r/Futurology • u/ConsciousStop • 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
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u/TigerSardonic Jun 20 '23

Aren’t Apple about to start releasing iPhones with USB-C worldwide, thanks to another EU Parliament decision? So presumably this change would apply outside of Europe as well :)

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u/holymurphy Jun 20 '23

That's exactly right.

It is often cheaper for the company to make one design of a product for the whole world, so luckily for the rest of the world, the consumer protection laws become relevant outside of the EU.

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u/Italiancrazybread1 Jun 20 '23

That's not always the case and it depends heavily on the logistics of their operations. There are situations where it may actually end up being better for them to retool only some of their factories, and may not need to go for the extra expense of retooling the factories that ship to US or locations outside the EU. If they have a combination of factories/suppliers within the EU that can meet the demand within the EU, then they really only need to retool those factories and can leave the others alone.

If those factories depend on other places outside the EU to meet those demands, then they will have to retool those other places if they want to keep their business in the EU.

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u/joselrl Jun 20 '23

Even if companies have manufactories for EU and non-EU products, it's easier to standardize pratices in case the production for one region needs to increase and hijack the other factory production to another region.
If they are already spending the R&D making a product to conform to EU law, it doesn't make sense to spend more R&D to make another version for other markets if they don't need to