Comment by AnthonyMouse

QLC has shipped in flash storage devices since 2009:

https://www.slashgear.com/sandisk-ships-worlds-first-memory-...

But that it doesn't really matter what people were using 10 years ago is the point. Devices from that era are of negligible value even if they're perfectly operational because they're tiny and slow.

The point you raise is a different one -- maybe you have an old device and you don't want to use it, you just want to extract the data that's on it. Then if the bits can no longer be read, that's bad. But it's also providing zero competition for new devices, because the new device doesn't come with your old data on it. The manufacturer has no reason to purposely want you to lose your data, and a very good reason not to -- it will make you hate them.