(or maybe it's still a problem and my peers are just more responsible/willing to pay for repairs?)
Oh your 2 year old laptop is broken? That's old tech anyway, you should buy a new one!
Virtually nobody pays much attention to how other peoples phone functions and if they say a dim display they would probably assume their battery was dying not that apple sucks.
If we go back to the auto industry I seem to recall them wanting to force people to get oem service/parts to maintain their warranty not to "protect their brand", a phrase which almost always precedes nonsense, but out of simple greed.
Greed is always always the simple answer in life. People that think their position is strong are always more willing to grasp at a few more pennies.
It's the same reason Kleenex sues when people use their brand for generic products, or Disney forces daycares to take down murals of Mickey, or Burberry burns unsold products. It's a slipper slope away from quality, and while no one thing is a huge deal, the culmination is.
I agree at the end of the day it's about making money, but that's just what being a business is. For certain brands, they want their products to be meticulous. It's not the only way to build a product (see Android), however it is the reason Apple products are so beloved by the people who buy them.
Are you sure? People love to blame problems on the last person that touched a thing, even when they are unrelated.
Apple does allow 3rd parties into their ecosystem (app developers), but they lock that process down to specifically retain control of the experience that customers have
You may not want that, and your company may not make the same choice, it Apple’s approach works pretty well for them.
Companies seem to have a worse idea of this is yours and that is mine than 2 year olds.