I have been saying for ages that the tendency for the iPhone's coating to scratch, the home button to become dull, and since recently to bend is a purposeful part of the engineering process.

None of those things necessarily stop the device from working, and in my experience they're pretty durable. Until recently I was using a 6 year old iPhone, and the old one is still going strong after being passed on to a family member.

*related=http://videosift.com/video/The-Light-Bulb-Conspiracy

The Light Bulb Conspiracy has been added as a related post - related requested by notarobot.

Of course not, but alongside iOS updates which tend to slow the phone down I think it's a very intentional 'nudge' to upgrade the phone. With iPhone/iOS being something insane like >70% of Apple's profits (I think it's higher now) they really have to keep this kind of practice up to keep sales growth chugging along.

People will usually second hand the old device if they can. The more shameless practice is with printers that will arbitrarily stop working after a programmed number of prints.

I mean I think it goes without saying that Apple has the capacity to come up with a coating that doesn't scratch. It's not just Apple of course, if you split electronics by durable and regularly replaceable you find things like appliances are more durable that gadgets.