It's cheaper to initially make something because economies of scale in low(er)-wage countries where most of our stuff is built. Repairs are 'artisans' working at high(er) wages (and sometimes parts that need to be ordered and shipped over long distances).
Someone at Foxconn can make "x" devices in an hour in their sleep because that's all they do. A repair technician has to spend an hour tearing something apart and poking around just to figure out what's wrong and only then start fixing it.
It's not all due to mass production. Modern industrial design has made it so that accidents are expensive.
If you involve yourself and in a minor automobile collision and damage one of your front headlights on your Lexus with adaptive lighting, your total repair cost for the headlight itself will exceed $1000. A new headlight will require removal the front bumper and calibration of the adaptive sensors, both of which add labor costs. It's not just headlights; if you have lane-keeping technology in your vehicle and this is achieved via a forward facing camera, then a windshield replacement exceeds $1000 as well. If you smash your rear bumper into a mailbox and need to replace the whole bumper, you need your parking sensors re-calibrated. And this is with a maintainable car make like Lexus. For the more ostentatious luxury makes, the costs will be significantly more.
You might think, I'll buy a truck then. But trucks also have windshield-integrated forward-facing cameras, backup/parking sensors, and adaptive headlights. You wouldn't save much versus the Lexus.
Apple's equipment is also designed in a way to be difficult to repair.
Swapping the battery on a Dell laptop takes a few minutes for someone unfamiliar with the process -- unscrew 6 normal screws, swap the battery, replace the cover and screws.
Replacing the battery in a MacBook takes an hour for someone familiar with the process, and several hours for someone unfamiliar. It also requires special tools.
>It's cheaper to initially make something because economies of scale in low(er)-wage countries where most of our stuff is built. Repairs are 'artisans' working at high(er) wages
I get your point but my MacBook Pro's screen cracked a few years ago. This happened in India, they quoted $700 (around 55k rupees) for a Mac that cost $1100 (around 90k rupees)
Have you ever had a refrigerator break? A stove? Have you seen the repair costs for those? Not much difference than the above.
From 2010, "That [Home Appliance] Repair Bill Is Huge, but There Are Reasons":
* https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/05/your-money/household-budg...
It's cheaper to initially make something because economies of scale in low(er)-wage countries where most of our stuff is built. Repairs are 'artisans' working at high(er) wages (and sometimes parts that need to be ordered and shipped over long distances).
Someone at Foxconn can make "x" devices in an hour in their sleep because that's all they do. A repair technician has to spend an hour tearing something apart and poking around just to figure out what's wrong and only then start fixing it.