EU votes to mandate removable batteries in smartphones in a landslide; no more glued together junk!

Honestly, with Apple making it incredibly fucking hard to take out their batteries with excessive amounts of glue, I'm okay with this.

Do they not have the tabs you can pull out anymore?
- They do, but they're incredibly prone to breaking when you pull and sometimes they're just hard as shit to grip so you have to use a screwdriver to twist and pull.
  I don't think I need to explain why that's so dangerous.

Fingers crossed that this will be implemented well, im tired of having sleek electronics be irrelevant in 2 years when the silicon could go for 5 or six

The silicon could go on for decades if both the modem and processor were fully documented hardware that the community can access and support in the Linux kernel.
I can run a secure and current form of Linux on 30+ year old hardware if I want to, because the hardware documentation was expected by everyone at the time even if some end users were oblivious to what this meant. The whole reason google pushes Android is because they provide a base Linux kernel that hardware manufacturers can easily slip their proprietary junk into without requiring them to add the kind of open source code needed for mainline kernel support by the community. This is the mechanism that depreciates your device. It is totally artificial and an end user exploitation by design.
- It's usually not silicon on the PCB that fails, but the other electronic components (usually the capacitors) that fails first, and since they are surface mounted devices it's really difficult to solder them by hand.
Add to that requirements for longer software support. At least for security patches.

Hooray! Younger generations will finally be able to experience the joy of dropping their phone and having to pick up three to four different pieces! /s

(I'm all for this change, by the way)

Oh I remember that with Nokias. It's like shock absorbing for cars lol.
- I was 12, I think, when I got my first phone. A Nokia. I was mortified the first time it happened. Then clack-clack-clack I was taught to put it together again.
  Happened many more times afterwards.
lego phone best phone
I was under the impression this is just stopping companies gluing batteries so the phones are repairable.
Are we going back to nokia style batteries?

Phones are getting more expensive so people are holding on to them longer, so it's a nice quality of life improvement to remove the barriers to battery replacement so less people have to go down to a phone repair store to get it changed. The more of a hassle battery replacement is seen the more likely people are to just upgrade and create e-waste.

The problem here is that in order for most people to be able to replace the battery themselves safely they need to be really idiot proof. We’d need to return to back covers with latches or big screws and batteries in cases and contacts. This shit is bulky, heavy and hardly waterproof.
New iPhones use lipo pouch with a ZIF connector straight to the motherboard with a “pull to release” adhesive strip hidden under a panel with a single use sticky seal and two small screws. There is no black magic in replacing the battery yourself and the solution is small, lightweight and waterproof. However most people wouldn’t even know which way to turn the screws to loosen them and probably wouldn’t be bothered by throwing the phone away and getting the one with a better camera AI and more emojis.
- Nah, the og motorola defy had removable battery, ip67 rating, expandable storage, and a headphone jack. It was a tiny phone and it was brilliant.
- @riodoro1 @NightOwl I dunno, if you compare capacities of say, iPhone 14 Pro (12.38Wh) to Fairphone 4 (15.03Wh) and then the product dimensions of the two. There's not a huge amount in it. Adding the 14 Pro Max (16.68Wh) for additional comparisons.
  The Fairphone is 2.6mm thicker than the iPhones. (Yes the screen bezels are chonk too lol) But the fairphone is also making allowance to make every single component swappable, and has an IPS display (switching to OLED would save 1+ millimeter)
- [edit: deleted, echo chamber here. Android good, Apple bad. Moving on and blocking this community, can't have a reasonable conversation, just like reddit I guess].
- Yeah, I wish there was some advancements made when it came to trying to create swappable battery devices that retain water proofing. That area has just stalled since expensive disposable tech is more lucrative. Average person should just get a new one like you said as long as the process is still more difficult than changing a light bulb.

Excellent! Batteries in modern phones are surprisingly definitely removable and replaceable. I've done it multiple times. However, the unfriendly barrier to entry is glue and clips that require careful prying with spugers. It's quite clear manufacturers are happy blocking you getting in; plenty people just buy new phones when the battery gets too old.

Worst was when the batteries were glued to the screen so you could break the entire phone apart trying to change it yourself.
- See Pebble Classic
spudger

I actually love all these regulations on smartphones (mainly by the EU), like the recent USB-C standard. That one in particular makes it so much easier to share chargers around the house!

As a USA citizen, thanks EU for making our cellphone companies not be dick's.
USB-type C to become EU's common charger by end of 2024
I mean... Sure, but we've had USB-C as de facto standard for many years now. When was the last time you saw a micro USB phone?
- USB-C is standard for Android devices, but Apple devices still use lightning.
- I don't want to brag but my 5 yo phone is micro USB. B)

Do y'all remember the days when you dropped your phone and it exploded into 3 or 4 pieces? 🤣 Those were the good days.

Three. Battery, cover and the rest. Weirdly, no damage to the plastic display. How? I guess it was the ~~weather~~ bezel
- And when you scratched up the back you bought a new one for $12. No $200 glass or machined aluminum cases that we put $35 covers on just to protect them from every day use.
- Well, it was plastic. Pretty hard to crack plastic like glass

If this goes through, I think it would be really good news. Battery failure is one of the leading things that force people to replace their smartphones, and having them be replaceable would go a long way towards making smartphones last longer.

If the manufacturer wants to force you to upgrade they still can... they can stop making the battery that works with your phone model (and notch them to make sure they can't fit).
Back in the day there were some manufacturers that made batteries that worked with several of their models, Nokia was one of them, but not all of them did.
Even Nokia had a deprecation cycle for battery models and when that happened you were stuck buying crappy Chinese copies.
But they are replaceable in that sense. You can take it back the the manufacturer or to one of those independent phone stores and they’ll swap out a battery for you.
I don’t think a user swappable battery is actually a feature most users need. Not when smartphones get over a day out of a charge, you can charge at home, work or in a car, and external batteries exist.
- What phone are you using? Both apple and Samsung have made their devices borderline impossible to swap the battery out. They will then charge you an arm and a leg for sometime that used to be an easy swap.

This is actually pretty crazy. Wonder how much it'll affect the overall design of modern smartphones. Will we witness the return of flagships with plastic back covers?

God i hope so. I miss being able to just pop the back off and change out my battery. It was great for sd and sim card slots too. I am quite excited for this
- I wouldn't get too excited. I purchased a galaxy xcover 6 pro at launch. It is a recent device with a removeable plastic back cover with a gasket on it to preserve the IP68 rating, much in the same style as was popular up to the galaxy S5.
  It seems like they forgot how to make that design work, because the first time I got caught in the rain it died an immediate and very hot death.
  There are many other ways to carry out this design but they make the device a bit thicker which manufacturers are going to absolutely hate.
I couldn't care less if the back cover is plastic, it's just going inside a case anyway.
- I would be comfortable to not use a case if it were plastic instead of glass.
That'd be awesome. I don't understand why people think a glass back is premium. Your premium glass back doesn't look so fancy when it's shattered into a million pieces or sandwiched behind a $10 phone case from China.
I've hung on to my Note 4 that I bought in 2014 (no longer use it daily) and it's still in one piece even though it never lived in a case. The plastic and aluminum body have plenty of battle scars but no cracks or functional damage. This MFer is almost 10 years old now on its 5th or 6th battery and still hanging in there despite its aged hardware. Now that is a premium design.
Yeesh I hope not.
- I hope everything just becomes brushed aluminum ffs. I hate all these glass back phones
- The LG G5 solved the problem in 2016.
- The LG G5 solved the problem in 2016.
- Manufacturers may use it as a scapegoat, but it won't be the reason

Thank you, Mr. EU

right to repair LETS GOOO

Here's hope to standardized USB-C connector charging will also happen outside of Europe for the rest of the world.

For companies like Apple, it would be cost more to keep two types of ports for different regions rather than upgrade the new devices all together. Been holding out with my broken iPhone 12 waiting for that sweet USB-C

This is awesome. Thank god for EU legislation that directly benefits me as an American consumer. Now I can microwave lithium ion batteries in peace!

One of the few areas where I favor a "One-world" standard.

AA it is!

No it doesn't. you have have IP68 and a removable battery. What's not as easy it making them paper-thin as the battery needs to have structural integrity of its own.
My old Galaxy S5 was water resistant (IP67, 30min/1 metre submerged)
The rear cover had a gasket to prevent water entering the motherboard, micro sd, battery, sim etc.
- I used a hammy down s5 for a few years. Just had to replace the battery and it was good to go. It eventually degraded and became really really slow. Good phone.
I've never understood the whole waterproof thing. I've never been in an instance where my phone was in any danger of getting wet. I get float trips and stuff but that seems like an uncommon case and even then there are ways to waterproof a phone temporarily.
- You don’t use your phone on the bathroom or the kitchen? It never rains where you live? You never keep your phone in your pocket next to a sweaty leg?
  I want a phone that can survive minor issues. I don’t want a phone that will die because it slipped into the sink while washing my hands or something like that. A degree of being waterproof does that.
- I don't think a phone needs to be 100% waterproof to 50 metres, but some amount of water-resistance is just good product design. Companies should not be encouraging people to dunk their phones in water, I think IP ratings sadly encourage this as well as some of the advertising around their water resistance claims.
  But having some amount of water resistance built into electronics helps reduce e-waste because accidents do happen. For more serious water activities people should be buying waterproof bags for their electronics.
- This. If you really want to take your phone on your extreme surfing adventure, just put it in a waterproof case!
- People mount phones to bike handlebars for navigation. Then it starts raining.
Motorola Defy was waterproof with removable battery. A small switch locked the cover in place with a rubber gasket. This was over 10 years ago.

Wonder if phone manufacturers will fragment their offerings to satisfy EU requirements or if we'll all end up with removable batteries.

It will be a pretty major redesign of the chasis and body to accommodate a removable battery and the cover, so I think it would make little economical sense to maintain two designs for every phone sold here.
- I’m wondering how ‘user replaceable’ is defined. Will we get backs that just pop off, or do they just need to be easier to replace? (No glue or proprietary tools required)
@ClassyDave @Roman0 Let's hope that it doesn't happen.
Also it could create a black market for exported/imported European phones.

Holy fuck this is insane. EU is doing something right (still salty about them wanting encryption keys but provisions to improve repair of hardware is big)

This i fucking loved the times around Samsung S4 , i literarily could just go and buy a replacement battery on amazon even with 200 MAH more snap the old one out and new one in BAM better battery.
Exchanging battery for my Poco x3 pro is complicated and would cost me atleast 70-80€ thats literarily half the device lol
- Exactly! How I wish the US and Canada would implement such rules too, but I know it's not going to happen

This is very neat! I wonder how this is going to impact almost all phones these days having some sort of ingress protection. They glue the phones together to keep the water out, it would still be nice to have the option for water-resistant phones, but the manufacturers just gonna have to figure it out

Removable batteries existed in smart phones before. There are plenty of devices today, walkie talkies for example, that are fully waterproof and are battery swappable.
Manufacturers just want your money.
- Well... most of those devices aren't thin boutique items. Something a lot of smartphone owners want.

The question is, easily removable by the user or easily removable by a specialist with the right tools?

I'm assuming somewhere in the middle leaning more toward easily user replaceable. The current crop of batteries are designed to be replaced by specialists with the right tools and the EU voted to depart from that.

Good, it's a small victory but one step closer to a society that doesn't create waste just to buy the next new shiny toy. Products should be build to last, be easily repairable and create as little waste as possible (which isn't possible in a system that demands unlimited growth over anything else). If we want to have a somewhat ok climate in the future, just focusing on electric vehicles (which are doing the whole subscription to access your hardware fully, not easily repairable bs as well) isn't gonna cut it.

another EU win!!!

i hope they mandate RCS for buyphones, the pear company has been holding back technical progress worldwide

I might be in the minority here, but I feel this is actually a step back.

In the 5 years I've had my phone, there have been two times I've ever really needed to pull the battery, and still the hard reset sequence still eventually worked in both cases.

Anyone remember how some phones had issues with the battery door becoming somewhat loose over time, causing any slight bump to turn the phone off? Many have already commented on how they explode into multiple pieces when dropped. Traditionally the battery covers are incredibly flimsy plastic, even on flagship devices (cough Samsung). Waterproofing is a common concern too, however it actually can be done with a removable battery (e.g. Galaxy S5).

What really needed to be addressed here was how cumbersome it is to get into these devices to replace the battery, and how often people are price gouged to replace them. I believe this could have been better written to allow for either a removable battery, or a standardized and affordable built-in battery replacement process.

This will come into play at roughly the same time that solid state batteries will make battery replacement mostly irrelevant. We'll see some terrible designs to accommodate battery replacements that, for the most part, won't be used.
- I'll believe that once I see it.. We have been told the era of next gen batteries is just around the corner every year since the iPhone came out now. We're still using some version of lithium based tech in most applications where power density is important (phones, laptops, cars, etc.)
- Good point.

I do miss being able to swap out a phone battery and this will certainly be a step in the right direction in terms ewaste and device longevity.

One thing that I wonder about is waterproofing or water resistance. Some phones are basically waterproof in shallow water. How achievable is this with a device with a trivial way to remove the battery?

The Galaxy S5 sport had a battery door and water resistance. They just used gaskets.
People make this argument and barely anyone really uses the waterprooding features of a phone
- I imagine water resistance comes in handy quite often for many people. It has certainly saved me countless times. Not that I need to go swimming or deep sea diving with my phone, but I have dropped phones in water, been stuck in the rain, spilled a glass of water, etc. I ruined many phones before it became common.
- You don't ever really 'need to use' the waterproof feature on your phone. It's more insurance for most people.
  I have personally known dozens of people for who'm it's saved their phone including:
  Dropped it in the toilet.
  Dropped in pool.
  Dropped it in the bath.
  Bag flooded when water bottle broke.
  Flooded when coffee cup failed.
  Rained out.
  Pouring rain on a bike ride.
  Pouring rain when needed GPS on motorcycles.
  The above are things that happened both to people I know individually and also all of the above have happened to be at some point.
  I don't necessarily like the lack of being able to swap out the batteries for a cheap replacement but I do like that waterproofing to a high degree should be a default feature for things like phones. It could be argued to get waterproof cases or keep it in a bag and that's all good and well (except the waterproof cases as they suck and break) but isn't it nice for the default to be that the device itself is waterproof if that was an option?
- Water proofing is for more than just taking it underwater though. It's also for getting caught in the rain, leaving it on a bathroom counter while you shower, or accidentally dropping it in a puddle.
- You know, I really like my Essential Ph-1. It was a lovely little phone. I had the little 360 camera accessory that snapped on magentically and everything. It was so cool! Then, 1.5 seconds, dropped into water from which I grabbed it instantly, and it was done. No warranty coverage for dropping it in water, and zero waterproofing, and toasted phone. So, yes, more of us "use" waterproofing on our phones than you would think. The thing is that it didn't need to be this way. There were waterproof phones back before everything was glued glass slabs all the time. Galaxy S5 Sport as mentioned by @HubbleST@lemm.ee above (and other "sport" edition phones). We have a lot of hygrophobic coatings and tech we didn't have in the day of the Galaxy S5 series. We can do better now, if manufacturers are forced to.
- I agree that is isn't really necessary for mot people, but I do know quite a few people who use it because they know they know the phone will be safe. My partner uses her phone in the pool all the time. I'm often dripping wet after coming in from surfing, even after drying off with a towel. It is nice to be able to check my phone without worrying I'm going to mess it up.
  I'm not saying it is a feature every phone needs, but it is something that some people use. I'm all for replaceable batteries and would like to see them more available. They will improve the longevity of devices as long as they aren't damaged in other ways.
They can just seal the rest of the components exposing just a connection for the battery. There were water resistant phones before, the major reason they decided to make the battery unremovable was to make people buy new phones. Nobody wants to charge their phones multiple times a day.
This is my concern as well. Having a phone that is water and dust resistant is far more important to me than being able to replace the battery. I haven't had the need to replace a phone battery in probably more than a decade.
You can have both https://youtu.be/Yn-R39-dtc0

That link is dead for me. I wonder what constitutes "removable". I'd honestly be fine if it still required a spludger, but it required them to make it easily accessable and not loaded down with glue once you're in. And make OEM batteries available for sale.

i would be fine if it needed some tool to stay water tight or whatever atleast make it easily exchangeable doesnt need to be the old removeable plastic backs.

Misleading title. Phones can still be glued. Waterproof phones still don't need to have a user replaceable battery (the battery needs to be replaceable but by professionals).

Do you have a reference for that? From all the documentation I've seen elsewhere, that's not true. There's no exclusion for waterproof devices, and everything has to be possible with tools a normal person can buy (you might need to go to a local hardware store, but no unique specialist expensive kit).
The full law is here: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2020/0798/COM_COM(2020)0798_EN.pdf. It only mentions 'water' 3 times and none of them relate to waterproof phones (they're talking about batteries of waterbourne transport & environmental impact of water use) so I don't know where that's coming from.
It's totally possible to make waterproof phones with removable batteries - Samsung did it with the Galaxy S5 (IP67 - 1 meter under water for 30 minutes) way back in 2014 and there's lots of other examples. It's just not quite as cheap as glueing everything together.
- Thank you for linking the text. For anyone wondering, here is Ch. 2, Article 11 regarding portable battery replacement:
  Article 11 Removability and replaceability of portable batteries
  Portable batteries incorporated in appliances shall be readily removable and replaceable by the end-user or by independent operators during the lifetime of the appliance, if the batteries have a shorter lifetime than the appliance, or at the latest at the end of the lifetime of the appliance. A battery is readily replaceable where, after its removal from an appliance, it can be substituted by a similar battery, without affecting the functioning or the performance of that appliance.
  The obligations set out in paragraph 1 shall not apply where (a) continuity of power supply is necessary and a permanent connection between the appliance and the portable battery is required for safety, performance, medical or data integrity reasons; or (b) the functioning of the battery is only possible when the battery is integrated into the structure of the appliance.
  The Commission shall adopt guidance to facilitate harmonised application of the derogations set out in paragraph 2
- https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2023-0237_EN.html#title2
  By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the following products incorporating portable batteries may be designed in such a way as to make the battery removable and replaceable only by independent professionals:
  (a) appliances specifically designed to operate primarily in an environment that is regularly subject to splashing water, water streams or water immersion, and that are intended to be washable or rinseable;
  (b) professional medical imaging and radiotherapy devices, as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2017/745, and in-vitro diagnostic medical devices, as defined in Article 2, point (2), of Regulation (EU) 2017/746.
- Galaxy S5 did it.
- You cannot have a consumer device at a reasonable price point, designed to provide water resilience, which also contains an open section to the power supply.
  You certainly can. Look up any flagship smartphone and you can see that they provide water resilience and they have a charging port.

Although this is obviously a step in the right direction it needs to be followed up with security updates, no point increasing the life of the hardware without doing the same for the software.

Making it illegal to lock bootloaders would make each device community-maintainable.
- Yes! That would be the best. We should have access to our hardware. And just like most things you want to keep around for a long time (e.g. cars) you will have to tinker with it to keep it running smoothly into old age.
While it is certainly nice to have continued support, I think I'd disagree that forcing companies to maintain software on legacy/outdated hardware is something that should be legislated. I think that would greatly stifle innovation in a lot of cases.
- At a minimum, stuff should be put in place to allow for people to update legacy hardware to be maintained by individuals.

How is this a win? My non-Android device is at 89% health after 5 years. I’m not going to replace the battery, I’m going to replace the device.

I’d prefer that we get paid $20 to recycle an old phone so that they actually get recycled.

Because you are an outlier when it comes to most people's experience of battery life in their phones.
The recycling scheme is a good idea too, we should do both.
Reducing is just as important as recycling. And reducing the amount of people buying new phones because their battery dies is a win.
Also there are these well-used battery recycling boxes in plenty shops where I'm from. If people could remove their phone battery, they might still throw away their phone, as there's not as obvious, easy and visible a recycling system for those yet, but perhaps some might at least take out the battery first and chuck it in the recycling bin next time they go to shop.
How is it a loss for you in any way? Just because the battery can be replaced more easily doesn't mean you have to replace it if you're at 89% after 5 years. I use my phone a lot and burn through batteries in 18-24 months. This shouldn't have any effect on people who only have light usage like you but benefit the rest of us tremendously.
It'd be like only driving 1,000 miles a year and saying there's no need to make oil changes easier to accomplish. Some of use have to change it orders of magnitude more frequently than you and would appreciate not having to disassemble the whole front of our cars to do it.
- Replaceable battery means extra plastic,extra size, and reduced design parameters because the design has to be around the battery and it’s ability to be replaced using connectors. Look at what blackberry devices looked like. Battery and OS tech got a little better, but they used the same batteries for a long amount of time. I’m not saying that we’ll have blackberry devices again, I’m saying that things like connectors, latches, and the extra size of a battery that’s designed to be held all adds up to extra space being used.
  My usage is probably above average. Probably closer to your average fediverse/redditor. I’m far from a “light user”.
  That being said, your average user doesn’t burn through batteries like you do. Maybe you should be pressuring the market to build your phone instead of forcing everyone that has no need for a replaceable battery to put up with the deficiencies of that form factor?
Because not everyone has the same anecdotal experience as you?
- I manage around 200+ mobile devices and battery life isn’t an issue that comes up.
@Brkdncr @Roman0 Why not both?
Easily replaceable for those who burn through capacity through heavy use. Which would also make recycling easier funny enough.
And pushing to make recycling encouraged. These aren't opposing ideas.
Opposite boat. My perfectly good device gets replaced after about 4 years because it struggles to hold a charge. I don't give a shit about iterative phone specs, and I say that as a tech enthusiast.
- And wht's stoping you from paying the 80 bucks for a battery swap? After 5 years, that seams like a very reasonable maintenance cost to me...
I agree, I think this is a miss. This will just mean more batteries will be manufactured. Most people will replace the device before the battery performance degrades.
Unless the battery is a universal/interchangable model this will increase waste as the manufacturer will have to make replacements available per model.
People will also perhaps then buy replacement batteries when handing down/selling devices, where they would have just have managed with degraded performance in the past.
Sounds good but I don't know really.
- Typically, replacement parts are only manufactured during the lifetime of the device. Because of that, I don't think that the replacement batteries would contribute significantly to waste.
  People will also perhaps then buy replacement batteries when handing down/selling devices, where they would have just have managed with degraded performance in the past.
  What's the problem with this?

Amen! Now let's see how Apple gets around that one too. :)

Now make SD cards mandatory and you've got something really good.

I love reading such headlines, really glad there's an entity that can enforce such rules on manufacturers, at least when they're looking after us

Really hoping this happens. I want to be able to replace the battery on my phone after a year because the performance on the battery degraded by nearly half.

That being said, I'm also willing to bet some time shortly after this goes into affect, the cost of mobile service (at least in the US) will go up another $10/$15 a month, and phones will increase in cost by another $100-$200. Not because materials cost more, or designs change. But to preemptively screw people over.

on the battery degraded by nearly half.
One year nearly half ? wtf , even my 24/7 power used phone lost approx only 17% on battery health and its a Poco x3 pro
- Probably keeps it on 100% for extended periods of time.
I dunno if the mobile costs will increase since the manufacturers and cellular ISPs are separate companies. Verizon and Tmobile probably don't make any money off phone sales. It's more about the monthly service. People keeping their phones longer might even mean more revenue since people often jump ship with a free upgrade offer.

I'm curious to see what this will mean for phone designs & dust/waterproof ratings. Either way, it only takes effect in 2027 so that should give some time for innovation rather than falling back on plastic clamshells of yore.

Samsung and Sony have been able to waterproof phones with removeable batteries in the past. Don't let Apple's complaints fool you into thinking it can't be done, it's just an excuse for planned obsolescence.
- Same with Fairphone. They're specifically made to be repairable, and the Fairphone 4 is supposed to be water resistant. Too bad the specs aren't great.
- Yeah gaskets have existed for a hundred and fifty years or more so it won't take great feats of engineering to solve this issue. I personally don't care if my phone is waterproof or not since it's ingrained in me not to get them wet from years of using electronics prior to waterproofing being common. Maybe adding a removable back will mean the end of camera bumps too.
- The waterproofing has been solved, but the real issue is that device size and/or battery capacity is going to be affected. And with the resiliency of modern batteries, you're making design sacrifices for something that won't affect most users.
  Sure, it was nice being able to swap a fresh battery in on the fly. But these days you can also just get a decent power bank for less money than a proprietary battery pack.
  A middle ground would end up being better for everybody. Keep the batteries as they are now, but make the phones a bit easier to open (and use fasteners instead of adhesives).

I can’t wait to hear the Apple marketing word for this feature. They’ll add some gimmick like the battery is held in with magnets and say “We call it MagPack and we think you’re going to love it.”

Just as long as it doesn't resemble what the poors would use. Yuck.

And now they just have to force manufacturers to either at least security patch devices for, let's say 10 years, or force them to open source everything the community needs to continue supporting this device. It never happened to me that the battery died before support ended.

Just had that issue with my Pixel 3a XL. No more security updates. Had to replace it with a Pixel 6a but I liked the 3a XL more. It there was any community support for the 3a XL, I would rather sell my 6a again.

As an Apple user, I definitely have batteries die before the product stops being useful. The company provides feature updates for old phones for several years, and when that runs out they continue to provide security patches for several more years.
A new iPhone battery is only $47 (if you do the repair yourself, and if you send your old battery back to Apple for a recycling credit), but it's a pretty complex and arduous process with a fair chance of damaging your phone while attempting it. You also have to pay a deposit, over a thousand dollars, to rent the tools off Apple. Ouch.
You can take it to an Apple store, but that takes even longer than doing the repair yourself. And it costs more (though you don't have to pay the outrageous deposit for the tools).
This legislation would force Apple to make it a simple process with no tools. Yes please.

Fairphone 3 user here. My main reason to choose this phone a few years ago was because the battery could easily be replaced. Too many phones are perfectly functional but the battery is half dead. Another boon of non-glued batteries : You can carry two (or more) batteries to easily switch when the first one is KO. Meaning no need for portable charger and useless cables in your pocket. Phone at 10% ? Just change it, bam 100% in a second. Easy as that.

I'll probably not be the target of such regulations because I wouldn't choose an anti-consumer phone brand anyway, but at least it's going in the right direction.

I own an older flagship Android phone that is almost as good as anything that currently exists on the market. It even has a capacity that outperforms every single new phone I've looked at. The only issue is that now, after about 4 years, the battery only lasts me about a day. If I can replace my battery, I'll end up likely keeping this phone for another two years. It's still in perfect physical condition.
- What phone do you have?

I hope this passes, but I wonder how it will get watered down, where the loopholes are.

Finally! Now to also force phonemakers to universally provide bootloader unlocks so we can put our own ROMs on our devices once the software support ends.

Another win for Europe

LET'S GOOOOO

This is great.

It might lead to thicker phones, but battery and/or SW obsolescence are the main reasons I have been swapping phone in the last 10 years.

Back in the day when I had a Samsung S4, I bought this massive brick of a battery/new back plate and I LOVED it. Absolutely worth being a bit thick.
- i got a broken galaxy a70. the phone is thin. all of the photos online are screen glas cracks appear where battery ends. plastic frame. bends. f'@~... ridicolous. at least full body battery protects you from cheap design choices. XD

huge W

My last phone bit the dust because I made the mistake of taking it apart to repair it. It became a gluey piece of garbage. If I want it be waterproof I'll stick it in a sandwich bag. Or maybe the manufacturer can use the novel tech of gaskets.

Good! I loved having removable batteries, especially while traveling. Just carry a charged battery and hotswap them instead of having to find a plug to camp by for 30-60 minutes

Good. I haven't been able to replace a battery since my S4.

EU votes to increase phone prices for swappable batteries. video says it's great. skip skip scroll

About bloody time! Devices these days are so far technically advanced, no need to upgrade every 2 years. I can hold onto a phone for easily 3-5 years. Especially with hot swap batteries!

Holy. 👍

I wonder how thick phones will be because of this, what about phones with dual-cell battery? I know some of them do this for faster charging speed.

I had a cubot power which had an "non-removeable" battery. The running time was about two days with medium usage. I thought probably they packed every remaining space with battery which explains a non removeable one.
So I broke it a few weeks ago and decided to check out the battery. Turns out it was just that they glued the shit out of the backplate (which was more work to get of than the screen which glue already gave up) and put a normal sized battery in wich had no quick connector attached, but one of those flimsy wires that fall apart if you look at them wrong. The same shit apple introduced in their ipods.
There is and never was any reason for "non removeable batteries" other than prohibiting the user from repairing the most common failure point of a phone!
There were 8mm(0.31in) thick phones with removable batteries 5-6 years ago(phones like the Samsung J series).
iphone 14(fall 2022) does not feature a removable battery and is 7.8mm(0.309in).
Meaning you literally wont be able to tell the difference.
In fact, there were 7.5mm ones with a replacable battery a few years ago.
Absolutely nothing will change You can already swap the battery very easily, once you win the fight with the glue. Granted, most of the recent phones now allows removing said glue more or less easily, too. The only problem i can see are the IP ratings, as the backplate would need to be swappable
- I don't think the IP ratings are gonna be that much worse.
  The galaxy s5 had IP67 with a removable battery back in 2014.

W move for the EU. Very glad they're mandating stuff that should have been common place to begin with (ex. USB C on iPhones).

Wow ; thats pretty amazing - now I have even more respect for them thinking ahead and going after the USB-C ports first... this could force manufacturers to give us a better product - I'll be watching this.

This is awesome! I hope the EU Compliant phones come overseas too!

Probably kinda likely, I think?
Manufacturing, storing, shipping and supporting two different models of basically the same phone is probably more expensive than just deploying the one model with the removable battery everywhere.
- that is how the eu can regulate the world

Phones were designed with non-removable batteries for a reason. It's not just to screw w/ the customer and make them pay someone to replace their phone battery. It's to aid in water resistance and to help with a smaller form factor. This will lead to nothing good. And I'm sure it will carry over to other countries as well as I'm sure a lot of phone manufacturers won't want to make special models JUST for the EU.

Just another example of the EU imposing nonsense regulations that will screw over the rest of the world, like their stupid cookie popup nonsense.

Where's lemmy's /r/confidentlyincorrect
if you see a cookie popup, it's because the website operator decided to use third-party tracking cookies on their site; they could have easily spared their users the banner by using privacy-friendly analytics, or no analytics instead. blaming the EU for inconveniencing users with these warnings is doing free PR for the worst parts of the advertising industry.
- First, that's not true. Tons of websites use non-essential cookies for various functions that have nothing to do with tracking, all of which would be covered under the GDPR and require a cookie popups.
  Expecting website operators to run we sites without any analytics and advertising is an absurd expectation. They have to bring in revenue somehow. That's what privacy and ad blocking extensions are for.
  Yeah, no, sorry. The EU fucked up the internet for the entire world.
- (some might say that justifying the planned obsolescence practice of shortening phone lifespans by making battery replacement more difficult by saying it's because it's the only way to achieve features that people demanded - who asked people what features they wanted on phones, anyway? - is doing free PR for phone companies, but I think that point has been made way better than I could, in many other comments which you seem to have not read)
Listen to the guy, please

Based

thank you EU!

Stupid plain simple, increase in weight.

I've not taken apart a brand new iPhone foe a while, but the way they used to do it where you take out two screws and then everything comes apart without tons of glue... well, it's great. There's no reason phones can't all be built like that.
I'm with you. In a modern phone I've never wanted to replace the battery. In the past I've never had a replacement be nearly as good as the original so once I had to start replacing it, it was just a battle from that point. I think this will generate more ewaste as manufacturers will overproduce batteries.