Scheduled obsolescence (or planned) means reduce the life of a product to increase consumption of newer versions. Planning the aging of a product is an action deliberately practiced by various sectors of the industry.
Here's how it works: the product is designed to last only a period programmed by its manufacturer. With this practice, the consumer already buys a product that has a shorter shelf life than it should. The next step is not to function properly after the factory set limit or to stop working.
This strategy applied by the companies encourages the consumerism through the strong marketing appeal that induces the purchase of modern and attractive models, and not the product repair. In some cases, the repair purposely becomes more expensive so that the customer has no alternative.
You electronic equipment they are champions of the practice of programmed obsolescence. For example, personal computers. After a certain period they start to become extremely slow and no longer work as expected or become obsolete.
With that, the economy does not stop growing. For industries, it is technological progress that determines renewal.
The reality is that with planned obsolescence, products become outdated and when they are not recycled, they start to generate a serious environmental and social problem, such as landfills.