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Removable batteries in smartphones will be mandatory in the EU starting in 2027

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101–110 of 560 posts

Re: Removable batteries in smartphones will be mandatory in the EU starting in 2027

#101
post #8

Rule does not apply to gadgets that already retain 80% charge capacity at 1k charge cycles. What is the share of the smartphone market that this applies to?

My iphone 15 pro max. manufactured in Aug 2023. 536 cycles. is at 84%. I doubt it will make it to 1k at above 80%.

iPhone Air. 225 cycles, started use in October 2025, 99%

Re: Removable batteries in smartphones will be mandatory in the EU starting in 2027

#102

What is a “special tool”? A Philips screwdriver is pretty clearly not, but is a T-5 Torx? A security T-5? A Tri-wing? A Pentalobe?

> 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 […] to disassemble it.

> Commercially available tools are considered to be tools available on the market to all end-users without the need for them to provide evidence of any proprietary rights and that can be used with no restriction, except health and safety-related restrictions.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1542/oj

Re: Removable batteries in smartphones will be mandatory in the EU starting in 2027

#103
post #90

While sounding nice in theory, these sorts of regulations will certainly curtail innovation while providing very, very little value elsewhere. If people wanted removable batteries in their phones, they would buy them a lot. They don't.

Even with a battery that can be replaced using a tiny screwdriver, this still doesn’t make it DIY for probably 80-90% of smartphone users.

That's not the point. It being done in a local shop for a few bucks with no small letter text saying that "we may break your screen in half because this thing can't be repaired properly". It mentions that it should not use glue, not need solvent and only commercially available tools may be usable (or they have to be provided next to the phone).

Re: Removable batteries in smartphones will be mandatory in the EU starting in 2027

#105
post #15

...and Apple will be exempt due to a loophole in the law (80% after 1k cycles) making the law utterly pointless.

This makes no sense but I still see it mindlessly repeated to exhaustion. That mention is in no way Apple specific, it’s a quality of the battery itself. Any manufacturer is in the same position, not like Apple has a monopoly on batteries that hold 80% charge after 1000 cycles.

I don’t understand how this could be measured fairly though. What kind of cycles? What temperatures was it exposed to? Charged fast or slow? This is an incomplete set of criteria, which seems designed specifically to be meaningless / gameable.

To me this seems like saying you can sell a car with a sealed gas tank as long as it “gets 40 miles per gallon.” And GM gets to decide the test course for measuring MPG, which will be a 2-mile slightly downhill coast with no stopping. Surprise! All our cars get 40-60MPG!

The unspoken implication here is that if your phone still retains 80% after 1000 cycles, then it’s probably so old and obsolete by then that battery replacement would be a silly waste of time, so why burden people with these “onerous rules” in that case.

But in reality, nothing about that metric, even if it’s true, means that customers don’t need to replace their batteries. My iPhone 15 Pro Max is in dire need of a battery replacement, at 82% after only 714 cycles. Aside from the battery, I have literally zero motivation to replace this phone. The phone manufacturers hate the idea that the battery might get replaced, because in this day and age it’s pretty much the only reason a 2 to 3-year-old phone (especially a flagship) isn’t extremely adequate for 99% of the population.

Re: Removable batteries in smartphones will be mandatory in the EU starting in 2027

#106

While sounding nice in theory, these sorts of regulations will certainly curtail innovation while providing very, very little value elsewhere. If people wanted removable batteries in their phones, they would buy them a lot. They don't.

Innovation generally happens because of some kind of impediment to doing things the old way. So this is more likely drive innovation than curtail it.

Re: Removable batteries in smartphones will be mandatory in the EU starting in 2027

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My low-cost plastic Casio watch based on a very old design is waterproof and battery can be swapped out by undoing 4 philips screws, no glue. Its buttons can also be operated under water while staying waterproof. What is this whicraft?

I get it for watches, but I've never understood the mass-market need for a waterproof phone, outside of a few niche hobbies. Are people showering and swimming with their phones or something? Or dropping them in their toilets? The wettest my phone has ever been in 8 years is in my pocket while it's raining.

Yes, people are so addicted to scrolling their idiotic looping videos that they take their phones in public pools. Saw it myself.

Re: Removable batteries in smartphones will be mandatory in the EU starting in 2027

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My iphone 15 pro max. manufactured in Aug 2023. 536 cycles. is at 84%. I doubt it will make it to 1k at above 80%.

iPhone Air. 225 cycles, started use in October 2025, 99%

It’s more about the calendric aging than number of cycles these days. My own stayed at 99% until ~400 cycles, and then in a few days it dropped to 94%.
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