In two years time Apple, and every other smartphone manufacturer on the EU market for that matter, will be forced to make the battery user replaceable and that one will most likely benefit everyone; unless Apple wants to release two versions of every iPhone to comply with EU regulations which they won’t.
Just like with USB-C, which the EU regulated and now the iPad and IPhone have.
no no no, that was just Apple being brave /s
When they do come to it. I hope its the easily swappable like the ones in Nokia 3310. Otherwise its pointless imo.
AFAIK, the EU defines “user replaceable” as literally that; you open a hatch, pull the battery out and stick a new one in.
Unfortunately, they do not define it that way.
And there are exceptions based on capacity and how long you guarantee the battery capacity will be good for. IIRC, if it still has 70% capacity by 3 years time, it doesn’t have to be replaceable at all.
Can you really guarantee that? I mean, it’s pretty much dependent on individual usage.
Sure you can. Car manufacturers do it today.
You will have to define “3 years” as well. It can’t be a blanket 3 calendar year thing, it would have to be X number of cycles which the average user would realistically hit with 3 years of usage. Not someone glued to their phone playing games all day that need to charge three times a day.
Hopefully they keep selling a phone with no user replaceable battery. Id rather have the weather proofing than a battery i need to swap out one time after owning the phone for over 4 years.
How many times has your phone needed the weather proofing in the last 4 years? Mine is 0, at least twice. On the flip side, I have needed a new battery 2 times.
Not a good argument. This is like saying why do we need airbags because I have never used it. We need to have both the features, with water proofing being more critical.
Ive needed the IP68 rating a handful of times. I have needed a new battery zero times on my 4 year old phone. If I need the battery replaced, Ill just take it to apple and have them swap it out.
Its still at 70% usability, which still lasts me all day.
That’s the thing though, why is apple the only ones authorized to swap out your battery? That service isn’t free, and they’re massively overcharging you for it.
It’s also not impossible to build a phone that is water resistant and has a swappable battery, but that’s besides the point. Personally I’d rather have a swappable battery.
Maintenance is never free, so im okay with a service fee every four years rather than buy new phones every time they get wet. Im not saying my particular view is right for everyone, but its what I want. I get why people want replaceable batteries. No problem with it. I just would rather not have them. So if there is an option for both models, one with, and one without that feature, this is a win for everyone. If not, and only one or the other is implemented, then its going to suck for whoever is in the party that got left out.
Aren’t you being purposefully obtuse by refusing to consider the idea of a battery swappable phone that is IP68 certified? Its almost certainly going to happen with the line of phones in Europe that will have swappable batteries and it’s not even that far into the future.
I think this post is about change moving forward, not making sure our past decisions were sound.
Im refusing to accept the idea because it doesn’t exist. Who manufactures one?
If you import iphone from EU does it have these features or is it determined by the region you are using the phone from?