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While I generally agree with you, CUES is not the best example of effort with their riveted cranksets etc. I'd also bet good many that those shifters will break in 2 years or less. I sincerely hope to be wrong though.
Anyway, I'm not the target audience for new stuff. I'll keep on hoarding good condition 90s MTB parts so my children can ride proper bikes while growing up.
vpCogworks
I think a lot of the comments here are missing the point of planned obsolescence. Making something that is single use (non-replaceable batteries) is not planned obsolescence, it's just wasteful. A bike shop refusing to service pedals isn't planned obsolescence, it's high labour cost vs low manufacturing cost not making financial sense for the shop.
Most companies that sell their products based on performance or technology inevitably have to make things at the limit of what is possible in order to stay competitive. That then leads to a point where your average service technician isn't able to work on them due to lack of knowledge or appropriate equipment. It's the same with computers, cars and now starting to be bikes. Electronics are tiny, complex and the requirement to be waterproof makes them harder to access.
There is a new EU law which means batteries must be replaceable by the end consumer with limited tools. This will change some e-bike design, but not necessarily for the better in all cases in my opinion.
I am impressed that Shimano seem to be putting more effort into their mid-range groupsets (CUES etc) than churning out a new XTR every 2 years. Shimano's record of keeping a good supply of parts for legacy systems is also a good indicator for the longevity of those systems.
In general, I think design for manufacturing and design for repair should feature much higher on the priority list for brands. I think part of the problem is that a lot of designers are in the same boat as us, they don't know the intricacies of modern manufacturing or the problems repair technicians might face further down the line.