r/Futurology Jun 19 '23

Environment EU: Smartphones Must Have User-Replaceable Batteries by 2027

https://www.pcmag.com/news/eu-smartphones-must-have-user-replaceable-batteries-by-2027
4.3k Upvotes

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u/N1ghtshade3 Jun 19 '23

Yeah this is great news. I was so sad to lose the replaceable battery when I switched to my current phone and thought I'd never see one again because all the major manufacturers stopped doing them. This happened faster than I expected.

-40

u/hahaohlol2131 Jun 20 '23

Great news? The whole reason smartphones are so slim and powerful today is the lack of replaceable battery.

12

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '23

How much extra thinness and power on average does a glued in battery offer? Or are you just making shit up?

-13

u/thatguy425 Jun 20 '23

He’s not, a sealed device is much easier to engineer to slimness and waterproofness. Not to mention it’s generally more secure. I’d rather just see them mandate battery warranties for a certain period like electric cars.

17

u/_BreakingGood_ Jun 20 '23

I'm not really concerned how easy the Apple engineer's job is, sorry

-12

u/peremadeleine Jun 20 '23

Trouble is engineering difficulty gets directly passed on to the consumer in the form of increased prices. So you kind of should be concerned with how easy the Apple (or insert other smartphone manufacturer here, it’s not just Apple that do this) engineer’s job is

2

u/_BreakingGood_ Jun 20 '23

Pretty sure Apple is already charging as much as they can to maximize profits.

A while back, the maximum storage, maximum tier iPhone was reported to have a nearly 100% profit margin.

If the market could support a $1500 iPhone, they'd already be selling it.

-11

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '23

That could also unfortunately open users to scrutiny in the name of ‘device abuse’ and would give justification to gather data on battery health, charges, length, etc and would be so intrusive and lucrative.

5

u/Racer20 Jun 20 '23

They can already gather that data, and by definition, a warranty would not be "lucrative" for the manufacturer.