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Kyle Wiens

Kyle Wiens

CEO of iFixit

Jul 24, 2026

17:38
We'll give you a new one.
17:39
Yeah, and this is part of like, are we owning things or are we renting? When you have a product that stops working after a couple years and you can't repair it, you're really being turned into, you know, you're just renting that product.
17:50
And so that's been the concern that we have across everything in our digital lives is that the lifespan of these things is just much lower than it used to be.
17:59
It used to be if you bought a refrigerator, it lasted for 40 or 50 years.
18:02
Now the average lifespan of a refrigerator is seven years.
18:06
no one goes out and buys a new refrigerator planning to replace it in seven years that's insanity um but the software is brittle electronics are brittle they're much more brittle than these old mechanical devices you know this particular drill uh was made 100 years ago it still works now is a drill that i buy today gonna work in 100 years i think very likely not So and then you say, well, what's the impact of the environment of making these things? You know, my cell phone, eight ounce cell phone.
18:34
I can hold I can fit in my pocket.

21 MINS LATER

39:29
years,

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