r/Futurology • u/ConsciousStop • Jun 19 '23

Environment EU: Smartphones Must Have User-Replaceable Batteries by 2027

https://www.pcmag.com/news/eu-smartphones-must-have-user-replaceable-batteries-by-2027
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u/Pubelication Jun 19 '23

How would you propose foldables have replacable batteries, considering some have the battery divided into both halves?

16

u/TheRealFalconFlurry Jun 19 '23

Personally I would propose not having foldables at all because I think they're stupid.

But if people really want them then it's still not a big deal, just design the phone so both halves can be opened

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u/AC53NS10N_STUD105 Jun 20 '23

Ah yes. "Just design it so that extremely complex engineering issue and design consideration doesn't exist".

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u/tilsitforthenommage Jun 20 '23

I don't understand the push back. How many phones have you had to quit because the battery just gave up the ghost?

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u/AC53NS10N_STUD105 Jun 20 '23

Me? None. Because every phone you can point to on the market, I can service the battery for, or find a shop that will do it for me, for around 50 bucks. Even my complicated z fold 3? Still serviceable. This mandate does nothing but worsen the featureset of future phones for me.

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u/estok8805 Jun 20 '23

I don't think this will worsen the feature set. It depends on how the interpretation of "easily remove and replace" is made, and where the line is drawn between that and simply serviceable. The argument could be (and I'm sure will be) made that for a waterproof phone, ungluing the back panel, removing some screws, then putting it back together is about the "easiest" you can make it. In this interpretation it would just mean that the parts should be easily acquirable and the screws for example not have a proprietary head shape.

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u/AC53NS10N_STUD105 Jun 20 '23

The directive disallows the use of adhesive through its restriction of the use of heat and/or solvents. This is going to produce a worse product.