One-time use technology or
throw-away electronics are becoming increasingly popular with consumers and product manufacturers. Apart from the disposable cameras offered in the 1980s and into the late 90s, tech-based companies could rarely offer such convenience due to the cost of certain parts required. The main reason why companies can now offer inexpensive products, including smartphones and computers, without compromising on modern technology or quality is due to the wide-spread production and availability of
transistors – a major component of computers or any microprocessor (shown above).
A comparison of laptops prices. Left: Macintosh Portable M5120 [1989] Right: Typical ASUS laptop sold todayA
transistor is simply an on/off switch made by semiconductors that are controlled by electricity. In the past, transistors were difficult to fabricate and reproduce accurately. More recently, however, the world output of transistors has exploded from a little more than 1 billion in the late 1960s to more than 1 quintillion today. During this same period, the average price of a transistor has fallen from about $1.00 to less than $0.000002, or two one-thousandths of a cent. This helps to explain why average (constant-quality) computer prices have declined by 99 percent since the 1960s. As the cost of transistors has declined, the cost of producing a constant-quality computer has also declined, which accounts for why electronics are more affordable than ever.
