All smartphones and iPhones, must have replaceable batteries by 2027 in the EU | Hacker News Reader

All smartphones and iPhones, must have replaceable batteries by 2027 in the EU

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36 pointsthunderbong45 comments

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The Council of the European Union press release: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023...

The text of the regulation: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=consil%3... — some bookmarks:

• skip to page 90 of the English version if you aren't interested in the recitals

• skip to page 107 if you aren't interested in the definitions

• skip to page 127 if you want to know about the removability/replaceability part specifically

Page 127:

Article 11

Removability and replaceability of portable batteries and LMT batteries

1. Any natural or legal person that places on the market products incorporating portable batteries shall ensure that those batteries are readily removable and replaceable by the end-user at any time during the lifetime of the product. That obligation shall only apply to entire batteries and not to individual cells or other parts included in such batteries.

A portable battery shall be considered readily removable by the end-user where it can be removed from a product with the use of commercially available tools, without requiring the use of specialised tools, unless provided free of charge with the product, proprietary tools, thermal energy, or solvents to disassemble the product.

Any natural or legal person that places on the market products incorporating portable batteries shall ensure that those products are accompanied with instructions and safety information on the use, removal and replacement of the batteries. Those instructions and that safety information shall be made available permanently online, on a publicly available website, in an easily understandable way for end-users.

> "Any natural or legal person that places on the market products incorporating portable batteries shall ensure that those batteries are readily removable and replaceable by the end-user at any time during the lifetime of the product. That obligation shall only apply to entire batteries and not to individual cells or other parts included in such batteries."

If printers ink cartridges taught us anything, I'm prepared for chipped spare phone batteries costing as much as 1/2 of the phone.

Apple already does this except increasing the cost they don’t sell factory batteries at all.

That’s incorrect. In some countries, including the USA, Germany andthe UK, you can buy batteries from Apple at https://selfservicerepair.com.

Well, it continues with:

> 7. Any natural or legal person that places on the market products incorporating portable batteries or LMT batteries shall ensure that those batteries are available as spare parts of the equipment that they power for a minimum of five years after placing the last unit of the equipment model on the market, with a reasonable and non-discriminatory price for independent professionals and end-users.

> 8. Software shall not be used to impede the replacement of a portable battery or LMT battery, or of their key components, with another compatible battery or key components.

I missed that, thanks!

Very nice... The EU saving the world again... First with micro USB... Then USB-C and now with replaceable batteries... I think companies could do it before 2027 though

Harming the world more like, by making phones more fragile and less reliable.

How?

It will be very difficult to build a waterproof phone with a user replaceable battery

More materials will be used. People will change batteries that don’t need to be changed, and will buy and carry more batteries than they need. There will be a massive inventory of batteries in the supply chain, many of which will simply age out of their shelf life before ever being useful.

The chances of this being a net gain for the environment are basically zero, but the waste will make money for a bunch of people.

> The chances of this being a net gain for the environment are basically zero, but the waste will make money for a bunch of people.

You mean as opposed to now with locked down serialized batteries requiring special tools to replace? I'm sorry I just cannot understand your point at all.

> I'm sorry I just cannot understand your point at all.

Unnecessary batteries being sold = people profiting from waste.

As opposed to unnessary batteries unable to be reused? Or even the hardware of the devices themselves having a far higher chance of being thrown out in favor of the consumer 'just buying a new one,' as battery replacement costs get more and more prohibitively expensive.

Battery replacements aren’t prohibitively expensive, and iPhone at least don’t get ‘thrown out’ - they get recycled or reconditioned.

Why exactly would people change batteries that don't need to be changed? Phones do have battery health indicators, and buying one costs money. There's no logical reason to change one, until they have degraded significantly. The only difference is that now you can change it more easily yourself, rather than having someone else do it for money, which they will happily do regardless of battery health.

When combined with requirement for longer support with updates, this change in legislation will help creating a healthy second-hand market for more devices. Cheap, non-serviceable Android phones that get updates and are used only for a year or two are the real source of waste, we need a proper second-hand marker for those similar to expensive Apple devices.

> Why exactly would people change batteries that don't need to be changed? Phones do have battery health indicators, and buying one costs money.

You can't seriously be saying you don't understand why people buy things they don't need.

'very difficult'

It's already been done countless times.

Always at a cost.

There were in past samsungs with easy replaceable batteries AND waterproof. The neat part is, with current legislation it could be done better bc it doesn't require hot swapability unlike oledr samsung models. It's not difficult, it's just not in their priorities

yes, because 0,000001% population swim with phones and need water proof...

seriously, splash resistant is more than enough for almost everyone...

Next up needs to be mandated security patches if they really want old devices to have longevity

If a company chooses to stop supporting a device all software/firmware/code related to its functioning should be forced to be made public.

I guess Apple could argue the current iPhone 14 design [1] ( Not iPhone 14 Pro Series ) are already "removable and replaceable by the end-user,". And if not it could be (in their views) quite close to that definition.

[1] iPhone 14 earns a 7/10 score on iFixit thanks to new back assembly

https://www.gsmarena.com/iphone_14_earns_a_7_10_score_on_ifi...

Which honestly in my opinion is fair and I’d be happy with that as long as apple didn’t used proprietary screws and didn’t lock down phones which have user replaced parts in software.

I would not be surprised they may drop the proprietary screws as well.

The iFixit score is primarily about it being replaceable at all, without requiring you to damage other components for example.

A core part of the EU law is that the repair should not require detailed technical expertise or uncommon tools. The current iPhone 13 design is not even remotely close to that. It requires a pentalobe screwdriver, a y000 screwdriver, picks which can only be inserted 3mm, a special clamp, a hairdryer to melt glue, and finally isopropyl alcohol.

The iFixit guide consists of 30 steps, with several warnings about accidentally causing significant damage. That is quite a bit beyond the intended "open battery cover using philips screwdriver" type of repair.

Are there any other design which offer similar if not better water proof spec while offering easy battery replacement? What I am saying is that many ( not all but many ) of those steps are because of water proofing the phone.

galaxy s5 was water proof with tool free battery swap. Was also similar thickness to contemporary devices.

The S5 was IP67, the newer iPhone were all IP68 and sustain a lot longer than what Apple listed.

S5 was also one of the first mainstream waterproof smartphone and came out almost 10 years ago, and had a replaceable battery without any tools.

If the back was screwed on vs clipped on (allowed with new laws), it could have easily been ip68 rated.

That's just more rehashed propaganda from the Apple camp. They said the same thing about removing the 3.5mm headphone jack, until the excuse quietly switched to "it's about more battery space".

Apparently a similar hole into the enclosure for the Lightning port was impervious to water in ways other holes weren't. The RDF kept the water out.

I've owned multiple waterproof phones with a simple o-ring gasket around the battery door. Low-tech I know.

A common misconception about this legislation is that phones will require a tool-less lid with all of its drawbacks.

It does not. It stipulates that a battery must be replaceable without proprietary tools, and without the use of glue or similar adhesives.

A common head screw will be fine, it does not have to be cold-swappable[1].

[1] Is that a term? Hot-swappable would imply the device is powered on.

Wikipedia and a bunch of other sites thinks so https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_swapping

iPhones are smartphones

[dupe]

Much discussion over here from a few days ago:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36712894

At least the Leavers can point to the first real benefit of Brexit now.

Really? Assuming you think this is a bad thing because phones with replceable batteries are bulkier and less durable, we're still affected by this outside the EU, we just didn't have any say in the matter.

I mean, it’s not happened yet… I’m assuming there’s a non-zero chance that the removable-battery (inferior) versions might be contained to the EU and the rest of us get access to models with non-removable (higher capacity) batteries.

> removable-battery (inferior) versions

Maybe its just me, but I'd happily trade raw single battery capacity for the ability to swap in new batteries at will.

Not only does it make battery replacements easier, you don't need to carry bulky power banks around as all you need is 1-2 spare batteries to swap into your phone and instantly be at 100% again.

If this is a product a significant slice of the smartphone-owning public want, then why isn’t it already on sale ?

Because its simply not as profitable as the alternative. Same reason why companies continue pushing subscription services despite the average consumer being sick of paying monthly for services(0).

[0] https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/11/16/us-subscription-fati...

Galaxy s5 proving waterproof phones with replaceable batteries don't need to bulkier aside, perhaps they might engineer phones to be a bit thicker but more durable so they don't need a gaudy case on them to protect them, so net they will actually be thinner.

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