Comment This is not a new thing for Sony (Score 1) 292
Early PS1 and PS2 models also had a tendency to fail after several years- long enough that they'd be outside the coverage of any warranty, but not long enough that you had moved on to the next gen by that point. Either
A)It's actually something to do with all models and the replacements just aren't used long enough to be worn out
B)They just learn to make them more durable as time goes on
or
C)They deliberately go with flimsier parts for launch models to cut costs, then go for more durable parts later on as the costs of other parts of the console go down.
I would guess that it's a combination of all three.
Regardless, you certainly can't compare it to the failure rate/average lifetime of the 360.
A)It's actually something to do with all models and the replacements just aren't used long enough to be worn out
B)They just learn to make them more durable as time goes on
or
C)They deliberately go with flimsier parts for launch models to cut costs, then go for more durable parts later on as the costs of other parts of the console go down.
I would guess that it's a combination of all three.
Regardless, you certainly can't compare it to the failure rate/average lifetime of the 360.