Replacing a dead battery on smartphones used to be quite easy not so long ago. It didn’t require any professional help and users could easily pop the back cover open to access the replaceable battery. And having a replaceable battery on your smartphone was more of a norm than an exception. These days, however, replacing a dead battery on your smartphone is a herculean task that requires specialized equipment and poses the risk of voiding the warranty. But this might change soon as the EU is currently mulling over a plan to make smartphone batteries easily replaceable once again.
According to a recent report from Dutch financial publication Het Financieele Dagblad (FD), the EU wants to force electronics manufacturers to facilitate easier battery replacements. Sustainability seems to be the core idea behind this proposal, as easier battery replacements will allow people to use their smartphones for a longer duration, thereby generating lesser electronic waste. A leaked draft for the proposal was recently procured by FD and it reveals that Frans Timmermans, vice-president of the ‘Green Deal’ at the European Commission, will be presenting it mid-March. The EU is reportedly adding the finishing touches to the proposal, which will reportedly enforce wider product recycling, re-use of raw material, and more sustainable production.
With the cost of smartphones easily exceeding $1,000 or more now, and batteries often being the weakness (and not insurable for wear and tear), we really need these measures. Imagine being able to just pop in a replacement battery into your iPhone (only joking, we all know Apple will not bow to this). I still sit with the bitter taste in my mouth over my failed Nexus 6P battery. It was a massive job to replace the non-replaceable battery and would have been so much easier to have been able to pop the back open and put a new battery in. These measures would certainly extend the useful life of these very expensive devices.
See Leaked EU proposal reveals plan to make smartphone batteries easier to replace
A leaked proposal suggests that the EU is planning to force manufacturers to make smartphone batteries easily replaceable.