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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I’ve replaced iPhone batteries before and it isn’t that hard. I could see making it easier, but being able to replace without tools seems like an odd requirement. I’m envisioning every phone with one of those slide off battery covers which always end up breaking over time. It’s just one more thing that leads to flimsy phones.
There is no way most people can replace there smartphone battery with current designs.
I’m not arguing against making it easier for people to fix their devices on their own. I’m just not a fan of the “no tools” aspect. People drop their phones all the time. A “no tools” battery cover is going to pop right off and break or wear out. I’d rather have it secured with a couple screws.
It's not actually "no tools", it's "no specialized or proprietary tools unless provided for free by the manufacturer".
Appreciate the additional info. Thanks!
In addition to the correction from the other user - there are plenty of designs that provide access to phone internals with no tools. Snap fit phone bodies work fine, there are several modern phones with them and numerous older phones. Still water resistant, and the case doesn't magically pop off just by dropping it.
(Also a case popping off from being dropped actually protects internals and the screen by absorbing some of the drop energy anyway, since the kind of drop that would easily pop a phone body off is the same kind of drop that will break screens.)
True. My Asus Max Pro M1 had that design although it didn't have any liquid protection aside from basic splash resistance. Several Redme Note devices also had same design. I had always thought the back pannel was glued shut untill I visited service centre for battery replacement and they just popped off the back.
Can't say I ever had that problem. I had several phones with slide-off battery covers, and none of them ever broke. Besides phones, numerous AA-battery-powered devices over the decades (Game Boy, etc) had slide-off or clip-on battery covers that, for the most part, worked fine.
So yeah, bring back the slide-off battery covers. They were great.