Friday, June 16th 2023
EU Approves New Regulation for Smartphone Batteries - Must be User-Replaceable by 2027
The European Parliament has greenlit new rules relating to battery technologies that are likely to cause headaches for smartphone manufacturers (in particular). The organization published their summary of this environmentally conscious and sustainable strategy on June 14: "Parliament approved new rules for the design (on Wednesday), production and waste management of all types of batteries (including non-replaceable types) sold in the EU. With 587 votes in favor, nine against and 20 abstentions, MEPs endorsed a deal reached with the Council to overhaul EU rules on batteries and waste batteries. The new law takes into account technological developments and future challenges in the sector and will cover the entire battery life cycle, from design to end-of-life."
The section for portable device batteries (for smartphones, tablets and cameras) outlines new consumer rights, with a demand for easily removable and replaceable (DIY) cells. Smartphone manufacturers including market leaders Apple and Samsung will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out ways to reformat how their batteries are mounted and connected internally. Plenty of devices have their units sealed behind protective layers, requiring specialist tools and varying levels of user expertise to access and remove in a safe manner. The European Council has more work to do following their starter announcement: "(We) will now have to formally endorse the text before its publication in the EU Official Journal shortly after and its entry into force." News outlets have interpreted that these provisional rulings will go into effect by early 2027, but they also anticipate that big time players could appeal for extensions beyond that window.
Sources:
Android Police, PC Magazine UK, European Parliament
The section for portable device batteries (for smartphones, tablets and cameras) outlines new consumer rights, with a demand for easily removable and replaceable (DIY) cells. Smartphone manufacturers including market leaders Apple and Samsung will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out ways to reformat how their batteries are mounted and connected internally. Plenty of devices have their units sealed behind protective layers, requiring specialist tools and varying levels of user expertise to access and remove in a safe manner. The European Council has more work to do following their starter announcement: "(We) will now have to formally endorse the text before its publication in the EU Official Journal shortly after and its entry into force." News outlets have interpreted that these provisional rulings will go into effect by early 2027, but they also anticipate that big time players could appeal for extensions beyond that window.
125 Comments on EU Approves New Regulation for Smartphone Batteries - Must be User-Replaceable by 2027
The banking apps cry safety when they just mean control. "Yes, my device is rooted and I fully ackowledge the risks [...]" SHould be a checkbox on every such app without it needing magiskhide, shamiko and hacks/workarounds. Google isnt helping, actually making it harder to spoof a "legit" vs rooted phone, as if my rooted device is somehow compromised by default just because I can access way more of it than I was supposed to. But with some effort it is possible to do. Not with apple.
I understand not everybody does root and flash and even compile and customize their own android from source. But you should be free to use your hardware as you see fit. Problem with apple: you actually can't unless you're capable of reverse engineering feats that are beyond most people. Those chips are locked down hard at the firmware/hardware level. You don't own your phone. It's just a timed lease for an upfront payment or installments that self destructs by means of planned obsolescence.
Perhaps the open phones will get better and cheaper and android or iOS will no longer hold a duopoly
I have a couple of old phones sitting around doing nothing because their batteries are shot, but I'm pretty sure I can still find uses for them if they had good batteries. The cameras, sensors, and speakers, memory, screens, and all the other things that encompass a smartphone are just sitting there unused.
The one with a Snapdragon 820 has an IR blaster, so it could be used as a remote. It also has unused storage space.
The one with a Snapdragon 845 would be good for emulating games, frankly has a better screen than my current daily driver iPhone, and has even more unused storage space.
Edit: The latest software patches are good to have, but they're not a necessity to use your phone, either.
Which has killed 2 of my last 5 phone's, wireless charging and removable battery s with a screen protector might make my phone last many years, which would be nice, surfin phones and texts don't require new tech often at all.
The bigger problem is that it's hard to make other component accessible without droping the IP rating below that. The Fairphone 4 is fully repairable and have a IP 54 rating.This game is exactly that :laugh:
The goal is to reach the moon by piling trash you gather on each level of the game. It's pointing a lot of problem of our society, even the human that you met say funny thing. There's an annoucer on the city that say thing like "working hard make you happy" thing like that :laugh:.
It's a really fun game with a simple but fun gameplay that i can easily recommend.
Btw, is EU not whole Europe ;)
People's desire for replaceable batteries will fall by the wayside fast when their only options are Linux phones and Chinese Baidu knockoffs
Apple: 95 billions net income in Europe, while 60 billions in EU only. Suuure, they will boycott all right :laugh:
Like I said before, people will not care about USB-C when presented with the options that will exist sans iPhone, especially!!! said politicians that voted for it.
I say the biggest thing we might see come from this is an iPhone iFat version and Samsung Galaxy Thick. Exclusives just for the EU.
The user habit bit is that Apple will delay charging past 80% based on user charging habits. Say they charge overnight every night, the phone will delay going past 80% until before you wake up and get the phone to 100% just as you wake up.
My work MacBook Pro is usually plugged in and it likes to hang at 75-80% but will occasionally charge to 100% and then run back down to 75-80% to keep the battery exercised. That's nice but I marginally prefer Dell's BIOS option of min and max charge that I just set to 50% and 85% respectively, so it just cycles between those with my regular use. I just wish I didn't need to reboot to BIOS to change it.
We don't serve these companies. They serve us with their products. We're under no obligation to buy whatever piece of trash they come up with, rightfully proven by said regulation.
What you surmise happening would be a historical first.Why would you throw away a perfectly good phone? Also why are taking away repair jobs for a process that is fairly cheap and straightforward. Iphones last 5+ years same battery regularly no problem.
Exactly. It's up to Apple to decide how they want to market their product and if the consumer does not purchase it then the market will dictate change, not a group of people telling said company how to make their product to then sell back to them.
My Galaxy S6 lasted me 3 years before its battery died. I've gone through 2 other phones since then. If that battery hadn't died, I would still have the S6, because it's a fine phone otherwise. Now tell me this isn't wasteful.There's just one small problem. Do you see any phone with a replaceable battery these days? I don't, but I would love to. Sometimes companies go way overboard with their bullshit, and consumers need to be defended. This is one such case.
Edit: Why do you put so much trust in a company (any company) whose only purpose to exist is to take your money?