[theyeenzbeanz]

It’s not just appliances, it’s even common household items too. Someone disassembled a portable toothbrush that died within some months vs the many years of the one that died before.

The original one had what looked like a custom/in house engineered motor with a solid structure and beefy battery. The new one had those cheap toy motors that cost a few pennies each along with a flimsy frame and tiny battery to match.

[karlshea]

I have a Sonicare that rattled the head off within a half year of buying it. I took it apart and it was due to a screw with no thread lock being the only thing holding everything together. On a vibrating part.

Put some thread lock on it and it’s been totally fine since, but that seems like it’s intentionally planned to fail. Good job, Philips.

[brigandish]

I had the same problem. Sent it back to them and they fixed it, but perhaps I should have a look inside. They did imply I'd dropped it when I'd done nothing of the sort.

[pbmonster]

They are actually fairly repairable once you manage to open the watertight enclosure, which requires patience and a fair bit of violence. Switching out the cell is really easy once the battery starts dying.

The different Sonicares also share many of their parts, makes replacing broken pieces possible if you ever do drop one.

[diogenescynic]

A good example of this is the Kitchenaid standing mixer that used to have metal gears and now has plastic gears and easily fails. They used to last generations, now they last a few years. They turned one of the most iconic small appliances into a generic plastic piece of junk.

[Suppafly]

Sure but I bet the original one cost $100 in 20 years ago money and the new one was $15 on sale. These sorts of comparisons never compare like to like.