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All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

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Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#411

Post by alterom »

patall wrote: post #348
emtel wrote: post #258

One of the most frustrating things about HN is that people seem so unaware of how idiosyncratic their preferences are. If you stood on the street corner and asked every passerby what they would change about their phone, I think you would be there all day before someone said "I wish I could replace the battery". It's okay to have idiosyncratic preferences (I certainly do), but people should recognize that this law wil…

Given that probably one in twenty people you'd meet would have between 5 and 10% of battery left: probably most of those. (and yes, I know that power banks exist)

Case in point: 8% battery left, going down to 7% typing this comment.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#412

Post by prism56 »

kristjank wrote: post #65
bhouston wrote: post #61

Will this affect the water-resistance of current iPhones? I thought that was why the batteries are not easily replaceable by users, because of the seals/gaskets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dyL6hMZvWQ

Most wristwatches provide much stronger water resistance while still being very user serviceable with a $20 watch tool kit. Whatever the phone makers are peddling are mostly excuses.

Also the latest pixel watch has a new mechanism without glue that has a rubber gasket and screws.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#413

Post by stefanvdw1 »

Mali- wrote: post #406
0x3f wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would seem that "different opinions are out there" is not really a good basis for "one opinion enforced by EU directive", though.

If your battery is replaceable, you can still decide to throw the phone away and add to the pile of e-waste. The legislation allows both choices, at the cost of higher prices.

Having a higher price is an incentive to using the phone you have a bit longer by replacing the battery. It’s certainly better than having them be guaranteed e-waste.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#414

Post by 0x3f »

Mali- wrote: post #406
0x3f wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would seem that "different opinions are out there" is not really a good basis for "one opinion enforced by EU directive", though.

If your battery is replaceable, you can still decide to throw the phone away and add to the pile of e-waste. The legislation allows both choices, at the cost of higher prices.

Obviously people aren't finding the literal act of wasteful disposal the appealing thing about e.g. non-self-repairable iPhones, so no, not really.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#415

Post by rootusrootus »

drooopy wrote: post #405

In order to have my iPhone 11's battery replaced by my local apple authorised repair shop, inexplicably I have to leave my phone with them for days. Since the phone is old they have to order the battery from Apple and that could take up to a week, according to them. Of course it's impossible to stay without my phone for a week+ so my only option is to buy a new phone if I want to fix my battery capacity issues.

Find a repair shop that will order the battery in advance?

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#416

Post by srmatto »

coda_ wrote: post #359
emtel wrote: post #258

One of the most frustrating things about HN is that people seem so unaware of how idiosyncratic their preferences are. If you stood on the street corner and asked every passerby what they would change about their phone, I think you would be there all day before someone said "I wish I could replace the battery". It's okay to have idiosyncratic preferences (I certainly do), but people should recognize that this law wil…

Your experience is not at all what I see out there. Most people I know only get new phones because their battery will no longer get them through the day. They hate having to set up a new phone when their old one is totally fine other than the battery. For the people I know that do upgrade their phones regularly, they typically want to give their old phone to someone who would love a usable phone, but can't afford a n…

I can't speak to the experience with Android but Apple offers both in-store battery replacement or Mail-in battery replacement for $70-120 which to me seems very reasonable. Could it be cheaper? Sure, maybe I guess? But $70-120 is a lot less than a new phone. And this way we don't need to compromise the shell of the phone with seams and things that can fail.

https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/battery-replacement

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#417

Post by throwaway-11-1 »

nicpottier wrote: post #290
emtel wrote: post #258

One of the most frustrating things about HN is that people seem so unaware of how idiosyncratic their preferences are. If you stood on the street corner and asked every passerby what they would change about their phone, I think you would be there all day before someone said "I wish I could replace the battery". It's okay to have idiosyncratic preferences (I certainly do), but people should recognize that this law wil…

I think phone manufacturers will figure it out once it is a requirement. Was switching everyone to USB-C annoying for Apple? Sure. Are we in a better place because the EU forced it. You betcha. That's the point. I don't love everything the EU does (cookie banners!?) but this is one where I have confidence that the consumer will ultimately benefit. As others have noted, most people do not replace their phones every tw…

Apple was a key member of the USB-C consortium, it was always planned to be their universal connector. They waited on switching to avoid public backlash about "why are you switching wires when I already bought all of these wires?". They generally give connectors 10 years before changing them (see 32-pin 2003 - 2012 etc). Doesn't invalidate your larger point, but it incorrectly describes the history of USB-C adoption by Apple.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#418

Post by rootusrootus »

PunchyHamster wrote: post #366
cmos wrote: post #142

What if we regulate batteries even more? i.e. what if, in some magical perfect world, the world get's together and agrees on batteries for phones like how we agree on AA,AAA,D,C batteries? Even more though.. a standard connector, a standard comms bus, a variety of sizes, and they were designed for reuse as efficiently as possible. Now we can scale up volume, swap them out, be free to purchase from a different manufac…

Phones would be hard because manufacturers want to fill every square mm of it, but we can start with power tools batteries...

Power tools have lots of empty space in the battery case already, and most just use 18650s. We could mandate making the cells directly reachable.

Phones are definitely a more difficult use case.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#419

Post by Samson_Corwell »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #85
Bad_CRC wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what about if 4 years they says that they have dettected a problem in your battery? A new battery should fix that but now you cannot do it properly because it could do 1000 cycles. This same thing happened to Pixels 6a after 500 cycles.

Then don’t buy a phone from a company with a piss poor record of customer service. Just looking in maps, there are three Apple Stores within a 45 minute drive from where I live in central Florida. The situation is worse in my hometown in South GA admittedly, you have to drive 70 miles for same day service for an authorized repair place - mostly Best Buy.

> Then don’t buy a phone from a company with a piss poor record of customer service.

That is not an argument.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#420

Post by philistine »

Alive-in-2025 wrote: post #332
nicpottier wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think phone manufacturers will figure it out once it is a requirement. Was switching everyone to USB-C annoying for Apple? Sure. Are we in a better place because the EU forced it. You betcha. That's the point. I don't love everything the EU does (cookie banners!?) but this is one where I have confidence that the consumer will ultimately benefit. As others have noted, most people do not replace their phones every tw…

I also want headphone jacks back - which I'm sure will be less popular here than batteries. We used to have waterproof phones with both. I'm not sure about the rules around required ability but I'd like that too

Every phone should have a SCSI port with an included terminator in the box.
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