alt Hacker Newsnah, this is just not something designer would expect to fail like that. The LED has datasheet, the datasheet have leakage current, it has no data on increased leakage over years, you plan for what you have.
What would help is not randomly planning for some of the segments to fail (they are multiplexed with other things, you'd have to put more diodes), but to just get slightly better/less cheap LED display
Only "choice" made here was sorting by price when buying components for the cheap device.
Sounds like this is far more common a problem with blue LEDs than others, and that was certainly a choice.
As if I needed another reason to detest the eye-searing blue LEDs that have infested every device.