Am I being hysterical? Maybe, but trust me, bureaucrats know no boundaries when they are "serving the people".
Not at all! All this is, is an attempt at protectionism all wrapped up in “green”.
Mind you I hate Apples approach on laptops but on cell phones I really see it as the right move. Internal batteries simply result in a more rugged and reliable cell phone.
Eurocrats are the worst on the planet, interfering in what kind of lightbulb you can buy, how powerful your vacuum is, kettles,
All examples of worthwhile and extremely positive initiatives. The vacuum thing in particular! They legislated that vacuums should be sold on the basis of how well they suck things up, not on how much energy they consume! This is just a no-brainer with no downside.
Internet memes
I may have missed this one. To what are you referring?
Now, onto the specific issue at hand - if they force user-replaceable batteries that will be a disaster. However, enforcing some kind of cost cap on battery replacement, and a minimum number of years that manufacturers have to offer a replacement battery service for any given model - these would be good things.
Thank you for your comments. It’s nice to see at least one sensible reaction in the midst of this excuse for euro-bashing. Why is it that every time the EU is mentioned in AI, people rush to post their criticisms? Is the US government really that much better? Or the Canadian, or the Chinese, or any other!
Actually those governments you mentioned are far better than the EU when it comes to stupid regulation avoidance. The EU is at the top of the heap when it comes to senseless regulation.
I have no problem making batteries replaceable if manufacturers and consumers want it. But this is not something any wise government should be mandating.
If it's such a great idea and the claim is that many people want it, then somebody should make a phone offering that, and it should sell like hotcakes. The free market will decide.
What should not happen is a bunch of corrupt dictator wannabes and technologically ignorant fanatics dictating and mandating how others should make their products.
Except we don't have a choice, do we? If I want an iPhone, I can't get one with a battery that's even moderately easy to replace.
Come on! These arguments were also given when gouvernement wanted seatbelts and head protectors in cars. Regulations are everywhere and constantly imposed.
Seatbelts are not comparable to battery compartments. The seatbelt rules are obviously for safety reasons while the battery compartment idea is for nebulous and sinister reasons.
Sinister reasons by 'corrupt dictator wannabes?' Really? Clearly they all have a plot to bankrupt Apple and then take over the world. It's a good thing you can see through their facade!
The rationale behind seatbelts is very analogous. When they were enacted you had people making the same complaints and arguments against the regulations.
There are good reasons to make batteries replaceable - reduced waste and decreased costs for consumers. One can argue that Apple and other manufacturers actually have a vested interest in making them difficult to replace because it drives more sales. (Maybe that's the real sinister plot here?)
There are good reasons to make batteries replaceable - reduced waste and decreased costs for consumers. One can argue that Apple and other manufacturers actually have a vested interest in making them difficult to replace because it drives more sales. (Maybe that's the real sinister plot here?)
I see the whole battery thing as a non issue and not something that is in need of any solution.
I've never had an issue with any of the iPhones I've ever had. When a battery is no longer functioning well, then the person has two choices, they can either get it replaced, which is a simple thing to do, or they can go and buy a newer model phone.
Many people will opt for option #2, because their phone is many years old by the time the battery needs replacing, and they'd rather have a brand new, up to date phone.
But for those who wish to keep using their old phone, luckily for them, that is an option too.
It started with the mandated charger port. Like we didn't see this coming. Once bureaucrats get their hands on something it's all over. Can you imagine what an iPhone or Samsung phone will look like when its design has been mandated by a government bureaucracy. Next up, a physical keyboard (because you can't conduct business with a touch screen keyboard, just like Steve Balmer predicted). /s Remember those before-and-after smartphone pictures when the iPhone was released? Talk about a retrograde!
Am I being hysterical? Maybe, but trust me, bureaucrats know no boundaries when they are "serving the people".
Looks like Europe is looking out for its people interest over that of global corporations, sounds good to me.
Raise your hand if you’ve thrown away disposable/removable batteries. I have. I know they’re toxic as hell, but finding out where they should go isn’t easy or convenient.
You know what battery I didn’t throw away? The one in my iPhone when I got it replaced at the Apple Store.
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.
I guess you have never been to Europe, yes ordinary people recycle just about everything, as am American I can't get over how backwards we are here in regards to this.
Some believe we've been able to walk on the moon since the 1960s but somehow we can't design a phone with a user-replaceable battery? In the meantime we've had portable flashlights, and VHF radios kept waterproof even after the batteries were replaced many times... Something is wrong with this picture. Btw, this from iFixit: We will never stop reminding people that AirPods are an 18-month lease of utterly unrepairable e-waste...
Let's all go back to the 90's, where phones were fat and they all had these little battery compartments, what a wonderful idea!
The EU is just absolutely disgusting and there is apparently no limit to the amount of idiotic and braindead ideas that they come up with.
They need to leave American companies, Americans and all other normal people who are not a part of the EU out of their schemes, because we will not partake in their lunacy.
If the EU wants replaceable batteries, then they can get Nokia or somebody to provide all phones for them. The EU does not deserve to use modern smart phones or to partake in the modern, civilized world.
Apple should seriously consider telling the EU to take a hike.
The EU is bad for innovation, bad for tech, bad for freedom and bad for all humankind, in my honest opinion.
What's the next ingenious idea that those EU retards will think of next week? I can hardly wait.
Completely agree. This is down to some German or French multinational lobbying the EU to protect a market they don’t have.
So glad the U.K. has left the EU. The cracks are already there in their plans to ‘destroy’ a massive trading partner as an act of spite.
the EU as it current exists won’t exist in 10 years time and the world will be a better place.
I have no problem making batteries replaceable if manufacturers and consumers want it. But this is not something any wise government should be mandating.
If it's such a great idea and the claim is that many people want it, then somebody should make a phone offering that, and it should sell like hotcakes. The free market will decide.
What should not happen is a bunch of corrupt dictator wannabes and technologically ignorant fanatics dictating and mandating how others should make their products.
Come on! These arguments were also given when gouvernement wanted seatbelts and head protectors in cars. Regulations are everywhere and constantly imposed.
That is the oddest case of conflation I have heard for some time.
Looks like Europe is looking out for its people interest over that of global corporations, sounds good to me.
Doh! The EU is not Europe dimwit.
The UK, Switzerland, Norway, Ukraine are not members of the EU. And this isn’t even those member nations of the EU deciding this, instead it’s a bunch of bureaucrats in Brussels thinking they know best whether the citizens of the EU like it or not.
Looks like Europe is looking out for its people interest over that of global corporations, sounds good to me.
Doh! The EU is not Europe dimwit.
The UK, Switzerland, Norway, Ukraine are not members of the EU. And this isn’t even those member nations of the EU deciding this, instead it’s a bunch of bureaucrats in Brussels thinking they know best whether the citizens of the EU like it or not.
The UK still has the EU laws as the base framework. Today, it's WEEE laws are the EU laws.
Norway, as an associate member to the EU has implemented around 5,000 EU laws, including WEEE.
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.
I am a native Dutch speaker and I have read the article in Het Financiële Dagblad, and nowhere it is suggested that Apple or other smartphone makers could be forced to produce phones with user-replaceable batteries. Frankly, I am not even sure whether that is what the EU is aiming for here... The EU sure wants to have a more circular economy (laudable, in my opinion), but the article leaves open other ways of increasing lifespan of phones and other electronic gear. In any way, with the advent of solid state batteries, the point might be moot anyway.
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.
Since when did we have so many Euro-Sceptic libertarians around here? Sounds kinda odd for fans of a liberal California company like Apple. Since when is it a BAD thing for all phones to have a common charger? Why is it a BAD thing for it to be easier to change a dead battery?
So the proposed mandate is to make it "easier" to change a battery in a phone? That's pretty open-ended, because what is "easier"? I've never had to replace an iPhone battery, but for about US $50 and time to grab lunch, I can get my phone battery replaced. Seems easy enough to me as it is.
Left to their own design, here is a leaked image of the proposed EU phone battery system. Very easy indeed.
Actually, the picture leads me to wonder: why hasn’t the EU insisted on a similar user-friendly battery replacement design for cars? After all, the industry has been around for more than a century.
So the proposed mandate is to make it "easier" to change a battery in a phone? That's pretty open-ended, because what is "easier"? I've never had to replace an iPhone battery, but for about US $50 and time to grab lunch, I can get my phone battery replaced. Seems easy enough to me as it is.
Left to their own design, here is a leaked image of the proposed EU phone battery system. Very easy indeed.
Actually, the picture leads me to wonder: why hasn’t the EU insisted on a similar user-friendly battery replacement design for cars? After all, the industry has been around for more than a century.
The Battery Directive is up for review this year.
The EU has not insisted on user friendly battery replacement.
Car batteries do not fall into the same category as phone batteries under the Battery Directive and are also covered by the ELV directive when cars reach end of life.
So the proposed mandate is to make it "easier" to change a battery in a phone? That's pretty open-ended, because what is "easier"? I've never had to replace an iPhone battery, but for about US $50 and time to grab lunch, I can get my phone battery replaced. Seems easy enough to me as it is.
Left to their own design, here is a leaked image of the proposed EU phone battery system. Very easy indeed.
Actually, the picture leads me to wonder: why hasn’t the EU insisted on a similar user-friendly battery replacement design for cars? After all, the industry has been around for more than a century.
The Battery Directive is up for review this year.
The EU has not insisted on user friendly battery replacement.
Car batteries do not fall into the same category as phone batteries under the Battery Directive and are also covered by the ELV directive when cars reach end of life.
So the proposed mandate is to make it "easier" to change a battery in a phone? That's pretty open-ended, because what is "easier"? I've never had to replace an iPhone battery, but for about US $50 and time to grab lunch, I can get my phone battery replaced. Seems easy enough to me as it is.
Left to their own design, here is a leaked image of the proposed EU phone battery system. Very easy indeed.
Actually, the picture leads me to wonder: why hasn’t the EU insisted on a similar user-friendly battery replacement design for cars? After all, the industry has been around for more than a century.
The Battery Directive is up for review this year.
The EU has not insisted on user friendly battery replacement.
Car batteries do not fall into the same category as phone batteries under the Battery Directive and are also covered by the ELV directive when cars reach end of life.
Thanks for not answering the real question.
The real question? The answer is there, as far as it can be considered an answer.
This is a slow process. Hence constant reviews of directives in an attempt to keep them relevant. There is consultation and things get knocked into shape. These directives aim to reduce the environmental impact of certain substances and harmonise the approach on an EU level.
We had the battery directive (2006) and the ELV directive. The next objective will be electric cars. The WEEE directive and the RoHS directive. There are sometimes overlapping elements within the directives.
You are 'wondering' based on something that doesn't actually exist and as a result, 'the real question' doesn't have much holding it together.
Comments
The rationale behind seatbelts is very analogous. When they were enacted you had people making the same complaints and arguments against the regulations.
There are good reasons to make batteries replaceable - reduced waste and decreased costs for consumers. One can argue that Apple and other manufacturers actually have a vested interest in making them difficult to replace because it drives more sales. (Maybe that's the real sinister plot here?)
There is legislation for that ;-)
The Battery Directive! 2006.
You can dispose of batteries for free and you don't have to go out of your way to do it.
There is absolutely no reason for anything hazardous to go to landfill.
I've never had an issue with any of the iPhones I've ever had. When a battery is no longer functioning well, then the person has two choices, they can either get it replaced, which is a simple thing to do, or they can go and buy a newer model phone.
Many people will opt for option #2, because their phone is many years old by the time the battery needs replacing, and they'd rather have a brand new, up to date phone.
But for those who wish to keep using their old phone, luckily for them, that is an option too.
I guess you have never been to Europe, yes ordinary people recycle just about everything, as am American I can't get over how backwards we are here in regards to this.
We will never stop reminding people that AirPods are an 18-month lease of utterly unrepairable e-waste...
So glad the U.K. has left the EU. The cracks are already there in their plans to ‘destroy’ a massive trading partner as an act of spite.
the EU as it current exists won’t exist in 10 years time and the world will be a better place.
The UK, Switzerland, Norway, Ukraine are not members of the EU.
And this isn’t even those member nations of the EU deciding this, instead it’s a bunch of bureaucrats in Brussels thinking they know best whether the citizens of the EU like it or not.
Norway, as an associate member to the EU has implemented around 5,000 EU laws, including WEEE.
The Ukraine also implements WEEE directive AFAIK.
The EU has not insisted on user friendly battery replacement.
Car batteries do not fall into the same category as phone batteries under the Battery Directive and are also covered by the ELV directive when cars reach end of life.
This is a slow process. Hence constant reviews of directives in an attempt to keep them relevant. There is consultation and things get knocked into shape. These directives aim to reduce the environmental impact of certain substances and harmonise the approach on an EU level.
We had the battery directive (2006) and the ELV directive. The next objective will be electric cars. The WEEE directive and the RoHS directive. There are sometimes overlapping elements within the directives.
You are 'wondering' based on something that doesn't actually exist and as a result, 'the real question' doesn't have much holding it together.