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[EU] It's official: Smartphones will need to have replaceable batteries by 2027
(www.androidauthority.com)
this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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The no tools part seems a bit extreme. So a manufacturer can't use a few standard screws to keep things in place?
They seemed to be just fine with the snap on backs before, hell they even made water resistant phones with snap on backs and removable batteries.
"Common" tools are allowed. So a small phillips head for example. Or a basic lever to pry the back off.
"Specialised" tools are also allowed if the tool is included in the box (sim tray ejector pins are a good example of how that might work).
Strictly speaking, the latest iPhones do have “user replaceable” batteries... but the tools are never going to be included with every phone:
AFAIK it allows the use of common tools or specialized tools (as long as they are provided free of charge) and a layperson can accomplish the repair.
Edit: Source - First PDF link on the page
Apple will be as petty with this as they were with the usb c ruling. I guarantee it.
Imagine they just invent a battery less phone to spite the ruling, but then that’d be one less consumable component.
My guess would be DRM locked batteries with jacked up pricing and a lifespan counter that disables the battery after a set period of time regardless of whether or not it still has life left in it, basically the printer ink model.
Was hoping it wouldn’t be phrased that way. That’s going to make phones less waterproof and significantly reduce the battery capacity or increase the size.
I’d be much more happy with a screwdriver and sliding the lid off, disconnecting a connector that’s made available for end user fiddling, swapping in the new battery and then putting it back in.
On the other hand I hope manufacturers find a way. This might open up for bigger batteries where the battery is basically the outside of the phone and you just wrap it in a case.
Actually, thinking about it - external batteries might be the solution to waterproofness.
This will likely also see a rise in cheap knockoff batteries catching fire. It’s not unprecedented, and people are like “a battery is a battery”. Well, they aren’t.
Will be interesting to see how this is handled.
The last time I heard phone batteries catching fire was the Samsung Note 7 and those weren't user replacable. There's a lot of fearmongering on what you wrote, it almost sounds like a script the manufacturers' lobby would write to avoid this legislation. Are you really assuming the EU doesn't have laws and safety regulations for Li-ion batteries et al.?
I don’t think Ali express does. Not trying to “fear monger”, but it’s an issue today, it’s just not interesting to report on due to Note 7 and people got used to reading about it so it doesn’t generate clicks anymore.
I honestly just feel like I was stating the obvious ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Not seeing it as a huge problem, just that it’s going to increase.
The Samsung one made the news because they're a reputable manufacturer. But less reputable ones have fires all the time and it doesn't make the news.
In less than a full year, just New York City alone had 174 fires, 93 injuries and three deaths. All caused by batteries catching fire.
Also... while I support user replaceable batteries it's definitely going to cause problems. In my (small) city two garbage trucks caught fire just last week - both of them were batteries that had been thrown in the trash, then crushed inside the truck. They were forced to dump a full load of trash in the middle of the road wherever they happened to be driving and it took hours to put out the fire. Everyone ignores the warning sticker telling you to dispose of them properly.
My galaxy s5 was waterproof and had a removable battery by popping off the back case. They can manage.
If those batteries are being sold in the EU they would still have to meet EU requirements. This might be an issue if people go to buy them from places like aliexpress or something like that though.
That said, phones were available for years and years with replaceable batteries. Don't think I ever really heard of any of them catching fire before the Note 7 issues, and those were related to the phone not giving the batteries enough room to expand/contract, wasn't it?
Plenty of cases before the note 7, just that it feels like they stopped reporting on it since the note 7.
The note 7 batteries had manufacturing defects so they short circuited internally. Having been given more room they would still have caught fire.