I think this removability is part of a broader push for the EU to become a circular economy - at the end of life of the phone the user would discard the device and battery into separate bins.
That is at least the official goal regarding EV batteries and there are efforts underway to make it happen.
Perhaps my lack of understanding comes from using more expensive phones? I use iPhones and keep them for 5 years and usually replace 1-2 screens in that time. And since the phone is $1k new it feels completely irrelevant if a battery replacement costs $50 to have it done at a shop or $25 do do myself. If I used a $200 phone there could be a difference of course.
Parent comment: handwavy "still compromises something", but can't be certain what, then gives a personal anecdote.
The drawback could be as simple as “higher cost to manufacture” or “higher risk of consumers using incorrect/third party batteries”. I’d argue the latter is a real problem, but everyone might not agree.
As for parent comment it was about an android phone. I never used or owned one so can’t comment.
This wouldn’t be an issue if we had some kind of standards around batteries for cellphones rather than making unique batteries for every single model.
If you could just buy a “Type B” format phone battery for a phone this would eliminate the issue. It would be similar to the charger market, where different manufacturers could compete. This is _toward_ the market economics that capitalists so love, unless they’re benefiting from market capture of proprietary parts.
One-off designs are wasteful and drive up costs and drive down quality.
> drive down quality.
How so?
There are ways to make a phone stiff, such as a rigid metal shell around the battery. Or glue.
Phone costed me 600€, replacement after recent Apple price hike costs another 100€. I’m already considering just buying another iPhone next year since replacement costs so much.
Since my first Nokia 5110 I’ve replaced 0 screens, 2-3 screen protectors, 1 keypad, and so many batteries. Ofc this is all anecdotal, for me batteries, lack of updates and non-extendable storage have been the main reasons killing otherwise perfectly useable iPhones.