Why didn't this work out for high-end Android handsets? They are in a similar situation.
In the 80s / 90s, computers were very expensive and it was common to only buy exactly what you needed. PCs excelled at this. Everything was an option: Video card (MDA, CGA, EGA, VGA), ram, hard drive, hard drive controller, serial port controller, sound card. If you later needed more capabilities you upgraded whatever was necessary.
As computers became cheaper, upgrading began to make less financial sense. Upgrading a component and paying for it to be installed became almost equal to the cost of a new computer. There also became less to upgrade, onboard sound, network, etc was good enough. The only thing left to upgrade was CPU (but usually required a new motherboard) and video card. Upgradability which was originally a huge selling point became a niche feature.
As integration continued, size, weight, power consumption all became more important than upgradability / customization. Hardware wise, all Android phones and the iPhone are pretty much the same.
Does technology get the credit for the difference between the 80s, or is it some mix of the current balance of geo-politics, interconnected global trade, wage arbitrage that still allows slavery in the supply chain, and free interest rates (in the case of Europe, negative)?
May be in the end game biodegradable 'computanium' that is killed and reborn daily right before it becomes obsolete?
It still feels very strange and disturbing to throw away something less than a decade old much less two years.
It is harder with smartphones, but I have older phones being guest map and GPS devices.
Server side from the client perspective, that's effectively what "the cloud" really is.
In many countries people pay full price for handsets and use pre-paid cards. In no way you see them replacing their mobiles every two years.
One the one hand. On the other hand, getting newer Android releases running on, for example, the G1DEV phone is an example of how this ethos has persisted, even on Android.