If you're not familiar with the term, planned obsolescence is defined as "a policy of producing consumer goods that rapidly become obsolete and require replacing, achieved by frequent changes in design, termination of the supply of spare parts, and the use of nondurable materials." ~ dictionary.com

Toys

Toys are purposely built with cheap materials in essential areas like hinges or flex points by using soft metal or plastics. These areas then break down and fail much quicker, making the toy useless. This is also called contrived durability.

This forces you to buy replacements to keep your child happy.

Phones

I don't know about Samsung or Google phones, but Apple builds phones that are intentionally hard to fix, and if you try it yourself, you will most likely ruin the phone instead of fixing it.

Don't ask me how I know.

They start by using weird 'pentalobe' screws that keep the case together, forcing you to buy new tools to fix your shattered glass.

The manufacturer engineers the whole process to be challenging enough that the unskilled person trying to fix their phone will most likely make things worse.

This leads to the user buying a new phone--exactly what the manufacturer wants.

Ink-jet printers

Ink-jet printer manufacturers deliberately engineer critical parts of the printer to fail prematurely.

For example, Canon printers are known for their early print head failures. Replacing the print head is so costly that it makes more sense to buy a new printer instead.

Other printer manufacturers program a set amount of copies into the printer firmware. When that copy limit is reached, it won't print anymore, although there's nothing physically wrong with it.

As consumers, we should be aware of these instances and others by doing our research, buying well-made and durable products, resisting the urge to have the latest model, and recycling what we don't need.