Social media is a mostly dull place defined by opaque algorithms that decide ‘trends’ based on what you see and metrics we don’t try to decode. The result is an echo chamber. Until this weekend, random accounts on Let me be clear – this is not at all what the EU has mandated.
The EU mandate, which will come into effect from February 2027, mandates “easily replaceable batteries”. This doesn’t mean removable batteries like the good old era of BlackBerry phones (although I would love that), but an effort to simplify battery replacement when needed and slow down the pile of electronic waste. Think about it—how many times have you or someone you know gone out and bought a new phone because their old smartphone’s battery started dying? The reality is that buying a new phone was more convenient than the hassle of changing the battery. Furthermore, the cost of replacement batteries is often prohibitive.
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This all comes as part of “ecodesign requirements” (first notified in June 2023), which have been partially in place since the summer of last year. The key is to have original replacement parts for the battery, camera assembly, charging port, mechanical buttons, microphone and hinge assembly available to professional repairers. Specifically for the battery, phone manufacturers must make the battery pack, back cover or back cover assembly if it has to be removed completely, as well as make protective foils for the foldable display, display assembly, charger and SIM tray and memory card tray if there is an external slot for the SIM tray or memory card tray, professional repair for a period of at least 7 years after the brand marks a particular product as “expiry date of market placement”. Must be available to users and end users.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that your next iPhone or Galaxy or Pixel smartphone will have a removable battery, but the idea is to make it easier and more convenient to replace. The current scenario, especially with flagships, is that doing a battery replacement for phones and especially iPhones is a lengthy process, which will immediately be detected by an unauthorized third-party accessory. At official service centres, the turnaround time is longer, and the replacement bill is often even higher.
The challenge for phone manufacturers will be to innovate water and dust resistance ratings. In short, the battery would not be glued to the chassis, and the chassis itself would have to be openable without the need for special tools. The safe shell will no longer be that safe, and rethinking ruggedness metrics will be the need of the hour.
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Although regulation is welcome to give users choice and convenience, it does not deal with the finer details of cost. There’s nothing stopping phone makers from pricing these replacement batteries and the parts that come with them into extremely expensive bundles – and users may simply wonder if there’s any point in spending so much on replacing batteries in a 4-year-old Android flagship – when software support will end in about a year anyway.
There’s no doubt that user-replaceable batteries are better. It was a simpler world when that was the case, long ago we were told the benefits of glue, slab-like chassis designs and closed architectures were better for everyone. They are not at all. The heart aches for every smartphone that has had to be retired over the years just because the battery eventually dies. Let smartphone manufacturers now develop new water and dust resistance methods as well as stronger mechanisms to keep batteries in phones.
And on that note, when are we dealing with “the microSD cards in the phone are bad” machinery?
Vishal Mathur is Technology Editor at HT. Tech Tonic is a weekly column that looks at the impact of personal technology on the way we live our lives, and vice versa. The views expressed are personal.
