Sunday, September 4th 2022
The EU Proposes New Mobile Device Regulation to Extend Product Life Time
Around 20 years ago, most people replaced their phones on a yearly basis in some countries, largely due to the fact that if you signed the right mobile service contract, you got a free phone. These days, it's not nearly as common to get a free device with your service, but then again, mobile service contracts also tend to cost much less these days in many countries. As such, people retain their devices longer, which has put the device upgrade cycle somewhere around the two or three year mark. Now the EU is proposing new regulations that will force the mobile device makers to re-think the current status quo, as the European Commission regulators are considering asking mobile device makers to offer not just better battery life, but also spare part availability for as long as five years after a device was launched.
When it comes to battery life, the EU Commission is intending to offer the device manufacturers two options. The first is that they'll have to offer batteries that can deliver 83 percent of their rated capacity after 500 charging cycles, followed by 80 percent capacity after 1000 charging cycles. Alternatively, they can offer replacement batteries and phone back covers to its end-user customers, so they can replace their batteries once the batteries no longer hold charge that meets the owners expectations.
The spare parts program is tied to "professional repairers" which suggests that third party repair shops will be on the table. The manufacturers will have to provide key parts, such as batteries, displays, cameras, charging ports, mechanical buttons, microphones, speakers and hinge assemblies for a period of at least five years. End consumers should also be given access to replacement displays, as well as SIM and memory card trays, microphones, charging ports and hinge mechanisms, for a time period of at least seven years from the last marketing day of the device. This suggests that phone parts could be available for some eight to nine years after a new model has been introduced.
Furthermore, the EU Commission is proposing at least five years of security updates and three years of "functionality updates". However, these updates should be seen as an extension to the current OS updates and security patches, which should see most phone makers having to offer updates well beyond the two or three years we're seeing from most Android device makers today. The EU is currently collecting feedback on its proposal and anyone can submit comments until the 28th of September. If the EU Commission decides to go ahead with the proposal, it's not expected to be approved until sometime in the fourth quarter of this year and it's unlikely to be written into law until the end of 2023.
Sources:
the EU Commission, via Arstechnica
When it comes to battery life, the EU Commission is intending to offer the device manufacturers two options. The first is that they'll have to offer batteries that can deliver 83 percent of their rated capacity after 500 charging cycles, followed by 80 percent capacity after 1000 charging cycles. Alternatively, they can offer replacement batteries and phone back covers to its end-user customers, so they can replace their batteries once the batteries no longer hold charge that meets the owners expectations.
Furthermore, the EU Commission is proposing at least five years of security updates and three years of "functionality updates". However, these updates should be seen as an extension to the current OS updates and security patches, which should see most phone makers having to offer updates well beyond the two or three years we're seeing from most Android device makers today. The EU is currently collecting feedback on its proposal and anyone can submit comments until the 28th of September. If the EU Commission decides to go ahead with the proposal, it's not expected to be approved until sometime in the fourth quarter of this year and it's unlikely to be written into law until the end of 2023.
82 Comments on The EU Proposes New Mobile Device Regulation to Extend Product Life Time
With each new OS version your device gets slower, more storage and RAM is consumed in exchange for no performance gain. I always find it amazing how many years ago a smartphone with only 512Mb of ram running Android 4.0 was as responsive as a actual device with 4GB running the latest version of Android.
Also;
Do they come with an insurance policy that covers the costs of incidents, including the cost of cleanup or paying for required regulatory changes to help ensure no nuclear accidents?
How about suprise visits from the IAEA?
Is there a way to lessen these occurences or at least a step-by-step guide on how to deal with them when they do show up on your doorstep in their protective suits?
And is a basic anti-nuclear meltdown kit included?
If none of the above applies I'll pass.
It's not a battery in the traditional sense and it'll run out of juice at some point in the distant future, but the theory has been proven to work.
They are on the other hand, useless for consumer applications, but could be used in things like ultra low-power sensors.
On the hardware side tough...
"Targeted performances are:
Gravimetric energy density ≥ 1’000 Wh/kg (Gen 4)
Volumetric energy density ≥ 1’500 Wh/l
Power capability ≈ 12.000 W/kg
Cycle life ≥ 1’000 at 1 C
Operational temperature -20 °C to 60 °C
Production energy consumption from raw material to finished cell: 15 kWh el/1 kWh c"
www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmorris/2022/04/02/sulfur-battery-technology-could-make-electric-cars-go-three-times-further-by-2024/?sh=5266d1af7eed
www.theion.de/#focus
A good step ahead (or back, depending how you look at things).
Apple had a program that will give you a free replacement just to get you off 3G service, I think military service was a part of that, IDK I was too excited to pay attention to that. :cool:
The battery life is about the same if not a tad better than the iphone6, not enough to notice right away.
Manufacturer internal test programs target 1000 cycles as a norm for years. On practice it really matches the real life situation cycle count does not represent real ASOC status. Degradation happens only when the battery really is faulty from a bad batch. For example Sony does use one model of battery for their entire lineup for few years already, let it be entry level shit XQ-BT52 or flagship XQ-BC52 example. So what's so premium here? It ain't what it was a decade ago. Everything changed actually after the Note9 accidents, the race for energy density stopped after that as a side product life span has increased gradually.
As I said, mature phone makers already have all things covered. If you willing into invest into risk with some infant makers from PRC, that's your own bet and blame only yourselves, EU won't have any power over those as those will just turn to gray market, and those are a concern really.