well I believe this is not true. Smart product design can be both. iPod Video is a sleek device yet not too hard to open. Why did Apple move to pentalobe screws? To make it harder for us people to reapir the products. It's a mentality and stating that this hurts the design of a device is simply an excuse for this. I'd like to know how ease of repair makes a product harder to use? If we look at the newer HP all-in-one, we can see that they are well designed sleek and easy to use, yet they get 10/10 for repairability on iFixit.
I hope that this is constructive criticism as my aim is not to provoque you. We're all friends here.