Tech Tonic | No, the EU doesn’t require phones to have removable batteries

Social media tends to be a mostly doozy place defined by opaque algorithms dictating what you see and ‘trends’ based on metrics that we best not try to decode. The result is an echo chamber. Through this weekend, random accounts on X kept populating my timeline, all equally loudly proclaiming that the European Union (EU) will “require all mobile phones to be sold with user-replaceable batteries” by 2027. It is a harbinger for doomsday, or the best thing to happen to tech in years, depending on which ChatGPT generated thread X decided to paste on the timeline. Let me be straight—this is absolutely not what the EU has mandated.

What the EU has mandated, applicable from February 2027, are “easily replaceable batteries”. (HT file photo)

What the EU has mandated, applicable from February 2027, are “easily replaceable batteries”. This does not mean removable batteries like those from the good old era of BlackBerry phones (though I would love that), but there is an attempt to simplify battery replacements if needed and slow down the piling up of electronic waste. Think about it—how many times have you or the people you know, simply went and bought a new phone, because the battery in their older smartphone was starting to wane? The reality is, buying a new phone was more convenient than the hassle of battery replacements. Add to that, the cost of replacement batteries often borders on exorbitant.

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All this comes as part of the “Ecodesign requirements” (first notified in June 2023), which in part are applicable from the summer of last year. Key to this is making original replacement parts for battery, camera assembly, charging port, mechanical buttons, microphones and hinge assembly, available to professional repairers. For the battery specifically, phone makers must make battery packs, back cover or back cover assembly if it has to be fully removed, as well as protective foil for foldable displays, display assembly, chargers, and SIM tray and memory card tray if there is an external slot for a SIM tray or memory card tray, available to professional repairers and end-users for at least a period of 7 years after a brand has marked a particular product for a “date of end of placement on the market.”

This doesn’t at all mean your next iPhone or Galaxy or Pixel smartphone will have removable batteries, but the idea is to make it easier and more convenient to replace. The present scenario, particularly with flagships is that it is a rather long-winded process to get a battery replacement done for phones—and particularly the iPhones, which will immediately detect an un-authorised third-party accessory. At official service centers, turnaround times tend to be high, and the bill of replacements, often higher still.

The challenge for phone makers will be to innovate water and dust resistance ratings. In essence, the battery won’t be glued to the chassis, and the chassis itself will have to be open-able without needing specialised tools. The secure shell will not longer be that secure, and a relook at ruggedness metrics will be the need of the hour.

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While the regulation to give the choice and convenience to the users is welcome, it doesn’t tackle the fine detail of cost. Nothing stops phone makers from pricing these replacement batteries and accompanying parts into a prohibitively expensive bundle—and users may just wonder whether it makes sense to spend so much on replacing a battery in a 4-year old Android flagship—when software support would anyway run out in a year or so’s time.

There is absolutely no doubt user replaceable batteries are better. It was a simpler world when that was the case, long before we were told about the benefits of glue, slab-like chassis designs and that closed architectures were better for everyone. They simply aren’t. The heart aches for every smartphone that had to be let go over the years, simply because the battery wore out eventually. Let smartphone makers now develop newer water and dust resistance methods, as well as sturdy mechanisms for placing the battery in the phone.

And on that note, when are we tackling the “microSD cards in phones are bad” machinery?

Vishal Mathur is the Technology Editor at HT. Tech Tonic is a weekly column that looks at the impact of personal technology on the way we live, and vice versa. The views expressed are personal.