cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1397803
It had been in the works for a while, but now it has formally been adopted. From the article:
The regulation provides that by 2027 portable batteries incorporated into appliances should be removable and replaceable by the end-user, leaving sufficient time for operators to adapt the design of their products to this requirement.
This is amazing news! The battery is usually the first thing to replace due to normal wear. Replacing it should not be seen as a repair, but as simple maintenance.
Definitely a step towards the right direction.
Can’t help but think that companies are going to find a way to turn this into profit…
Is the water resistance still gonna be there?
Water resistant phones existed before the trend to glue batteries in.
Also digital watches often offer water resistance suitable for high depths since a long time and always have had easily replaceable batteries.
So I am quite sure there will still be plenty of water resistant phones, although they may get slightly rarer as it is more difficult and thus costly to ensure tight seals on removable parts than to simply seal it with glue.
Yeah but with your watch example to retain water resistance you need to take it to a jeweller to do it properly. This is not “user serviceable”. You could also argue that they are already user serviceable as it’s currently possible to replace your own battery with a new battery and a small toolkit and instructions; how they will choose a level of difficulty will be interesting
The Galaxy S5 was IP67 with a removable back.
Not stated in the article, but from memory there’s an exception for smartphones because of ‘how tightly integrated and small’ they are, which is bullshit.
Sauce? Thought this policy would be interesting especially because of smartphones…
Apparently I was mistaken, as search results seem to indicate that it also goes for phones: https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/06/22/new-eu-law-to-force-smartphone-makers-to-build-easily-replaceable-batteries
