this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
1733 points (98.5% liked)

Technology

72360 readers
4174 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
L4s@hackingne.ws
1733
All smartphones, including iPhones, must have replaceable batteries by 2027 in the EU (mashable.com)
submitted 2 years ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
399 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

All smartphones, including iPhones, must have replaceable batteries by 2027 in the EU::undefined

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] squidzorz@lemmy.world 18 points 2 years ago (5 children)

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:

  1. Make the tools commercially available, but at an astronomical price in typical Apple fashion
  2. Make the tools commercially available at a normal consumer price (unlikely)
  3. 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)
[โ€“] bric@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago

I'm not sure that #1 and #2 are options, I think Apple's tools would still be considered "Specialized" or "proprietary" since they can't have any proprietary rights or restrictions, so I don't think that they can get away with selling them at a huge markup. I'm no lawyer, but to me that reads like they either need to give the tools away for free, or change the iPhone so it can be disassembled with regular screwdrivers. Given those choices, I'm thinking #2 sounds a lot more likely unless they can weasel out of some loophole

load more comments (4 replies)