All smartphones, including iPhones, must have replaceable batteries by 2027 in the EU

Comments

• cordlesslamp@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Apple in 2027: This is not a battery, it’s a…umm … Ultra High Density Low Current Super Capacitor.

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  • dodslaser@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    EU: Ok, then in addition to that UHDLCSC you also need a removable battery.

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    • cyberpunk_sunbear@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Yay! Another dongle!

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    • ciko22i3@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      they’ll find a place to shove one of these

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• 2tone@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I came across this insane opinion piece the other day: laptopmag.com/…/mind-eurown-business-for-the-sake…

  It’s so surreal, it feels satirical

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  • can@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Say, “We at Apple, Think Different.” and refuse to be shepherded into the flock with the likes of the dirty android heathens. You can’t give in so easily. First, they’ll take your Lightning ports, then they’ll take your internal battery and IP68 rating, and before you know it, they’ll take your blue iMessage bubble too.

    At that point, why even bother? You might as well throw a Qualcomm Snapdragon in the next iPhone and call it a day. Congratulations Apple, you have the best UI of any Android phone on the market.

    What the actual fuck?

    You swear this isn’t satire?

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    • neshura@bookwormstory.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      and before you know it, they’ll take your blue iMessage bubble too

      Nobody tell this guy what the EU’s Digital Markets Act means for Apple and iMessage…

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  • Bogasse@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I love how higher IP rating is always the argument, it looks like everybody in this planet is doing daily deep diving and needs its smartphone to do that 😅

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    • narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Phones with IP67 or even IP68 exist with easily replaceable batteries.

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    • Thorny_Thicket@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      My Galaxy XCover 6Pro has a removable battery (and headphone jack) and is ip68 rated

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    • RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You’d think they’d figure out a way to have those high IP ratings and have removable batteries (they have afaik)

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  • sky@codesink.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Are you sure it isn’t satire? I prefer to believe it is.

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  • Tuggles@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I… Couldn’t even make it through the whole article. Absolutely insane.

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  • smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Looking at this guy’s other articles, unfortunetly it does not feel as satire.

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  • InvertedParallax@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Man, Tim Apple sounds pissed.

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  • Fish@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    ‘it feels satirical’

    That’s because it is satire.

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• Rayuza@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  All we need now is a headphone jack

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  • madcaesar@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    We need SD cards more. They removed them so they can charge you 300 $ to upgrade 128gb and to force you into shitty cloud service.

    Again, just anti consumer bullshit spearheaded by Apple and gargled by Samsung.

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    • el_bhm@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I have flashbacks to using external storage on Android. It was such a shit show of an API. That being said, external storage, to break away from cloud storage is the next needed thing. We need to own the data.

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    • chaircat@lemdro.id ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Again, just anti consumer bullshit spearheaded by Apple and gargled by Samsung.

      Samsung was actually one of the later Android manufacturers to drop it is my recollection.

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    • LatteWiiU@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Agreed

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  • KCN@feddit.it ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Definitely. Never understood why some manufacturers removed jacks

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    • sebinspace@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I personally prefer my bluetooth headphones, but it’s not like bluetooth and jacks can’t exist on the same device…

      Plus, pairing bluetooth in a car can be annoying as fuck. Looking at you, Nissan

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    • Psiczar@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Headphone jacks are a 19th century invention, if having them restricts innovation then I am all for removing them.

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    • samsy@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      The argument was saving space for other parts. That’s true in a way. But if things needed we should have this space. What’s next? Saving the space of the charger? /s

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  • FireWire400@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I’d be almost ready to say that we don’t need them any more if Bluetooth headphones were about 100x better and cheaper

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    • T156@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      At the same time, wired earphones/headphones are already just as good with a lot less parts/complexity.

      You don’t need batteries, radios, and chips for coding/decoding a signal coming out of a headphone jack. You can just plumb it straight into the speakers. No need to mess with controls and all of that, which would make them a lot cheaper.

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    • cjthomp@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Still too much lag. I love my QC45s, but there’s still just enough lag to bother me

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    • briongloid@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Bluetooth 5+ definitely made wired headphones obsolete for me.

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    • raptir@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Bluetooth headphones are solid now, as long as you have something that supports aptx HD and LL (HD for music, LL for movies/games). But yeah they’re not cheap.

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• luthis@lemmy.nz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  It will also likely mean easier repairs. Louis Rossman just did a video on this

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  • shinjiikarus@mylem.eu ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    This. People read this and think about the removable batteries of Nokia bricks and plastic hardshells, but this would really hamper with IP68 rating. It probably just means the users must be able to replace the battery themselves, instead of artificially locking it down with DRM. And maybe provide some documentation. Otherwise phones would become so much worse, than they have been for more than a decade.

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    • luthis@lemmy.nz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Louis was saying ‘Does everyone have collective amnesia?? We had IP68 phones with removable batteries already!’

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• Thorny_Thicket@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  My current device and the two before that all have had removable batteries. I’ve always thought built in batteries are stupid and it’s nice to finally notice that other people agree. Hopefully they next mandate that it has to be able to be taken apart with a screwdriver and spare parts must be able to be purchased straight from the manufacturer.

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  • June@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I prefer ip68 to easily accessible battery. I’ll need to change my battery maybe once every 3 years, but I need to know it can handle moisture far more often than that.

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    • Thorny_Thicket@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I prefer ip68 to easily accessible battery

      You can have both. My Galaxy XCover 6Pro is ip68 rated.

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    • smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Can be done with screws and rubber seal, no need for glue and glass.

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    • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I prefer ip68 to easily accessible battery.

      All it needs is that little rubber band, and you have to handle it carefully when closing the lid.

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    • afunkysongaday@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Passt those Brands are not your friends and might lie about their reasons to make batteries non-removable.

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    • exu@feditown.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Any moderately well built phone won’t die just because you took it out in the rain.

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    • Coffeemonkepants@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I have a handheld marine vhf radio with a removable battery that I can throw in the ocean and it will work and continue to work for days. Don’t believe the bs the manufacturers tell you.

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  • rab@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Ya the only reason I get new phones is because the battery gets too weak. I could easily keep the same device for 5+ years if I could swap batteries

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    • ShittyRedditWasBetter@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You can. It cost $15 every three years to have someone replace the battery for you or you can spend the hour doing it yourself.

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  • bric@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Hopefully they next mandate that it has to be able to be taken apart with a screwdriver

    It does include that, mostly. It says that any tools that aren’t commonly available without proprietary rights or restrictions (i.e. screwdrivers) have to be provided by the manufacturers free of charge

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• lolcatnip@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Stand back everyone, I’m going to attempt nuance.

  Industrial design is about tradeoffs. Making the battery easily replaceable will come with drawbacks. Maybe it’ll be size, or water resistance, or durability, but something will have to be compromised. The extent of the compromises remains to be seen, and people will have different opinions about whether it’s worth it.

  Ordinarily I’m not a fan of regulators making product design decisions, because that’s exactly the kind of thing market forces are supposed to be good at. In this case, though, there’s a demand that’s clearly not being met, and companies clearly have a vested interest in pushing consumers toward replacing their old hardware rather than repairing it, which creates externalities markets are unable to account for. Market failures like this are exactly the kind of situation where government regulation is needed.

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  • Bongles@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Maybe it’ll be size, or water resistance, or durability, but something will have to be compromised.

    definitely size at the least. We’ll probably have to go back to removable backs so I imagine water proofing will be difficult without adding at least a little size.

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  • vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    If by size you mean it’s going to become fatter, I’m all for it. PSP Slim was basically as slim as I need for things which go into my pocket. Laptops don’t, so these can be twice fatter than that.

    About “market failures” … This particular “market failure” is strongly connected to patent law, which cuts down most of the potential competition. So maybe it’s not a “market failure” at all if you have monopolies and oligopolies because of patents. Because patent law is not a market mechanism, obviously.

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  • Isycius@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Considering Samsung during their cost cutting days designed Galaxy Xcover Pro 2 without drawback just fine, I think everyone will be able to do it without drawback just fine as well.

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• Blackmist@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Coming soon from Apple. Screws that require a 4D tesseract shaped screwdriver to undo.

  But if you can undo them, feel free to change the battery.

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  • PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I’m sure apple will happily sell you the proprietary tool to turn their proprietary screws for a very reasonable price.

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• Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  It’s NOT just phones.

  It’s EVERYTHING with a battery. Including cars, laptops, e-bikes, video game controllers, headphones etc.

  And they must be (with a few exceptions) replacable by a “layman”, without the use of special tools - which means no heat pads, to soften up glue etc etc. (and for gods sake, i hope it also means apple can’t hardwareID lock a battery)

  an exception mentioned in the EU document about the law says, high power batteries for example in an electric car, must be done by a profesional - but of course it still has to be “replacable” and not… tear the whole car apart and rebuild it using new batteries.

  replacable batteries in headphones, bluetooth mice, laptops etc, is gonna be awesome.

  in fact, i will try to hold on replacing my current (2 year old) phone, and wait to get one before 2027. Usually the battery turns to shit in 3ish years.

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  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I’m having a hard time finding the actual regulation text with all these details. Anyone have that?

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  • zpiritual@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The cars will be fun to see unfold considering new EV platforms have them integrated straight into the platform the chassis is built upon.

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    • keefshape@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Not so much new. Has been on the road map for years. More like disgusting.

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  • MrSilkworm@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    You could buy fairphone if you don’t want to wait and your battery can’t handle it anymore

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    • keefshape@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Also if you want to be blocked by banking apps

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• giant_smeeg@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Honestly good. Usb C is so good.

  I have a couple of 100w chargers around the house, no messing about can charge nearly everything at full speed.

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• phillaholic@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  You can already replace your own iPhone battery without any technical expertise. I hope the law is more specific than that, because there are many things OEMs can do to comply and still make it a giant pain in the ass to do.

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  • SnowdenHeroOfOurTime@unilem.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    You can already replace your own iPhone battery without any technical expertise.

    Press x to doubt. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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    • transistor@lemdro.id ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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  • Reverendender@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Can you, though? No, you can’t. Its really hard to get right and super easy to fuck up. Source: Me.

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    • phillaholic@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      So is changing out any part on your car. It remains to be seen how this is applied.

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  • Thorny_Thicket@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Most people can’t put on a screen protector properly. I wouldn’t perhaps go as far as claiming replacing iPhone battery takes no technical expertise. It’s not hard but not quite easy either. In the case of iPhone there’s also that even if you do it properly the device still detects it’s not the original Apple approved battey so they limit functions on your phone such as battery health, true tone etc. New MacBooks does this aswell.

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    • phillaholic@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      They probably need additional legislation to stop companies from locking down products when non own parts are used.

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  • FlyingSquid@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    With my shaky hands and clumsiness? I’d kill my phone just by touching the innards.

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  • lolcatnip@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Technical expertise includes really basic things like being comfortable using a screwdriver on delicate equipment. Lots of people lack that level of expertise.

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• KrisND@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Not a bad idea but there are flaws and this also doesn’t seem to address the issue of pricing or availability.

  • So you can remove the battery, will you be able to buy one.
  • They could prevent 3rd parties from making batteries that work.
  • They could just not sell battery replacements.
  • They could add more parts needed, like seals, screws that strip too easily, that annoying sticky tape etc.

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  • BastingChemina@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The your last point the text specify that batteries can be safely removed and replaced using “basic and commonly available tools” and “without causing damage to the appliance or batteries.”

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    • KrisND@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Yes, with basic and common tools. Doesn’t mean they have to be of quality, cheap metal screws for example. Hopefully not the case but it’d be annoying.

      For example if they opt for the screw method, over the pop-off back (which I’d prefer). There will be screws to remove, most likely a gasket to replace, tape or something that ensures the battery doesn’t move around etc.

      Even with current battery replacements, there is more parts then just the battery during the replacement. And of course “without causing damage” except if you have to remove the back that is glass and knock it off the table, that’s a +1 for apple, same if you loose a tiny screw or something else that is 1/1000 chance but Apple still makes money.

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  • aard@kyu.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    We already have regulations about spare parts availability and pricing for some devices (mainly household appliances) - and it is planned to slowly enforce regulation for other device types over time. They’ll watch the market, and if apple decides to be stupid that’ll come pretty quickly.

    Just like with the appliances where some vendors had their shops ready way before regulation we already have some phone vendors prepare for that - like Nokia selling some spares via ifixit. So if apple decides to play stupid games it’ll be up against vendors that’ll be completely fine pushing regulation through quickly as hurting apple will only benefit them.

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    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I had a washing machine where the price of the replacement motherboard (ludicrous this is this even a thing, btw) was triple the price of the entire washing machine.

      Making parts available doesn’t make it realistic to repair stuff.

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  • dsmk@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Is the glass half full or half empty? For you, I guess it’s half empty.

    Rules can be updated and tightened if needed. This is a good step, another could be taken if they don’t play nice.

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  • Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    This insufferable shit is exhausting

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• FlyingSquid@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  This needs to be true of notebooks too. I love my 2015 Macbook Air, but the battery lasts about five minutes and I use it way too much to take the time to get it replaced. Especially when it’s old enough to not be supported soon. But if I could just spend $50 and replace the battery myself without fucking things up, which I totally would as things stand now, I would be able to use it without keeping it plugged in all the time like I used to.

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• LakesLem@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Pesky EU throwing their weight around giving consumers more rights! --Brexiteer logic

  Oh well hopefully we’ll still benefit from it. Easier to design one phone than “EU” and “Rest of world” versions after all.

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• LemmyWinks666@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Honestly, I’m all for it if it means bringing back ridiculously sized phone batteries with huge bumps that can act as a finger shelf. My note 2 with a 4200mah battery was a beast in 2013.

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• Moc@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  So tempted to wait until 2027 to buy my next iPhone

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• xePBMg9@lemmynsfw.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  They should also demand unlocked boot loaders and open drivers for all devices. That or steep penalties if they don’t support the devices for at least 10 years. We should have manuals and specifications for every component, really. We really need to reduce waste.

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• 5BC2E7@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I think apple will comply by including a dongle battery that can be replaced but no one will actually carry with their phone

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• ineedaunion@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  EU citizenship is a dream.

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• Henry@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  EU: All smartphones must has the ability to load Android, including iPhones.

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• squidzorz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  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, or proprietary tools, thermal energy or solvents 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.

  I’m glad they got specific. I wonder where Apple’s self-service battery replacement program falls under this? AFAIK it’s not free. They charge a fee to rent the specialized tools, which are also proprietary.

  This gives Apple a few choices:

  1. Make the tools commercially available, but at an astronomical price in typical Apple fashion
  2. Make the tools commercially available at a normal consumer price (unlikely)
  3. Make the self-service battery replacement program free (most likely, but will require a significant revision to the tools used since they are industrial-grade)

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• 666dollarfootlong@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Looking forward to seeing If companies will just do the bare minimum to pass or if we’ll see some actual innovation. It would be cool to be able to buy spare batteries, that are quick to replace and easy to carry around along with a charging station or something so you can always have a full battery with you.

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• Squander@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  EU is killing it right now. Charging port regulation and now removable batteries in everything. If companies are forced to produce different models for the EU maybe just maybe it will be cost effective to just make all their phones with removable batteries. One can hope, cause you know the US wont pass that type of consumer protection regulation.

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• smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Can’t want to be able to buy used phone and just pop in new battery. Still we need a law to allow easier mobile operating systems development for third-parties.

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• joel_feila@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Now will companies also offer this in the usa or will they have 2 models for sale

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• Polymath@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I tried Ctrl+F searching to see whether anyone here had pasted the link to the law, and didn’t find anything, so I went to Presearch and found this, which appears to be the official European Union log for it, and has attached PDFs at the end with what seem to be the nitty-gritty for further reading…

  …europa.eu/…/council-adopts-new-regulation-on-bat…

  If I’ve found an errant page that just looks official, please link something better for those looking for the legalese

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• Gnubyte@lemdit.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I see something like this every few years.EU has to make a fine so heavy that it’s impossible to just pay as a tax of doing business.

  Unless that’s all it really is.

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• revs@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  When Apple want to, they can design amazing things. So I look forward to see if they come up with a clever Apple-like way to do this. Or maybe they just make it easier to remove the back.

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• UnD3Rgr0uNDCL0wN@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Thank god we left the EU ^(ahhhh fucking hell)^

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• saltedFish@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I’m afraid they will still find ways to make replacements expensive

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• Teritz@feddit.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Waterprood Devuces do not need a Changeable Batterie because its a Loophole in the Paper

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