Apple products last longer, retain their value longer, and are supported longer than their peers virtually across the board.

AppleCare is extremely cheap and comprehensive. I have had one Apple product fail in at least fifteen years and it was replaced without hesitation. It’s been nearly a decade since I’ve had an iPhone screen crack from dropping, and that used to be a regular occurrence. And if I do, again, it’s covered under AppleCare.

There are many harsh criticisms to be leveled against the company. This is not one of them.

Of all the major phone and computer manufacturers Apple is the least guilty of planned obsolescence IMO. Their hardware lasts forever if you take good care of it. And they provide software updates for much longer than anyone else.

In my experience, Apple phones are pretty good at not being obsolete.

I gave my old iPhone X to my father who's still using it, 9 years later, with software updates to iOS.

Compare that to the Google Pixel 2 (which came out in the same year), got it's last software update 3 years later.

There's nothing wrong with planning for a certain device lifespan, provided it's long enough. But there's a bell curve here: it doesn't make sense to plan for 20 years of support if 99% of the devices are broken or replaced by their users by then.

Also, Apple repair prices are high, but not outrageous. There will always be someone claiming they can do it for less, but not many that will give the same guarantees Apple does.