EU law requiring easier iPhone battery replacement inches closer to enactment
EU law requiring easier iPhone battery replacement inches closer to enactment
The European Union is moving closer to enacting a law that will not just require smartphones like the iPhone to have easier battery repairs, but it will also mandate how much of a battery must be reclaimable after recycling.
The European Union is moving closer to enacting a law that will require smartphones like the iPhone to have easier battery repairs.
I saw this somewhere else on Lemmy yesterday, but I'm a bit concerned about waterproofness if this goes forward.
If they mandate removable back covers for easier access to the battery, this could be a challenge for waterproofing capabilities, MagSafe, and wireless charging (from what I can remember right now).
Hopefully they'll make it so that we're able to keep all these features and have easier battery swapping.Weirdly torn on this: I live a few hours from the nearest Apple store, so it'd be nice if I could replace my phone battery without going through all this, but I also like the fact my phone is a decently robust and waterproof little brick with few moving parts or breakable pieces. It's practically a tank compared to the last battery-replaceable smartphone I had.
If I had to replace my battery as frequently as I did with early smartphones then I'd willingly trade some of the durability for a user-replaceable battery, but I've had an iPhone 12 mini since its launch – about two and a half years – and its battery still gets me through the day just fine. iOS Battery Health says its maximum capacity is 87%. Maybe next year I'll need a battery replacement, and that'll do me fine for another three years. I'll be extremely pleased, but also quite surprised, if the phone lasts long enough to need a second battery replacement after that. Is that a repair we should really be optimizing for?
@tojikomori As someone who repairs these things I can assure you that it's possible to have replaceable batteries AND water-proofness. Don't believe the BS that the manufacturers try to sell you in order to ensure you're beholden to them for all things.
Why should I believe the word of some random person on the internet? Why should the EU? They are going to take testimony from actual engineers who work on this stuff from multiple manufacturers who are going to say it's not possible and guess what? The EU is going to believe them.
For me, it's not about being able to replace the battery more quickly, but instead being able to take out a battery that's decided it's not happy being size zero and would rather embrace its inner plus size lifestyle. Strangely enough, an enclosed device isn't happy when a sealed-in battery decides it wants to take up 3 times the space that's been allocated in the device for it.
Oh maybe that's why apple made the iPhone 14 (but not the 14 pro) able to be opened from the front or the back. Better to have a working solution before a law is passed than have to scramble afterwards.
Either that or they were hoping it would discourage the EU from passing a repair law like this. In such a scenario, Apple would go right back to making less-repairable phones once the storm had passed.
They could just mandate some less powerful glue behind the batteries and less annoying circuitry behind the screen.
I've tried fixing an iphone and I destroyed it even after watching tons of videos and having all the tools.
I snagged one of the micro ribbon cabled at the bottom of the screen, and then after that I couldn't get the old battery out.
This is one "consumer friendly enhancement" that I hope is exclusive to Europe if it passes.
Why would you want it to be exclusive to Europe instead of having it around the world?
Clunkier devices, complications for wireless charging, cheap plastic backs again. Just seems like a step backwards.