That would be great if we weren't past the point of phones having unremovable batteries... Too little too fucking late as always, Google.
The EU would like to have a talk with manufacturers about this... Much like USB C for iPhones, removable batteries are in the works again thanks to the EU.
Bear in mind the law isn't for replaceable batteries in the way you describe, it just has to be easy enough for a person or a repair shop to do without too much risk of damage.
It's unlikely we'll see every phone having a back we can just pop off and pull the battery out.
Even then, there are exceptions. If the phone still retains 84% of battery capacity by year 3, and I think 80% by year 4, it doesn't have to be user-servicable.
I hope these changes affect the global supply chain, but I'm very skeptical that it's going to have any repercussions outside of the EU.
These changes tend to be global because it's cheaper to make the change for everyone than have two different designs and manufacturing (one for EU and other for the rest of the world). And more often than not EU is too big of a market to ignore.
Maintaining multiple SKUs with major differences is quite expensive and time consuming, plus confusing for the customer on a global Internet trying to look things up. I expect that this would make at least some manufacturers ship these to other countries, so we would have some options.
These changes tend to be global because it's cheaper to make the change for everyone than have two different designs and manufacturing (one for EU and other for the rest of the world). And more often than not EU is too big of a market to ignore.
Well, Samsung is selling phones with shit CPUs to Europe and good ones to USA.
Oh? Got a source on this?
Its the first time im hearing about this.
Edit : did some digging and ye, most of the world doesnt get the snapdragons. From what i read the performance, battery life etc are all over the place compared to the same phones with snapdragons. Also, samsung is not allowed to sell their own socs in places where they sell the snapdragon versions?
This is some weird ass shit and i assume it has to do with profit or something.
I will import EU phones if it doesn't.
Obviously a global change would be better, and hopefully that's what happens but at the very least those of us that live in places with worse consumer protection have that opinion.
Edit: In thinking a minute about it, I'm thinking that this probably won't be necessary. I haven't looked but I imagine there are still androids with removable batteries on offer, and it's safe to assume there will be more after this, even if it's not all. Though I guess if you want a very specific phone with a removable battery, that's an option.
All battery's can be removed if you try hard enough
Last time I tried to remove one it caught fire. So much glue..
Did you try removing it by stabbing it?
Knife goes in, battery comes out
looks at fairphone
shrugs :p
Jokes aside, this is indeed a huge problem and do hope that eu law gets passed. Its perfectly possible to have a replacable battery and keep a good ip rating...
Other countries will follow EU's example. OEMs will not have non-removable batteries anymore. Apple should immediately comply. Fairphone is indeed an example of sustainability.
All batteries are replaceable. Some take a bit more effort and some specialized equipment, though.
Yeah but that seems like a pain, of course I had a cell back to analog days and am probably is. Used to sell so many batteries for cells in my Radio Shack days, and many were people wanting a second one for a backup when they were in the bush. Even remember $80 for a lithium startac battery heh, like 20ish years ago.
Some phones, like mine, do have removable batteries. The point of Android is that devices should be varied in design and features rather than interchangeable black mirrors and I think it's good that Android is still adding features that help facilitate that.
~~Dont~~ Be Evil
33% less words to print, more efficient.
Just "evil", 66% less worss
They mean the ones that are glued in, inside of casings that are glued in? Gee, how nice.
That's ending relatively soon because of the EU though, so I guess it's fine.
Mmm, trickle down consumer rights.
Will phones keep the water proof/resistant feature with that change?
I mean, I prefer having it accessible, one thing less to worry about or being anxious lol, and none of my phones have had such protection anyway.
Replaceable batteries and waterproof ratings aren't mutually exclusive. Never have been. Ports are a bigger barrier, and those have been solved for quite a while. Hell, there are phones that are ip68 rated, with user swappable batteries. The samsung x cover pro is a decent phone overall that does it.
Think about all the watches with replaceable batteries that are waterproof, various cameras, rc submarines, etc.
It will require design changes, but there are already plenty of options to make it happen.
TIL, excellent news indeed, can't wait for this "new" trend to come for smartphones!
When I worked at Google I seriously had someone try to tell me that making a key fob waterproof was challenging. I never did figure out what that guy was thinking.
It will require design changes, but there are already plenty of options to make it happen.
Nah, there's basically no design changes needed. Pretty much everyone already complies with the new EU laws. People seem to think the new laws mean you'll just be unclipping the back of your phone and chucking a new battery in like in the nokia days lol. All it means is that you won't need proprietary tools to open your phone. You'll still need to disassemble the phone as usual. Basically nothing changes for the big OEMs already. It's not going to make replacing your battery on your own any easier.
How can we make this worse? Hey let's glue the battery to the digitizer!
They should make the batteries explode when the device is opened that way the user gets third degree burns
It's for their own safety.
My Nexus One says the battery needs to be replaced.
Looks at non removable battery... Oh.
They said you should, not that you could, the iOS way indeed.
Also, why can't we finally get usful battery stats on which app or function sucking up how much.
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