EU may force Apple to make iPhone battery replacements easier
A future version of the iPhone or iPad may have a removable battery compartment, a leaked proposal from the European Union may demand, one that could force Apple into a major redesign of the high-selling smartphone, if it ever gets approved.
The modern-day iPhone, and other premium smartphones, offer consumers a thin construction and a sleek design, as well as waterproofing, all due to how the internal components are carefully assembled within the chassis. While the trend has led to harder-to-fix designs than those where the rear cover could be more easily removed, it seems the EU may be preparing for a return to such design ideas.
In proposals leaked to paywalled Dutch outlet Het Financieele Dagblad, the EU allegedly wants to make it easier to change the battery more easily replaceable in smartphones. By making it simpler to replace the battery, this will allegedly make smartphones more sustainable, enabling them to have a longer lifespan and generating less electronic waste.
Depending on how the proposals play out, the requirement to have a more easily replaceable battery could be a call to make it easier to repair a smartphone to put in a replacement for a dying battery. At its most extreme, it could take the form of making it a user-accessible component, which would necessitate a major rethink of modern design from every smartphone manufacturer.
The proposals are said to be presented by vice president of the European Commission's "Green Deal" Frans Timmermans in mid-March. The proposals are still being worked on, and are also likely to include other sustainability-related measures, including changes to product recycling regulations.
While only a leaked proposal of questionable provenance at this time, such a demand may take many years before it becomes a law, due to the relatively slow nature of continent-wide rule-making. Such rules will also only truly apply within the European Union, leaving open the possibility of an EU-specific smartphone design and one for the rest of the world, though the extra expense could see some pushback from device vendors.
The European Union has already one set of regulatory changes on the cards that may affect future smartphone usage. The European Commission voted in January to establish a common charging standard for devices, a move that may force Apple to shift away from Lightning to another connection type, however neither a timeframe nor plan has been established for the measure.
The modern-day iPhone, and other premium smartphones, offer consumers a thin construction and a sleek design, as well as waterproofing, all due to how the internal components are carefully assembled within the chassis. While the trend has led to harder-to-fix designs than those where the rear cover could be more easily removed, it seems the EU may be preparing for a return to such design ideas.
In proposals leaked to paywalled Dutch outlet Het Financieele Dagblad, the EU allegedly wants to make it easier to change the battery more easily replaceable in smartphones. By making it simpler to replace the battery, this will allegedly make smartphones more sustainable, enabling them to have a longer lifespan and generating less electronic waste.
Depending on how the proposals play out, the requirement to have a more easily replaceable battery could be a call to make it easier to repair a smartphone to put in a replacement for a dying battery. At its most extreme, it could take the form of making it a user-accessible component, which would necessitate a major rethink of modern design from every smartphone manufacturer.
The proposals are said to be presented by vice president of the European Commission's "Green Deal" Frans Timmermans in mid-March. The proposals are still being worked on, and are also likely to include other sustainability-related measures, including changes to product recycling regulations.
While only a leaked proposal of questionable provenance at this time, such a demand may take many years before it becomes a law, due to the relatively slow nature of continent-wide rule-making. Such rules will also only truly apply within the European Union, leaving open the possibility of an EU-specific smartphone design and one for the rest of the world, though the extra expense could see some pushback from device vendors.
The European Union has already one set of regulatory changes on the cards that may affect future smartphone usage. The European Commission voted in January to establish a common charging standard for devices, a move that may force Apple to shift away from Lightning to another connection type, however neither a timeframe nor plan has been established for the measure.
Comments
Am I being hysterical? Maybe, but trust me, bureaucrats know no boundaries when they are "serving the people".
The need to justify their expensive existence by constantly passing new regulations...
Thank god the U.K. escaped!
The EU will now design by committee products for consumers. Like this will not end badly. This is what happen when people rely on the government for everything.
Far more devices will require a battery replacement than will require repair from sitting in water for a few seconds.
Splash resistance is all that is needed and that doesn't require the same kind of engineering although waterproofing nano coatings have been available for years for phone components anyway.
If Apple felt an external battery inside a phone case was acceptable from a design and usage perspective, then a couple of millimetres is not going to be an issue in that sense.
It will also put an end to having to remove the screen to get at the battery which is a potential breakage point.
The external battery case option could even be taken to an extreme and made the sole main power option, allowing for ultra thin phones with no onboard main battery power and allowing users to choose from different power capacities, charging speeds and physical sizes/weights.
No that I would not like easily replaced battery as I had on all my older Motorola phones. They would mostly removeable since they did more than a 1/2 day. Replacing a Battery on an iPhone is not that hard. I have done it a number of times for various family members after the phone was 3+ yrs old. After you do it a few times it is fairly quick. For the most part the phone last most of the day on a single charge and when it does not charging it not that difficult.
Making it changeable will cost more than a few millimeters. and there are other issue you have to worry about.
Green? Is there anyone more stupid than a bureaucrats...
P.S
I really would like to ensure batteries are disposable of /recycled properly... any place that sells electronics should accept them. That would be 1000% better than their proposal.