All smartphones, including iPhones, must have replaceable batteries by 2027 in the EU::undefined
Thank fucking god for the EU, for fighting for global digital rights where nobody else does.
We have a fake economy. All investments, researching and efforts could be decided by state (we/public). Protecting society interests and not “investors” interests is an obligation
One sensible right doesn’t overweight the never-ending bullshit coming from them.
And imo this is not a sensible right. To change a battery in phones is easy even now. All you need is heat gun (hairdryer), new battery, phone tape (2$ ali) and 30 mins of your time…
Also watter resistance will take a hit… I wouldn’t sink my phone under watter with detachable back cover even if it had ip68 by producer. They don’t even cover it in reclamation now.
Compare to how it used to be, removing the battery cover and replacing the battery on the fly. And water resistance with removable batteries has been and can be done. Stop with this nonsense.
One sensible right doesn’t overweight the never-ending bullshit coming from them.
True. Between the private healthcare, abortion rights, school shootings…
Oh wait, you weren’t talking about the US?
I came across this insane opinion piece the other day: https://www.laptopmag.com/features/mind-eurown-business-for-the-sake-of-the-iphone-apple-needs-to-fight-back
It’s so surreal, it feels satirical
I love how higher IP rating is always the argument, it looks like everybody in this planet is doing daily deep diving and needs its smartphone to do that 😅
You’d think they’d figure out a way to have those high IP ratings and have removable batteries (they have afaik)
Phones with IP67 or even IP68 exist with easily replaceable batteries.
My Galaxy XCover 6Pro has a removable battery (and headphone jack) and is ip68 rated
I… Couldn’t even make it through the whole article. Absolutely insane.
Say, “We at Apple, Think Different.” and refuse to be shepherded into the flock with the likes of the dirty android heathens. You can’t give in so easily. First, they’ll take your Lightning ports, then they’ll take your internal battery and IP68 rating, and before you know it, they’ll take your blue iMessage bubble too.
At that point, why even bother? You might as well throw a Qualcomm Snapdragon in the next iPhone and call it a day. Congratulations Apple, you have the best UI of any Android phone on the market.
What the actual fuck?
You swear this isn’t satire?
Man, Tim Apple sounds pissed.
I sure hope it’s satire, but that pun!
“Mind EUROwn business?” chef’s kiss
Looking at this guy’s other articles, unfortunetly it does not feel as satire.
it feels satirical
That’s because it is satire.
All we need now is a headphone jack
We need SD cards more. They removed them so they can charge you 300 $ to upgrade 128gb and to force you into shitty cloud service.
Again, just anti consumer bullshit spearheaded by Apple and gargled by Samsung.
I have flashbacks to using external storage on Android. It was such a shit show of an API. That being said, external storage, to break away from cloud storage is the next needed thing. We need to own the data.
I’d be almost ready to say that we don’t need them any more if Bluetooth headphones were about 100x better and cheaper
Still too much lag. I love my QC45s, but there’s still just enough lag to bother me
At the same time, wired earphones/headphones are already just as good with a lot less parts/complexity.
You don’t need batteries, radios, and chips for coding/decoding a signal coming out of a headphone jack. You can just plumb it straight into the speakers. No need to mess with controls and all of that, which would make them a lot cheaper.
Don’t forget how new Bluetooth headphones require that you download an app to set up the headphone. So a whole new data harvesting broker forces itself right where an audiojack used to be.
Check on the AppStore’s the kind of personal data one has to handover to tune the headphones. Total fuckery!
Definitely. Never understood why some manufacturers removed jacks
I personally prefer my bluetooth headphones, but it’s not like bluetooth and jacks can’t exist on the same device…
Plus, pairing bluetooth in a car can be annoying as fuck. Looking at you, Nissan
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Yeah I want a headphone jack, but the truth is that I can’t remember the last time I used mine. I have an old phone plugged into an old amp that I can play Spotify through, otherwise I use bt.
Yeah, they could coexist. I’m partial to non-bluetooth, but only because they come in shapes that I find more comfortable, and I’ve yet to find bluetooth ones that don’t make my ears hurt
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Yes, I just haven’t found any that I found comfortable with yet
Money from selling true wireless earbuds was too enticing. Even Fairphone made them and removed headphone jack and spat nonsense that it was a “point of failure.”
The argument was saving space for other parts. That’s true in a way. But if things needed we should have this space. What’s next? Saving the space of the charger? /s
Can’t imagine that getting mandated unfortunately
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*batterie exists out of two parts. One of them is fused to the screen.
Not a bad idea but there are flaws and this also doesn’t seem to address the issue of pricing or availability.
- So you can remove the battery, will you be able to buy one.
- They could prevent 3rd parties from making batteries that work.
- They could just not sell battery replacements.
- They could add more parts needed, like seals, screws that strip too easily, that annoying sticky tape etc.
The your last point the text specify that batteries can be safely removed and replaced using “basic and commonly available tools” and “without causing damage to the appliance or batteries.”
Yes, with basic and common tools. Doesn’t mean they have to be of quality, cheap metal screws for example. Hopefully not the case but it’d be annoying.
For example if they opt for the screw method, over the pop-off back (which I’d prefer). There will be screws to remove, most likely a gasket to replace, tape or something that ensures the battery doesn’t move around etc.
Even with current battery replacements, there is more parts then just the battery during the replacement. And of course “without causing damage” except if you have to remove the back that is glass and knock it off the table, that’s a +1 for apple, same if you loose a tiny screw or something else that is 1/1000 chance but Apple still makes money.
The neat thing about EU regulations is that they are iterated over constantly, so even if they don’t get it 100% right the first time, they’re able to nail things down in subsequent iterations. Look at how quickly they struck down any fantasies Apple had of still fucking people over with their own type c implementation fuckery. The direction the EU is taking is already doing plenty good for the entire world.
They could start selling tiers of battery quality which TBH sounds awful if they make the best battery life duration paywalled.
Yeah, that’s possible. I’m more worried about a built in battery chip preventing users from sharing batteries, like once it’s installed, it’s activated and it’s locked to that device. Meaning you’d have to buy only from that manufacture and the price will be higher.
Making them easily replaceable will create a market, a better one than we have today, almost any battery you can buy today as end-user are trash-tier.
Quality 3rd party batteries will rise up if the phone manufacturers fuck around.
Pesky EU throwing their weight around giving consumers more rights! --Brexiteer logic
Oh well hopefully we’ll (UK) still benefit from it. Easier to design one phone than “EU” and “Rest of world” versions after all.
That’s already happening though. The US version of the IPhone doesn’t have a physical Sim while the “rest of the world” version does.
A portable battery should be considered to be removable by the end-user when it can be removed with the use of commercially available tools and without requiring the use of specialised tools, unless they are provided free of charge, or proprietary tools, thermal energy or solvents to disassemble it. Commercially available tools are considered to be tools available on the market to all end users without the need for them to provide evidence of any proprietary rights and that can be used with no restriction, except health and safety-related restrictions.
I’m glad they got specific. I wonder where Apple’s self-service battery replacement program falls under this? AFAIK it’s not free. They charge a fee to rent the specialized tools, which are also proprietary.
This gives Apple a few choices:
- Make the tools commercially available, but at an astronomical price in typical Apple fashion
- Make the tools commercially available at a normal consumer price (unlikely)
- Make the self-service battery replacement program free (most likely, but will require a significant revision to the tools used since they are industrial-grade)
Honestly, they should have said “fuck you, no tools whatsoever to remove the battery.”
My mid-2010’s phone has this and probably the only reason I still have it (instead of contributing to electronic waste) is because I can replace the battery so easily, which I’ve done at least twice.
Looking forward to seeing If companies will just do the bare minimum to pass or if we’ll see some actual innovation. It would be cool to be able to buy spare batteries, that are quick to replace and easy to carry around along with a charging station or something so you can always have a full battery with you.
I bet The Apple battery, just a replacement or a dedicated module like I said above, will be starting at like $249
Apple will figure out a way to DRM batteries so that no one but them can sell them and they’ll cost as much as a new phone.
Well, uhm… - it’s been designed in California, you know?!
Quality power banks have been around for years.
This is just extra steps to a fat phone.
Honestly, I’m all for it if it means bringing back ridiculously sized phone batteries with huge bumps that can act as a finger shelf. My note 2 with a 4200mah battery was a beast in 2013.
The Note 2 was my favorite phone. The replaceable back with the cover option was the best. Want your phone to look brand new? That’ll only cost $20.
I never replaced the battery though.
So tempted to wait until 2027 to buy my next iPhone
EU is killing it right now. Charging port regulation and now removable batteries in everything. If companies are forced to produce different models for the EU maybe just maybe it will be cost effective to just make all their phones with removable batteries. One can hope, cause you know the US wont pass that type of consumer protection regulation.
This needs to be true of notebooks too. I love my 2015 Macbook Air, but the battery lasts about five minutes and I use it way too much to take the time to get it replaced. Especially when it’s old enough to not be supported soon. But if I could just spend $50 and replace the battery myself without fucking things up, which I totally would as things stand now, I would be able to use it without keeping it plugged in all the time like I used to.
Good news, it applies to all battery operated devices, not just phones
EU citizenship is a dream.
I remember when apple put out a software update to intentionally throttle the phone’s processor, to save charge on it’s irreplacable battery. I hope this prevents companies doing this sort of shit as well.
I think apple will comply by including a dongle battery that can be replaced but no one will actually carry with their phone
The law says, “Designing portable batteries in appliances in such a way that consumers can themselves easily remove and replace them;”
Key part being “in appliances”.
They know with whom they are dealing
