> And this is where services and wearables come in to pick up the slack, which is arguably more consumer friendly than building devices that barely last two years.

It's worth noting Apple's US battery replacement fees.

Watch: $79

AirPods: $49

AirPods Case: $49

Not outrageous on the watch, but on the lower-end SKUs it could constitute a large percentage of the original purchase price, especially if they were purchased at even a common discount.

$98 to refresh AirPods is significant. The case battery does tend to degrade a bit more slowly, but my experience is that they don't last all that much longer than the AirPods.

A new wireless charging case is $79, while a standard replacement charging case is $69.

Given that the above hardware has about a 2.5-3-year life on the batteries, it doesn't seem as consumer-friendly as it could.