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.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is that this will inevitably make batteries smaller.
If you are supposed to be able to open the phone and remove the battery manufacturers need to design a way to remove the cover, shield other components, create a compartment for the battery, and use sturdier batteries. All of those things take us space. Manufacturers aren’t just going to make phones thicker so that physical space has to be eaten by something… and it’s going to be the battery.
I really liked having a removable battery on my phone 10 years ago in case I had a particularly long/intensive day. But now that I make it through a day without worry this could actually be sorta annoying.
I mean, I use a fairphone (with removable battery) and in a normal day it can go a whole day without going below 20%. And even if I don’t comsider ot too much of a hassle bringing an external battery for recharge with me when I know I’m gonna use it a lot or will not have time to recharge during the night.
To add, I think the batter capacity of a fairphone is 3905 mAh while eg Pixel 7 has 4355 so the diff is only ~10%
If I can replace a battery without throwing away the phone, I’d definitely be OK with 10% battery reduction
If we are gonna get removable batteries there needs to be a standard battery format so that each company won’t have its own special battery design. One battery design for all devices. This way the battery will work in whichever phone you put it in.
On the surface that sounds good, but wouldn’t that put a hamper on battery innovation?
I don’t believe so. A battery standard would specify the interface, not the actual battery design from a technical standpoint. It would specify:
The rest is up to the battery manufacturer and is completely open to innovation. You want to put a Li-ion battery in there? Just make it the right shape and as long as it can provide the output required, it’s fine. Want some future-tech fusion battery? As long as it’s the right shape and puts out the required power!
Usb is a de-facto standard and are we still using usb 1.1?
sure, but we’re at a point with battery chemistry where that no longer really matters that much. the fairphone 4 is already at 3900 mAh and with both phone electronics constantly getting smaller and battery chemistry improving, it’s highly likely that this year’s fairphone 5 will not only crack the 4000 mAh barrier but fly past it. with a modern mid-range soc (which is really all you need to have a smooth experience outside of games) it’ more than enough to get you through the day with a good margin to spare. and that’s already a user-servicable design that no doubt guided eu legislature on this issue.
Waterproofing will also become more difficult
Do you think this mandate will also impede ip68/etc water resistance certifications?
9 years ago the galaxy S5 had a removeable battery and was ip67 rated. I’d bet it’s doable.
That was one of the last “jack of all trades” phones. It literally had everything. I loved it
It was so nice having a 3.5mm jack
Fine print will probably say if you don’t replace the seal when replacing the battery, or get it professionally changed, your warranty is void.
this fine print is illegal in lots of countries (including the USA) by the way.
Do you have any source to that? Manufacturer saying “replace the rubber seal which blocks water when you replace the battery, else you’re operating the device incorrectly and thus caused avoidable damage, and warranty is now void,” sounds ok and legal to me. It’d be similar to leaving your battery door literally open then you complain water got in.
https://www.ifixit.com/News/74736/warranty-void-stickers-are-illegal-in-the-us-what-about-elsewhere
Here you go, fellow internet user.
edit: the problem with this is that companies won’t listen to the law because they know that you probably won’t sue them, and even if you do sue them they don’t care because they will receive a slap in the wrist.
edit2: Also, fuck, it is only illegal in the USA.
I don’t think they’re referring to something like a “rubber seal”, I think they mean these things:
Ah, they mentioned replacing a rubber seal. I was assuming a gasket to keep out water, not a warranty sticker.
Ah I see they did say seal. I still read it as one of these stickers, but reading it as gasket seems sensible too.
Not really, I have a chinese ip68 certified phone (and actually tested it, no water got in) and the battery is replaceable