EU doing all the heavy regulatory lifting that American politicians are too afraid to touch. As both an American and an avid Apple enthusiast, I sincerely appreciate it.
Apple will do something to ensure only batteries from them work right, mark my words.
Apple will do something to ensure only batteries from them work right, mark my words.
They tried doing this with the upcoming USB C cables but EU stepped in by making sure that every cable will work without any limitations on transfer and charging speeds.
I fully expect Apple claim that the EU is an environmental terrorist by having “disposable batteries being thrown out after their charge is depleted” and that somehow having batteries being certified by Apple prevents that.
Apple will do something to ensure only batteries from them work right, mark my words.
Still a slight win though!
Well if only official Apple batteries will work, then that means Apple will jack up the price to something ridiculous, because they’ll be the only option for a battery.
So hopefully third party batteries would work as well. I think third party batteries work in iPhones at the moment. So if we’re able to install them much more easily then that would be very good.
Certainly. But I hope the EU regulators do the same trick as they did with the USB C port rregulation. It is against the rules to make it a walled garden.
They need to hit the final nail on the head. All smart phones sold in Europe must have fully documented and open source hardware including the entire chipset, all peripherals, and the modem, with all registers and interfaces documented, the full API, and all programing documentation along with a public toolchain that can reproduce the software as shipped with the device and updated with any changes made to future iterations as soon as the updated software is made available.
This law would make these devices lifetime devices, if you choose; as in your lifetime. It would murder the disposable hardware culture, and it should happen now. Moore’s law is dead. The race is over.
I doubt manufacturers would want to put millions upon millions into research and development if they’d have to open source it all anyways.
They want to sell to every large market and will do what they are required to do in order to access this market. All of these companies have the ability to completely reverse engineer any competing hardware. There are no secrets. Proprietary is not about protecting business or IP. It only exists to exploit the end user. All of these tools and documentation already exist. In the past they were public. The only reason they are not public now is because corporations realized the can get away with it. Capitalism ruins everything you allow it to touch. The only way to stop it is by force. Corporations are the worthless sludge of humanity. You are what matters, not them. They have no rights.
Thank you EU for actually having functional legal protections.
wonder how apple will react to this. lack of user repairability is a considerable source of revenue for them.
Lots of whining probs
it’s sad that replaceable batteries got extinct in just a few years. In my opinion replaceable battery is a great selling point and I know I’m not the only one so I’m surprised that the market are not able to provide this…
Especially now a days when phones have stagnated and having a 5 year old phone is nothing strange anymore.I used to have a replaceable battery to my old LG G3 and it was great to just swap batteries and directly having a fully charged phone. Now I always have to have power banks or try to charge up during train rides or whatever and having to worry that I don’t have enough juice
I have an old phone that works fine except it cannot be charged. Was looking into charging the battery in a friend’s identical phone, and putting the charged battery into mine.
I would have to dismantle the entire phone and remove the screen just to get to the battery. Absolutely ridiculous.
I replaced it with a Fairphone, which I promote every time I get the chance to.
Thank you EU. Both my laptop and phone have non-replaceable batteries. It’s ridiculous I have to buy a whole new device when the battery wears out. A Li-Ion battery lasts three years, I can easily get double that off the device itself. It’s anti-consumer and bad for the environment, replacing a whole device and disposing of it rather than replacing the battery.
I mean pretty much all batteries even now are user replaceable, it just depends on skill of the user, but I know they mention EASILY replacable, so I am very curious about their definition of “easily” since it means something different for everyone.
Is this (article 11 on page 55) the approved text? It seems kind of vague on what constitutes “readily removable and replaceable.”
No, this is the adopted text. Its basically an update of the text you linked, which is the regulation from 2020. The relevant part you want might be (38) and (39):
(38) […] A portable battery should be considered to be removable by the end-user when it can be removed with the use of commercially available tools and without requiring the use of specialised tools, unless they are provided free of charge, or proprietary tools, thermal energy or solvents to disassemble it […]
(39) To ensure the safety of end-users, this Regulation should provide for a limited derogation for portable batteries from the removability and replaceability requirements set for portable batteries concerning appliances that incorporate portable batteries and that are specifically designed to be used, for the majority of the active service of the appliance, in an environment that is regularly subject to splashing water, water streams or water immersion and that are intended to be washable or rinseable. This derogation should only apply when it is not possible, by way of redesign of the appliance, to ensure the safety of the end-user and the safe continued use of the appliance after the end-user has correctly followed the instructions to remove and replace the battery. Where the derogation applies, the product should be designed in such a way as to make the battery removable and replaceable only by independent professionals, and not by end-users.
Good post, thanks.
with the use of commercially available tools and without requiring the use of specialised tools
It’s contradictory, what about commercially available specialized tools? Who defines what’s specialized and not?
I personally don’t understand the purpose of this law. I’ve never discarded a phone due to battery issues (iPhone user). It’s usually just been a slow device, sometimes due to a failing charging port or 3.5mm Jack. I’d rather have the opportunity to replace ports, screens, and buttons.
Do any of you guys experience issues needing a battery replacement that often?
I’ve replaced a lot of iPhone batteries at this point. I wouldn’t call it easy, but it’s definitely not non-replaceable. Takes about 15-20 min and Amazon is filled with kits that even include tools.
Still I miss the Nokia days when we could carry an extra to swap when the first started to die, not for the “battery can’t hold a charge” issues.
I feel like these are two different categories that will be argued.
I’ve replaced a lot of iPhone batteries at this point. I wouldn’t call it easy, but it’s definitely not non-replaceable. Takes about 15-20 min and Amazon is filled with kits that even include tools.
Takes me 10 secs on my fairphone 3. No tools required.
My three iPhones were the only devices that had non-replaceable batteries. Every device before and after those had it including my current one; Samsung XCover 6Pro
Bought a xcover 4s for this reason, 3 years later it ended up dying for absolutely no reason. Battery is fine tho, even bought another to make sure that wasn’t it.
When you can’t test voltage because you have no idea what it’s supposed to be, it makes any réparation absolutely impossible (other than something visually broken)
Awesome, just like 7 years ago it was standard. Phones with good specs are gonna last forever with this change
Every country should do this. It’s just a shame we have to wait until 2027 to see these phones.
Fairphone does this now and have for years.
Yes but their price is kinda steep
There are cheaper phones with better specs out there, without a doubt. But few, if any, with the same focus on repairability and sustainability.
How will this affect apple?
it’s sad that replaceable batteries got extinct in just a few years. In my opinion replaceable battery is a great selling point and I know I’m not the only one so I’m surprised that the market are not able to provide this…
Especially now a days when phones have stagnated and having a 5 year old phone is nothing strange anymore.I used to have a replaceable battery to my old LG G3 and it was great to just swap batteries and directly having a fully charged phone. Now I always have to have power banks or try to charge up during train rides or whatever and having to worry that I don’t have enough juice
