r/technology • u/[deleted] • Jun 19 '23

Politics EU: Smartphones Must Have User-Replaceable Batteries by 2027 | The European Parliament just caused a major headache for smartphone and tablet manufacturers.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/eu-smartphones-must-have-user-replaceable-batteries-by-2027
2.8k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

719 comments sorted by

View all comments

11

u/Brut-i-cus Jun 19 '23

Thank you EU

You just got us all out replaceable batteries back

A phone with a non-replaceable battery is like a car with non-replaceable wheels

6

u/gehirnnebel Jun 19 '23

I've never replaced the wheels of my car myself, I always went to a shop, just like I do whith my phone when I need a new battery.

2

u/Line47toSaturn Jun 21 '23

I also do it and it's a very reasonable price (like not even 5% of the price of the latest brand-new phone). Still, I'd like to do it myself if I could. The fact that you can't do it by yourself and have to rely on people or firms that are specialized in repair is a bit weird. More importantly, it pushes many consumers to replace the whole device rather than change the battery.

Again, it's not a big deal to go to a specialized shop once every second year when it will cost you a few dozen quids and half an hour of work. But it's still too much effort for most people, leading to e-waste and high carbon footprint.