Do you miss phones with replaceable batteries? By 2027, you won't anymore because, by law, almost every smartphone will have them again.

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.
  • drathvedro
    13·
    1 year ago

    Yeah, exactly that. It’s a lot easier than it sounds. I was surprised myself on my first try, then it a few more times. But even if you’re not comfortable doing it, I don’t know how it is in your place, but in my hometown there are tiny repair shops in every mall and every corner in between, that could do this for you in less than an hour. Most of those shops jobs are not batteries, though, nor screens, but broken usb ports, and you can’t make those swappable :(

    • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
      5·
      1 year ago

      Replacing the battery on my LG G4:

      Remove the back. Then remove the battery.

    • damnYouSun@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      1 year ago

      That is way more complicated than not should be.

      Why should I put up with that rather than just taken the back off and pop it out?

      • drathvedro
        11·
        1 year ago

        Less weight, less thickness, increased durability, reduced cost.

        The downsides are:

        • You can’t carry spares (Just use a power bank)
        • You’ll have to pay like $30 to swap the battery (You probably never would, worst case scenario is you’d do it twice over phone’s lifetime)
        • damnYouSun@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          1 year ago

          Please explain why a phone would need to weigh more, be less durable and be thicker simply because it has a usable replaceable battery. The battery would surely be the same size and regardless.

          • drathvedro
            21·
            1 year ago

            Sure. A typical pillow battery that is in your phone is bendable, gets damaged easily and is in general a fire hazard. So, to make it usable by consumers it needs to have at least some casing around it. In addition, you effectively need two back covers - one for phone internals and another for the battery. If you’ve had an older phone you know what im talking about. For durability, that’s a bit out of ass but what Ive learned from experience is that durability is not about thick cases and rubber pads, but rather, it’s all about weight - the lighter the phone is the less likely it is to crack from a fall, and all that extra bulk would likely make it more fragile.