JBK

So to summarize several responses, as long as your Apple device works, great, but if it breaks, Apple is under no obligation to make it possible, easy or inexpensive to repair. 

That pretty much is my point. Everthing breaks - that's life. Less susceptable to breakage doesn't mean impervious and if it breaks and can't be repaired it becomes e-waste. 

I believe Apple could make different design choices that prioritized longevity AND repairabilty. I believe it is a false choice to say one OR the other, especailly when their products are so notoriously difficult to repair.  There are any number article and videos from experienced and/or authorized Apple technicians that demonstrate this. (iFixit, Hugh Jeffries, etc) 

Apple could make repairs and parts less expensive and easy to obtain for older deivces.  Apple could make it easier to scavenge parts from other damaged devices rather than chip locking them or provide a method to unlock the parts for salvage so repair shops can reuse them.

I think the reason they don't do any of this is that they are not fianacially repsonible for the full life cycle of their products and the impact of the waste they create.

My comment on soldered RAM and soldered or proprietary SSDs was really aimed at desktops & laptops, not phones. Here, tech advances produce faster, cheaper and more durable options in the years after a laptop/desktop is manufuctured. Upgradeability can add years to the usable service life.  It is only since 2017 that Apple made this impossible.  And certainly phones could do with upgradable storage (micro SD?), though RAM might be trickier. (size, power consumption, etc)