Why are the model names of TVs and other home tech so cryptic?
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They’re indicative of the feature set. Size, series, technology, etc. You could call your new TV the Steven, but then nobody would know anything about Steven from it’s name.
Because there’s almost never a huge difference between models of home appliances like stoves and TVs. It’s very similar to the way computer models are named.
Like asking 1Why my car’s vin number gotta be so cryptic?
It’s like the VIN on your car. To the people who need to understand it, it’s not cryptic at all. it tells those people all kinds of stuff about the car, and nobody else really needs to care.
Most people will buy a “2019 Ford F150” without caring what the VIN is, but when they take it in for service, the mechanic will look at the VIN and know the year it was made, the engine type, trim package, and all sorts of other stuff. Similarly, most people will buy a “65 inch Samsung TV” without knowing or caring that it’s a model UN65TU7000. If it needs service, the technician will see that number, and he’ll know exactly what screen to order to replace the one your kid hit with a spoon.
Mostly so that the manufacturers can sell slightly different models to different retailers so there’s no direct competition
Also helps to determine warranties. Models are built like cars for certain time-frame so you always know if it’s under warranty or not even if you buy it secondhand.
Good answers here, but taking it back to ELI5, it’s because new technology is created so fast that no one had to figure out this problem before. When it was slow to create new technology, the items had pretty names for that one item. They would then give new names to new items. They eventually started to add “versions” to those items so they didn’t have to come up with new names.
Those version names were all over the place. Some starting with 1, 2, 3…then 1.0, 1.1, 1.2. Then some of them started using the year of the release (ex Windows 98, 2000). Then some of them started using descriptors in the model name to piece together all of the information that makes that model unique. This became popular when companies would release a dozen versions of a dozen products with a dozen individual options for each.
This is where /u/ApotheounX comes in…where each company comes up with a set of characters to represent the specifics about that product. Where it was made, for whom, with what features, when created, and more. Because there is no universal standard, every company comes up with new model naming criteria, depending upon the item, and the number of variants released, and in what timeframe.
It’s like a vin number on a vehicle so once you know how to cipher the code you can know all the options without having to list them all out
Other folks here have given you the why but I can tell you why so many are virtually identical with different models:
Top reason is to stop price matchers. Companies are always offering a price match on stuff but because it’s an ever so slightly different model, they can say no despite it being the same product.
The fun part is when they have retailer-specific names for the exact same product, just so you can’t use the “we will match any competitors advertised price” promotions. “Oh no, we can’t price match this, because if you look closely, even though the product is exactly the same in every way, the model number has a W for walmart here vs the one with an A for Amazon.”
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