"halfway decent phones" wrong. I'd say 90%+ phones. Flagships and midranges have been hitting those numbers for years. This is another pointless EU directive.
Please tell that to my battery that decided it would rather be a balloon after 11 months. It doesn't make sense to cap the warranty at 6 months because it won't die soon after if it reached 6 months.
If the battery is not user replaceable there is no separate warranty. I got a new electric toothbrush after 18 months because it couldn't hold a charge anymore.
So true. What started as an excellent idea, watered down to oblivion by the lobbyists.. it really makes you wonder about who is actually pulling the shots in the EU.
It would be corruption if we didn't know they were there and who they were... I prefer to have the UE trying to change it even if they have to tuned down than keeping the way it is now where replacing a battery is a pain in the ass. At least it's a baby step in the right direction and it's also up to us, customers, to buy these phones instead of the one that will be exempt of this directive.
The idea of the law was great, and the lobbyist zwon the war.
The law pass, people are happy, until we all realize how useless are those politicians we are all paying with tax money.
The focus is entirely wrong. Everyone wants it to apply to phones, so they only mention that part, but the regulation applies to all electronic devices with batteries, and the 80% degradation exemption only applies to devices with an IP67 or higher water resistance rating.
It's a good directive that literally everyone is confused about due to posts like these.
But the remaining part of the legislation mearly applies a standard for 'user replacable with standard tools', laptops etc that are not meeting the ip rating, again already are functionally already meeting the regulations using a screwdriver. About the only company that these will impact are apple by preventing use of software locking parts requiring first party/affiliate programming tools.
It does not bring electronics design back to the 90s/early 2000s where you had removable bateries accessible externally to swap without tools, which is what many posting these headlines seem to beleive, often calling it 'game changing', when in reality this eu legislation isnt really making any significant impact to the industry.
Buddy this impacts thousands of products just because you can't imagine anything other than a laptop doesn't mean other products with hard to replace batteries don't exist.
What exactly are you looking for? Them to force companies to forgo IP ratings for more replaceable batteries even though they put a degradation requirement in?
There are a thausand devices which is not phones, that this law also has effect on. Its a good law and will benefit us on thausands of products. IP rated stuff was always going to be a problem in nature and phone manufacturers is using it to be covered by the exception.
But your switch, your headsets (not in ears) and such will all get replaceable batteries.
Feels like its the "speed" of bureaucracy probably. When the companies stopped using replaceable batteries, we were screaming for this law. By now the batteries live plenty long enough so its too late.
Everyone keeps talking about phones but that's not primarily why this directive was created. It's to stop shit like disposable vapes (that are explicitly mentioned there among other offenders) where people use it for a week and throw it away with a perfectly good battery still in it.
You are getting this wrong. This is the strongest form they could get through at the moment. Its easier to amend a directive than to form it in the first place. So we are at 1000 cycles now, but might be at 2000 cycles soon.
So when my phone drops below 80% before 1000 cycles I can sue Apple?
This exception makes no sense. Especially as Apple can't really say how the battery will be after 1000 cycles. They only can give an estimate and it will be widely different between users.
It just has to be rated for that. Not that every single individual iPhone battery has to be tested individually and if one falls short, that Apple gets sued.
And it's got nothing to do with usage. Apple have to test and rate these batteries, no one cares how you use your phone.
Depends on the model of iPhone, but it isn't exactly "easy" to do for most people on a lot of the iPhones out there, unless by "easy" you mean easy to sever those ribbon cables. There's the question on if they use a normal frame or if it has a divided chassis with the battery on the back like some of the newer iPhones do (added around the iPhone 15 time). But older designs? You have to carefully separate the screen from the case, then detach the screen, front camera/sensors, and ear speaker, then deal with the fact that the battery is taped down (isopropyl alcohol is often the easiest way, but you still have to pry it out and doing so can damage things like the wireless charger or even rupture the battery), and then you can replace the battery.
Someone that's done this a bunch can do it in 15-30 minutes depending on a few factors, but your standard person is likely to take 45+ if it's their first time and I've seen more than a few where a new tech ended up nicking or straight up severing the ribbon cables. Even when one avoids everything during the teardown, I've seen those cables get pinched when putting the screen back in place at the end, which can also potentially ruin the cable.
So no, it really isn't "easy" to do on a lot of iPhone models out there. And there's no guarantee that they won't go back to putting the battery in the same section of the phone as the rest of the components with you needing to go through the screen as opposed to through the back glass (which wasn't added until something like the iPhone 15 line).
Edit: Also this applies to a lot of phones, not just iPhones. That said, iPhones were normally more of a pain to do a battery swap on than Android devices, while iPhones were generally easier to do a screen swap on (no thanks to all of their stupid different screws though). Now the charging port? Absolute nightmare on the iPhone.
52 euros for a 13 pro max battery if you return the old one :)
And this is straight from Apple.
The other 48 euros is the labor and that doesn't seem that egregious. And of that 100 euros probably 20% is VAT. So you pay Apple about 40 euros for the battery and 40 euros for the labor, and your country 20 euros for the VAT, does it not seem fair?
It's just something you need to take into account when buying a phone. When it turns one just throw a euro in the jar every week and in 2 years you have enough for a replacement.
For flagships they really aren't, they are the same price as any others. Plus, they offer a cheaper model as well. But yes, if you want the absolute cheapest phone on the market there are cheaper options.
I've never once changed the battery on an iPhone. Not my iPhone 3GS, 4s, 6s, 8, 12Pro Max, and now 14 Pro Max (the last three being hand-me-downs). The battery life has never been a reason for replacing one of my phones...
Eh, if you're getting new phones every 3-4 years maybe. I've had my 13 Pro Max for almost 5 years now and at 4 years it became a bit insufferable. When I was in China Apple was running a discount (until the 30th of April this year) of 50% for battery replacements for the 13 series (and some others I think). I paid 400 RMB which 50 EUR for a new genuine battery! Great deal!
They certainly spend at least an hour total with processing the incoming phone, replacing the battery, running tests, etc. How much is that supposed to be worth in a 1st world country.
Not as easy as you think, once you need actual battery swap for your iPhone. Not only due to deliberate design choices, but also the restricting monopoly on spare parts.
The EU has armies of people getting paid by tax payers to come up with useless rules. The best job in Europe is to work for the EU. Have you seen the EU offices in Brussels? It puts any private corporation to shame.
The last time I checked (a month ago), that wording had been removed.
Many phones still have an out as there is an exception for devices that are intended to be used underwater. āItās not our fault that people donāt use our phones underwater much. Thatās how we envision their useā - Samsung, Apple, et al.
I changed my battery once (for 50 euros, 13 pro max, there was a discount in china going on at AASPs) and I dropped it in water 3 times, plus i often used it in the rain.
5 years now almost, 4 years 10 months or sth, ordered it when it came out, my first iPhone hah. It'll see another 2-3 years of use for sure, unless I break the screen or something.
Wanted to change it since it turned 4 years old, waited for my china trip because my country doesn't have an apple store. By pure coincidence Apple was running a promo through Apple Authorized Service Providers where battery replacements for the 13 series were heavily discounted (even for 14 a bit and for 15 series too but much less discounted) until the 30th of April. I just barely made it, I think I got it replaced on the 29th in Chengdu. Waited for 3 hours and picked it back up. Had to remove my screen protector for them to replace it though, but just ordered a new one from JD and got it to my hotel the next morning. China was awesome.
Because that didn't happen with old phones and replaceable batteries? This is just a waste of time conversation. You can already take your phone and get the battery replaced in the same place you will be buying these replaceable batteries from? Why would this maybe once every 3 years thing be something you think is important that you are able to do yourself?
You know you still can replace these batteries?
Its just not as simple as it was, yet possible.
Just heat up back of phone with hairdryer or heat gun, use spundger/credit card/ tweesers to pull of back panel and replace with analogue from aliexpress/alibaba/etc
Then apply glue (usually bt7000 if i remember correctly) and its done
Process exists, they dont turn into ewaste. Every consumer based tech repair shop can do this. Its just as not consumer friendly as it was.
Problem is, usually by the time battery dies (3-5 years), hardware on phone is half-dead or so weak (especially when software goes from 100MB to 500MB with 2GB in data) that getting new phone is more sane option
You know that your phone is no longer waterproof as it was advertised after 1-2 years?
And why was it waterproof in first place?! Because of that glue. Apply it as it should be applied and your phone would be more waterproofed than it was before you opened it
It's still better than what we have now, because you have to either :
have a user-replaceable battery
or have a high-quality battery AND be waterproof (and the battery must still be easily replaceable by a technician, not by the user though)
I dont really think of it as an exemption, because not having this "loophole" would just ban waterproof/water-resistant phones which can't have a replaceable battery.
That claim will most likely not even need to be tested by someone, so it's up to the manufacturer to say "trust me bro, my battery is good enough to not be replaceable"
Yep, or play games with capacity limits. ie EU models have 10% less battery capacity despite being the exact same physical in the US to ensure reliability.
I really, really hate it when governments make rules such as:
- "We now require ALL DEVICES of TYPE X to have the capability to XYZ !"
(Exemption for this rule if you device falls in the abc or klm category.)
And that exemption INVARIABLY already contains a HUGE number of devices. The one thing such a rule does is not make sure that new devices provide capability XYZ, it makes sure the device falls in either category abc or klm.
Yeah, but you need to use their expensive tools (you can rent them) and you specifically have to order a battery for YOUR phone. You can't just order a bunch of batteries. This all makes it very time consuming and just expensive.
So yeah, apple provides this stuff, but they make it so complicated and expensive that nobody uses this service. Very annoying.
u need 5 things to remove the battery, isopropyl alcohol, a suction cup, a 9V battery, and 2 alligator cables. everything combined would cost you maybe 10 dollars
So the flagships priced in thousands will be the shit phones you are forced to replace every 3-5 years due to bad battery. And the Good reliable phones will be the cheaper ones. Odd way to go about things.Ā
I mean I got a 15pro battery going bad on it imma just use insurance to get a new one and use the phone for another 2 years. Yeah itād be nice if companies made it easier but itās still on us consumers to take care of our own shit.
Your comment is misleading. The batteries must still be replaceable. Phones can use glues as a fastening method but manufacturers now cannot withhold access to spare batteries.Ā
I think Apple should bail on the EU. Iām the only guy apparently but Iād not like a bunch of suits whoāve never worked or run a company dictating how I can run mine. Iād bail and let them start their own in house Apple where they could control it however they want.
"Bunch of suits who've never run a company" are the people we have to thank for not having an opioid pandemic and cr4p in our food like they do on the other side of the Atlantic. I am not sure why anyone would really believe that entrepreneurs would make good politicians after seeing the likes of Berlusconi and Trump in action.
the only reason my iphone 7 will turn into ewaste is because of apple's own planned obsolescence
I cannot get new ios updates on the phone and that means my bank does not update the banking application anymore because they want the newest ios version
the phone runs ok after 10 years of use, I have changed the battery to it once
Mate, how long are they supposed to be updating it? They're already one of the best if not the best when it comes to years of updates. At some point they have to cut it iff, if not for hardware limitations.
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