It's official: Smartphones will need to have replaceable batteries by 2027

Reclipse@lemdro.id to Android@lemdro.id – 1350 points –
It's official: Smartphones will need to have replaceable batteries by 2027
androidauthority.com

TL;DR

  • The European Council has ended its adoption procedure for rules related to phones with replaceable batteries.
  • By 2027, all phones released in the EU must have a battery the user can easily replace with no tools or expertise.
  • The regulation intends to introduce a circular economy for batteries.
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And they know people are going to be importing these smartphones once it goes live and it's not a battle that can be fought.

The company Fairphone makes almost perfectly repairable smartphones, but they’re only for the European market and the radios won’t really work in the US. I think it would be a similar case for a lot of phones so it might not actually be super viable to import phones in the future either, unfortunately.

I remember when iPhones first came out, they were locked to a single telecom provider. It got jailbroken within a week and every patch following it for over a year got jailbroken too.

If there is enough demand by big brands, unlike the fairphone, there will be a way to use it outside of the EU. Combined with the extra cost to manufacture, I don't see big companies just producing it uniquely for the EU or even if they do, not for long.