Dunno if it's ever been explicitly stated in any of the various scifi settings, but I still hold the headcanon that 80s "cassette futurism" stuff is actually totally reasonable because at some point humanity decided it was better to just mass produce simpler more reliable "old" tech that still worked just fine. Like maybe the homeworld has star trek level infinitely advanced iphones, but industrial ships and outer colony worlds prefer clunky boxes than can take a beating and can actually be repaired in-flight.
"Hey, this homeworld tech uses microcircuitry and a dozen specialty materials you can't even get in this sector... but this 80lb machine based on an archived schematic from the late 1900s that does exactly one thing can be made right here at home and if you get desperate you can probably fix it with copper wire"
