This is simply not the case. Saying it’s ‘trivial’ is like saying it’s trivial to travel to Mars because we’ve sent things there before. Reliably sealing anything with a joint is far from trivial.
Waterproof phones with replaceable batteries are most certainly possible and have existed for over a decade at least. Sorry, but that argument is total bullshit.
To ensure the safety of end-users, this Regulation should provide for a limited derogation for portable batteries from the removability and replaceability requirements set for portable batteries concerning appliances that incorporate portable batteries and that are specifically designed to be used, for the majority of the active service of the appliance, in an environment that is regularly subject to splashing water, water streams or water immersion and that are intended to be washable or rinseable.
Except this is a bullshit exception because not only is it 100% possible to make waterproof devices with replaceable batteries, they have existed for years already. There is absolutely no technical reason for this, and the exception probably only exists because the corporations influenced the legislators to effectively gut the law.
To be fair, accidental damage is never covered under “warranty” (or any other extended service guarantee “warranty equivalents”) from any manufacturer. Given these black rectangles go everywhere with us, it’s still very good to have a device that won’t absolutely crap itself as soon as it gets dropped in water.
I say this as someone who often sees customers bring in water damaged devices, wanting their data off of it.
Frankly though, I wish the term used was “water resistance” and not “waterproof”. That semantic annoys me.
Since Apple make no distinction between “malicious damage” and “accidental damage”, then everything is called accidental. However, there are times where accidental damage is covered under warranty (or rather, a “service program”) when there’s an issue that’s widespread enough that is attributed to a manufacture or design defect – the warping of the plastic on the bottom of the Late 2009 Macbook comes to mind.
You should read AppleCare+ ToS before you make that claim. They will absolutely let you file a claim for accident damage (it is spelled out in the ToS).
AppleCare is not warranty (but is an equivalent), while AppleCare+ is the equivalent of insurance. I’ve edited my post to clarify this a little better.
People read their phones on the toilet - probably every single modern phone user has done it at least once. It is not inconceivable that a small, but significant, number of them have fumbled the phone and it has fallen into the bowl.
Likewise, pools, beaches, and boats are places people are very likely to go with their phones in tow and in use. It is not unlikely some of those - one can assume - millions of instances have produced some contacts between phone and water.
I ride a motorcycle and mount my phone on the handlebars for guidance. I spend a lot of effort keeping it dry and have actually lost a couple of USB cables (but not the phone, thankfully) to damp.
About 20 yeses ago - pre-smartphones - my sister lost a phone to water damage. It was in a backpack pocket during a camping/hiking trip and the backpack got rained on a lot. Everyone else's phone was fine because they were kept either in waterproof backpack compartments or in trouser/waterproof coat pockets.
Around the same time, I also had a friend whose phone was broken when we were rafting and the raft capsized. The rest of us on the raft had left our phones at home because _why would you risk bringing a mobile phone on a homemade raft?!_
Those are the only two instances I know of personally where someone's phone has been destroyed by water damage and it hasn't just been an "oops I dropped it in the toilet" situation (I'm still not sure how people manage that). And even the second example was still due to stupidity, I think - there's a reason the rest of us didn't rake our phones on the raft. My sister's phone being damaged in the backpack is the only one that didn't feel preventable, and where a water resistance phone would genuinely have been a good thing.
“oops I dropped it in the toilet” situation (I’m still not sure how people manage that).
Have a sweater or a jacket on, put the phone in your pocket. Do your duty, turn just a little too fast when going to flush, and your phone flies out of your pocket and arcs right into your doody.
I don’t need to be careless or have any real danger of dropping my phone in water to worry about water protection; humidity, sweat, rain, accidental splashes from a sink, spilled drinks, children, etc. are all very real often unpredictable water risks I might have very little opportunity to realistically avoid. I’ve seen those water detection stickers indicate water on devices that I know for a fact have been babied and never dunked for even a moment. Often humidity and a sweaty pocket were the only likely culprit.
I get caught outside in the rain unexpectedly about a dozen times a year living in a tropical city where it can go from dry to raining so heavy you can’t see the other side of the street with about 30 seconds warning.
Those powerful storms are often very small and they might only rain for a minute or two. It’s impossible to predict when they will pass over, the city might be hit by 50 or so of them in a single day, but they’re so small most of the city won’t see any rain even though it technically rained 50 times somewhere in the city.
Despite being small they it can be heavy enough to cause flash flooding. The city has pumps that can force 70,000 litres of water per second out of the city and into the ocean (before that, it was near impossible to live here).
I carry a dry bag for my laptop and headphones everywhere I go, I guess I’d be putting my phone in there too, which will be annoying.
Frankly though, I wish the term used was “water resistance” and not “waterproof”. That semantic annoys me.
Better is to use an ingress protection code, which provides standardized ratings for exactly how dust and water resistant a device is. Apple does use IP codes and rates the latest iPhones as IP68: dust-tight, submersible at a depth and duration specified by the manufacturer. Apple specifies “maximum depth of 6 meters up to 30 minutes”.
I wish the term used was “water resistance” and not “waterproof”. That semantic annoys me.
In my experience they are waterproof. I have AppleCare+ so if my phone were to suffer water damage it’d be relatively cheap to get it fixed, and I fairly frequently expose my phones to water. I’ve never lost one to water damage so far.
My understanding is the water proof glue can in theory be damaged if it’s exposed to extreme temperatures and the like - that’s why Apple doesn’t cover water damage for free. But I’ve done that too (I’ve had my phone shut down with a temperature error a few times - usually when it’s on my motorbike in the full sun for an extended period of time with a map open… it’s fine while riding with the windchill but if you park the bike or get stuck in traffic, then it can overheat). Mine still hasn’t died int he rain including 60mph driving rain (on the motorbike…) which it’s supposedly not designed to handle. Every time that’s happened I haven’t really had a choice. I’d rather get where I’m going than stand in the rain parked on the side of the road waiting how long, five minutes? three hours? for the rain to stop.
The one time I have lost a phone to the water damage it wasn’t water it was extreme humidity. So I suspect putting the phone in a backpack, and then riding a motorbike in the rain, will actually increase the risk. Proper water has surface tension that stops it entering microscopic gaps. Humidity doesn’t do that. And the inside of a backpack is never dry on a motorbike in the rain.
Even if that weren't the case, waterproof devices with replaceable batteries have already been made for years. There is no technical reason water resistance precludes replaceable batteries. It's just more bullshit.
I would think that as long as a battery is replaceable, it should suffice to meet environmental requirements.
Specifically regarding the iPhone, with the current battery replacement cost being under $100, I find it difficult to understand this being such an issue where an entire continent needs to make a rule against the design.
But I understand some people just want the ability to fix their own shit without having to bring it in for service. And I know this isn’t just about phones but nearly everything that has a battery.
My mom’s air has a sticky key. They wanted over $500 to fix it and I watched a video on what all that entails, not thrilled to try it. Apple does this shit on purpose.
The EU shouldn’t be holding companies hostage. Let the customers decide what they want. The mobile market has plenty of competition. If people really cared about the stuff the EU is trying to push, on the timeline they want to push it, they’d stop buying the product and Apple and others would get the message and make the shift based on market demands.
I wouldn’t mind having USB-C and a replaceable battery, but I’m not going to pretend I know all the trade offs which would need to be made, and I apparently don’t care about those things enough for them to factor in as buying decisions when I get a phone.
Fucking lol dude. I’m no economist but there’s no shot the mobile phone marketplace counts as “plenty of competition”. It’s essentially a duopoly. And the barrier to entry is massive.
If you’re taking operating system, sure. But these are all hardware requirements being talked about. So in addition to Apple, there is Google, Samsung, Sony, Asus, OnePlus, Huawei, Oppo, Nothing, and the list goes on.
There is room for some of these players to do all these things the EU is claiming people need, but yet the people don’t see to care enough to actually buy the stuff.
A phone is a series of trade offs and each company decides what trade offs they thinks people can beat live. If they get it right, people buy them, if they don’t, they don’t.
Thanks to the EU we have free roaming internet across EU countries. If this was left to “customers deciding for themselves” there would never be free roaming in Europe.
I can come up with many examples like this. Companies like Apple need to kept on a very short leash.
