Have you ever wondered why you have to get a new iPhone every year to keep up with the latest software? Or possibly why manufactures unveil new, flashy cars that are bound to redefine the industry every single year? These are examples of something called planned obsolescence. Planned obsolescence is the deliberate sabotage of objects to render them obsolete sooner than is required to amplify sales of a particular product. To fully understand the history of this concept, you have to go all the way back to the 1920s to a shadowy organization of wealthy businessmen called the Phoebus cartel.

This story begins with the creation of an infinite light bulb in 1901, a bulb that is still burning to this day in the Livermore Fire Station in California, according to Sally Helm of NPR. This almost unbelievable bulb seemingly ripped from science fiction utilizes a clandestine mechanical blueprint that is still unknown today. Eventually, should some unfortunate accident occur, scientists will be able to finally ascertain the secret formula by examining the inside. However, until that time, scientists and the curious can only speculate of a carbon filament powering the magnificent bulb. To understand the importance of this particular bulb, consider the way the light bulb market functioned at the time. 

In 1879, Thomas Edison created the first light bulb that manufacturers could viably sell in large quantities. In the following years, the light bulb economy grew exponentially and in the early 1900s, the infinite light bulb was created by obscure inventor Adolphe A. Chaillet. The time resembled capitalism at its finest where individual groups and small businesses were competing to create the most efficient light bulb possible. However, by the 1920s a few mega-corporations held a monopoly over light bulb production. Sally Helm of NPR further explains on a Podcast there was the Compagine des Lampas in France, Tungsram in Hungary, General Electric in the United Kingdom, and OSRAM in Germany. It was almost the perfect situation for these companies. 

Almost. 

Despite its monopoly over the industry, Helm stated on the same podcast that OSRAM had a fruitless year of lightbulb sales in 1923. Helm said this is when co-founder William Meinhardt decided to orchestrate a meeting between all of these leaders of the lightbulb industry. They met covertly in December of 1924 during the Christmas holiday. The meeting did not last long because all in attendance had already discussed and agreed upon Meinhardt’s proposal; the meeting was merely a formality to seal the deal. They were forming a cartel, which is essentially a group that solely controls the creation and distribution of a product giving them absolute control over the product’s market. The object of this cartel was to increase sales through reverse engineering the bulb to a life span of 1000 hours. 

Why was this task so challenging? To put it in perspective, the lifespan of a bulb prior to this revelation was a whopping 2000 hours. If they successfully achieved their goal of decreasing a bulb’s durability, the bulbs would burn out twice; that would equate to twice as many sales in the long run. It actually took the engineers who worked for the various companies years of cooperation to reach this goal because rather than creating the most efficient and effective bulb, they had to create a bulb that had a very specific shelf life, no more and no less. Almost laughably, there is written evidence of the engineers comparing notes, experimenting with different size filaments and distinct materials to eventually obtain the desired life span of 1000 hours. 

Now obviously, issues arose with this plan. Most predominantly, the simple dilemma that a single more effective light bulb from a one of the companies within the cartel would take over the market, quickly ruining the Phoebus Cartel’s scheme. The cartel created a legal contract that incorporated light bulb testing rooms to ensure each bulb only lasted 1000 hours, imposing hefty fines on the creator of any bulb that dared break the limit. These efforts paid off—sales drastically increased following the implementation of the newer (less effective) bulbs. This was the first recorded instance of planned obsolescence in history. 

So the next time you can’t update the storage on your phone, remember it has nothing to do with a cellphone, and all to do with a Christmas holiday in the 1920’s and the lightbulb.