I might be in the minority here, but I feel this is actually a step back.
In the 5 years I've had my phone, there have been two times I've ever really needed to pull the battery, and still the hard reset sequence still eventually worked in both cases.
Anyone remember how some phones had issues with the battery door becoming somewhat loose over time, causing any slight bump to turn the phone off? Many have already commented on how they explode into multiple pieces when dropped. Traditionally the battery covers are incredibly flimsy plastic, even on flagship devices (cough Samsung). Waterproofing is a common concern too, however it actually can be done with a removable battery (e.g. Galaxy S5).
What really needed to be addressed here was how cumbersome it is to get into these devices to replace the battery, and how often people are price gouged to replace them. I believe this could have been better written to allow for either a removable battery, or a standardized and affordable built-in battery replacement process.
This will come into play at roughly the same time that solid state batteries will make battery replacement mostly irrelevant. We'll see some terrible designs to accommodate battery replacements that, for the most part, won't be used.
I'll believe that once I see it.. We have been told the era of next gen batteries is just around the corner every year since the iPhone came out now. We're still using some version of lithium based tech in most applications where power density is important (phones, laptops, cars, etc.)
Hooray! Younger generations will finally be able to experience the joy of dropping their phone and having to pick up three to four different pieces! /s
I was 12, I think, when I got my first phone. A Nokia. I was mortified the first time it happened. Then clack-clack-clack I was taught to put it together again.
Good! I loved having removable batteries, especially while traveling. Just carry a charged battery and hotswap them instead of having to find a plug to camp by for 30-60 minutes
Finally! Now to also force phonemakers to universally provide bootloader unlocks so we can put our own ROMs on our devices once the software support ends.
i got a broken galaxy a70. the phone is thin. all of the photos online are screen glas cracks appear where battery ends. plastic frame. bends. f'@~... ridicolous. at least full body battery protects you from cheap design choices. XD
About bloody time! Devices these days are so far technically advanced, no need to upgrade every 2 years. I can hold onto a phone for easily 3-5 years. Especially with hot swap batteries!
Manufacturing, storing, shipping and supporting two different models of basically the same phone is probably more expensive than just deploying the one model with the removable battery everywhere.
To elaborate a bit: This is very different than providing models with different radios/modems for different markets. A different radio/modem probably only requires a single, different component(?). A model with a replacable battery requires a different battery design, a different case design, different seals (to make it waterproof) and most likely a different PCB layout, too. That is a tremendous amount of effort compared to swapping out a component or two on an otherwise identical phone.
That's why I think it's not unlikely that replacable batteries might become much more common globally once this law is being implemented and applied.
Both US and EU are big enough markets that two models are totally feasible. Actually, radios inside cell phones are already different due to slightly different frequencies between the two continents. Take a look, but a lot of phones have US and EU version already.
And now they just have to force manufacturers to either at least security patch devices for, let's say 10 years, or force them to open source everything the community needs to continue supporting this device. It never happened to me that the battery died before support ended.
Just had that issue with my Pixel 3a XL. No more security updates. Had to replace it with a Pixel 6a but I liked the 3a XL more. It there was any community support for the 3a XL, I would rather sell my 6a again.
The rooted community often supports devices longer if the device is popular. Check out XDA. A ROM may be available so that the dev sends out the monthly security patches. Ill be doing this with my OP 8Pro, as Oxygen 14 won't be available.
As an Apple user, I definitely have batteries die before the product stops being useful. The company provides feature updates for old phones for several years, and when that runs out they continue to provide security patches for several more years.
A new iPhone battery is only $47 (if you do the repair yourself, and if you send your old battery back to Apple for a recycling credit), but it's a pretty complex and arduous process with a fair chance of damaging your phone while attempting it. You also have to pay a deposit, over a thousand dollars, to rent the tools off Apple. Ouch.
You can take it to an Apple store, but that takes even longer than doing the repair yourself. And it costs more (though you don't have to pay the outrageous deposit for the tools).
This legislation would force Apple to make it a simple process with no tools. Yes please.
What're the odds this will carry over to the US out of convenience? I'd love for the batteries in phones to become more repairable over here, and I hope that companies would simply make all phones repairable from here on out to make things easier on themselves, but do you think they would, from now on, make two separate iPhones that have repairable batteries (EU) and non-repairable batteries (US & everywhere else)?
I can't imagine Apple is going to have a totally different battery and case design for the EU. But if they go down that path... you could just buy the EU model.
The industry as a whole has already shown they don't care much about such efficiencies, as long as they can pass any cost on to the consumer. Consumers need to rise up. The disappearance of the replaceable battery worldwide was caused by consumers not caring about this as a selection criterion in the first place.
Wow ; thats pretty amazing - now I have even more respect for them thinking ahead and going after the USB-C ports first... this could force manufacturers to give us a better product - I'll be watching this.
Add comment