THERE is a light that never goes out in Livermore, California, where a local fire station is still dimly lit by a record-breaking bulb installed 115 years ago. Forty miles away in Cupertino, Apple recently released the seventh version of the iPhone in less than a decade.

The iPod, the music player that turned Apple from a struggling computer manufacturer into a multimedia behemoth, is now practically a museum piece despite being launched just 15 years ago today.

The iPhone 7’s most obvious new feature is the removal of the generic headphone jack – a move which cynics argue will lock you even tighter into Apple's in-house products – and the installation of built-in stereo speakers.

It is essentially the latest version of the iPod rather than a big advance in telecommunications.

"There is a conspiracy theory that the next 10 years of technology is already sitting in Apple's basement ready to be drip fed out to consumers,” according to Edinburgh-based consultant Blair Hutton, a former senior engineer at Dyson and design ambassador for the Institution of Engineering Designers.

"Tech-push has now overtaken need-pull. We're now in the territory of the Emperor's New Clothes – you don't need it but you've got to have it and the mugs will buy it regardless.

"You saw it with razor companies adding a new blade every year, and with camera companies adding a megapixel every Christmas until it got to the point where you couldn't really see the difference between a 14 megapixel and 15 megapixel camera.

"It is the same with cars. There is a market for people looking to keep up with the Jones's with the latest BMW3 series that has few changes beyond a slightly tweaked bumper.”

However, Hutton, who has also worked for Ford and Jaguar, believes built-in obsolescence may be a fair trade off for the benefits of technological advancement.

“Cars are more reliable these days – as well as being more advanced and carrying their own bubble of entertainment,” he said. “They are less accessible for the ordinary mechanic because you need to take it to an advanced garage to plug in a diagnostic system, but we've essentially created a drawing room on wheels.”

MP3 players have been accused of making record stores obsolete, and also threatening to make the musicians themselves obsolete as they can no longer pay the bills.

Once again, Hutton believes this is a mixture of romanticising the past and fearing the future.

"I was listening to Orange Juice the other day and bands like that didn't start out to make money," he said. "They started out as punk bands that genuinely believed in music, and that kind of spirit isn't going to go away. I remember they used to put leaflets in record sleeves warning that 'home taping is killing music' but artists still made money, and they still make money today through streaming revenues."

Grant Gibson, deputy managing director of Glasgow-based marketing firm Bright Signals, said the idea of "planned or built-in obsolescence" is compelling but it ignores the increasingly fast pace of technological development.

"Some people think it's a bit too convenient that Apple is able to come out with a new phone every year which has a better camera and better tech," he said. It's quite an attractive idea, I suppose, and there might be an element of truth to it as Apple will have a roadmap for the future.

"However, the reality is the technology in the latest iPhone just wasn't available a few years ago in a way that could be marketed affordably. They could probably bring out the iPhone 9 now but they would have to charge people about £50,000 for it."

One drawback of trying to push the boundaries of technology too soon is the limits of hardware.

Apple's biggest rival Samsung recently came up against the Scotty from Star Trek problem: "Ye cannae change the laws of physics."

Phones require power, power generates heat, and pushing phones to limit can cause meltdown.

Gibson said: "I've watched the batteries evolve over the years from the old, heavy lead acid batteries, through lithium ion to the latest LiPo lithium polymer batteries which pack a lot of power but they're basically like little bombs.

"The one's I use for my remote control cars say 'don't charge unattended’ but these are now finding their way into phones."

One technology that is bucking the obsolescence trend is vinyl, which is making something of a miniature comeback despite being based on technology which is over 150 years old.

Hutton said: "I am a vinyl junkie but you would have to have some pretty sensitive ears to spot the difference in quality between vinyl and MP3.

"I like vinyl for other reasons. I still like the experience of putting on a record, which is probably pure nostalgia but the fact that you can buy vinyl record frames in Ikea demonstrates that lots of people still like owning an artefact."

Hutton believes the diminishing lifespan is a small price to pay for the current economic prosperity that the phone helped to create.

“Phones revolutionised the world by making communication and commerce more widespread,” he said. The phone I had growing up was made of Bakelite and it was practically bomb-proof, but it would have cost a lot more to produce.

"Now, Apple launches a new iPhone every September, and while they aren't cheap they are still relatively affordable in relation to the average disposable income."

"They also last for a reasonable amount of time.

“I know people who still have iPhone4s (launched in 2010) that still work fine as long as they don't download the latest apps and only need it for making calls, texting and checking the football scores."

Apple declined to comment.