> I'm not sure that bodes well for smart watches selling at 4+ figures.
I'm pretty sure the smart watch makers don't expect them to last for too many years, definitely not decades. After all, they want to be selling you a smart-er watch in just a few years.
This consumerism drives the whole thing, if your new watch was to last decades it would be designed in a whole different manner. And it's not only the chips, you won't be able to get a compatible display, battery, PCB or case or anything to replace a broken/worn out one in just a few years.
This sad state of consumerism is why I do woodworking to balance my mind. The pinewood dovetail box I built last week will still be there when I'm dead.
To be fair, if you don't use the latest and greatest manufacturing processes - which you don't really need to do in smart watches - chips can be very robust and long-lasting. Plus, given the battery requirements, you don't really want to use high-performance components in watches anyway, Apple's ridiculous battery life notwithstanding.
As for the whole market segment of "this watch will pass through generations", I guess the honest thing to say is that we just don't have that kind of experience with integrated circuits yet... besides, does this type of traditional watch never need repairs? They must have failures as well.
It's different for simple BT notification buzzers, but "maximalist" smartwatches like the Apple Watch surely call out for the latest and greatest semiconductor processes. They face harsh trade-offs between capability, size and battery life, harsh enough to help make them still marginal as mainstream consumer products, and those dilemmas would be significantly eased if performance-per-watt and size were improved. They're also high-margin products so manufacturing at fancy fabs should be affordable.
It'll be horribly obsolete in five years. It would cease to be a status symbol, like trying to impress someone by being able to get Outlook on your Blackberry. The purchasers at 4+ figures generally know this.
I'm pretty sure the smart watch makers don't expect them to last for too many years, definitely not decades. After all, they want to be selling you a smart-er watch in just a few years.
This consumerism drives the whole thing, if your new watch was to last decades it would be designed in a whole different manner. And it's not only the chips, you won't be able to get a compatible display, battery, PCB or case or anything to replace a broken/worn out one in just a few years.
This sad state of consumerism is why I do woodworking to balance my mind. The pinewood dovetail box I built last week will still be there when I'm dead.