watches, collecting users’ personal data and sending them eerie messages—and without regular security updates, old watches are more vulnerable to this sort of attack. In short: if you want to do something good for the environment by holding onto your device for longer, you are in turn punished with worsening products.

The Blink Outdoor Camera presents an additional problem, as it is part of a growing portion of smart-home devices and other consumer electronics that are cyber insecure. Even while people connect these smart cameras to their homes to protect themselves, they are also often opening themselves up to issues with their data (and even their video footage) being viewed without their consent.

Prime Day is a reminder that both physical and digital problems are causing problems for a massive number of electronics bought every single year. No to mention, if we expect our electronics to continue lasting barely longer than a couple years, the waste is going to continue to pile up. We could change this by requiring longer software supports, designing devices for long-term maintenance and upgrades, as well as creating pathways for consumers to use devices when manufacturers leave them behind. If nothing changes, people and the environment will be worse off.

More News

• Australia Could Become a Dumping Ground for Unfixable Stuff: Australians love their appliances, but have very few options to fix them when they break, writes Leanne Wiseman, a Professor of Law at Griffith University at The Conversation. While the average Australian household has five large appliances and up to ten smaller ones, appliances that break are often not repaired due to high costs and difficulty in obtaining spare parts. That’s because Australia’s current consumer laws provide limited protection, with no penalties for manufacturers who do not offer repair options. And, as the UK, EU and large US states like California pass right to repair laws, Australia risks becoming a dumping ground for low-quality appliances, Wiseman writes. To fix the issue, Australia needs policies and infrastructure to support large-scale repair activities to extend the life of appliances and reduce electronic waste.
• Patchwork of Right to Repair Laws Grows: On May 28, 2024, Colorado became the fifth state to adopt a “right to repair” law, signed by Governor Jared Polis (HB 1121). The Governor’s signature added Colorado to California, Minnesota, Oregon, and New York in enacting repair laws for consumer devices, with many of those laws beginning to take effect including New York state’s law, which took effect on December 28, 2023, and California and Minnesota, where passed right to repair laws went into effect July 1st. For Colorado residents, previous laws granting the right to repair wheelchairs and agricultural equipment have already gone into effect. But they’ll have to wait to be able to exercise their right to repair electronics until January 1, 2026. In Oregon, residents will see most provisions of their legislation go into effect on July 1, 2025, although they won’t see their full right to repair take effect until July 1, 2027. The laws broadly require manufacturers of electronics that offer repair services through authorized providers to make parts, tools, and documentation available to independent repair providers and consumers.
• HMD’s New Skyline Phone Emphasizes Repairability: Engadget reports that phone maker HMD has unveiled its newest own-brand smartphone called “Skyline” with repairability as a leading feature. The new phones are available starting in August and will cost $499. The big feature for Skyline is ease of repairability, with a back cover that can be easily removed, allowing for a user or a third-party shop to replace a broken screen, a worn-out battery, or a bent charging port. Replacement parts are also available in select markets from iFixit, which said Skyline will have almost the repairability level of the Fairphone, one of the first repair-centric mobile devices.