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.
  • @[email protected]
    29•2 years ago

    FANTASTIC. I’m just disappointed that it’s as far away as 2027 and not 2024 or 2025 :(

    Edit: Oh, I just read this part

    By 2027, all phones released in the EU must have a battery the user can easily replace with no tools or expertise.

    So…I’m sure us North Americans will still get screwed with nonreplaceable batteries :(

    • ReclipseOP
      10•2 years ago

      Companies would need some time to redesign their products.

    • NickwithaC
      10•2 years ago

      Well some GDPR implementations did make it across the pond for the sake of simplicity so I imagine this might go the same way.

      • @[email protected]
        7•2 years ago

        In the case of GDPR it is not just for simplicity. It’s because companies that operate in the EU need to provide those protections to all EU citizens, even those across the pond. You cannot check if someone is an EU citizen so if you operate in the EU you effectively need to treat everyone like an EU citizen.

      • @[email protected]
        5•2 years ago

        don’t underestimate the greed of capitalism (re: making two different devices for EU and NA markets)

    • darkduck77
      7•2 years ago

      Not really as a design change as drastic as user exchangeable batteries means phone companies would probably rather adopt a unified design (removable batteries) than a region based design

    • Redex
      4•2 years ago

      2027 is actually pretty early for such a dramatic change, and somewhere I heard that it’s all phones sold, if that’s the case (i.e. you can’t sell old models if they don’t have easily replaceable batteries) than that is a really early date for such a law.