Are you constantly annoyed that your smartphone battery dies before the rest of the phone? Angry about the wastage that creates? Well, leaked EU proposals could force smartphone manufacturers to to make all batteries removable.
That would mean that all brands wanting to sell in the EU would have to make sure each phone has a battery that can be removed by the user – and that even would include Apple, the company most resistant to legislation around its iPhone designs, if attempts to make it change ports in the past is anything to go by.
This makes perfect sense. People are keeping their phones for longer and longer, so the ability to easily and quickly replace the battery is a big boon.
Two things need to accompany this.
1) The manufacturer should also be forced to use a standard battery size. I don’t mean how many cells, but the physical size of it. Otherwise we’ll still be stuck with phones you have to buy new every few years, because a non-standard battery will be hard to find.
2) Release the spec for the batteries so competition can attempt at making clone batteries. Granted these mostly suck, but competition is good, and then also we can have continued support for the batteries.
Okay, I’ll throw a third in, though it’s less about batteries, and more about being able to keep your phones for longer, and that’s Operating system upgrades / security patches. I love that the EU gives a shit about the consumers. It’s a shame laws like this will never pass in the US.
leech,
I agree, it is so nice to have interchangeable batteries. We’ve had several cameras and it’s so frustrating that none of the batteries are compatible (except for aa, etc of course). Alas, this means manufactures will have to come together to create a some new standards, but my impression is that this is unlikely to happen any time soon.
Obviously just because it’s 3rd party doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad battery, sometimes it’s even the exact same cells inside. Customer reviews can be helpful prior to buying to see how well they perform compared to originals, I’d like the law to provide assurances that defective/dangerous batteries are recalled like the OEM ones. I believe the EU already has stronger warranty protection than in the US.
Leech,
You were probably talking about smartphones by themselves, but portable electronics of all kinds could benefit from your suggestion.
The problem with free market incentives is that custom non-standard batteries have become a profit center for manufactures. They’re unlikely to voluntarily standardize.
With standardised batteries true innovation like the Galaxy Flip Z and Motorola RAZR wouldn’t be possible. Not to mention the case of some manufacturer wanting a battery that can output bursts of high voltage than what is “standard” today.
Even making batteries user-replaceable could hurt waterproofing.
Have a Nokia N95 (2008), a HYC Evo3D (2011) and a LG G3 (2014), all with replaceable battery and headphone jack. While their batteries are not “standardized” they are indeed about the same size. And that doesn’t prevent having a more compact form factor standardized as well when technology improves and evolves, just like we got from USB A ports to tiny compact yet super efficient USB C ports.
Btw, like I said all my phones have replaceable battery and headphone jack, using them for 10 years now, and not a single water damage. Wtf are you doing with your phones ? It’s fragile electronic devices anyway, so treat them with the care they deserves, period.
Too much standardisation is how the EU come about, and conceptually too much standardisation just sets a new level of mediocracy.
To standardise generally means hobbling the fastest horse so that the slower ponies have a chance.
I rather see manufacturers somehow forced to reasonably support older hardware for longer. Some sort of value for money fit for purpose clause. But I suppose it would all need to start with the user owning the phone, and companies like Apple object to this basic right.
cpcf,
I can understand that argument, but most batteries are so similar in both size and chemistry that they may as well be compatible. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be one size fits all, but it’s helpful to have some standardization because lets face it alot of the proprietary batteries today are arbitrarily proprietary and not strictly because they needed to be unique.
Where do you get the argument that “most batteries are so similar in size”? The battery on every phone is as large as it has to be to take up all space that wasn’t taken by the electronics, and hence is different for every phone.
Standardised battery sizes in modern phones make as much sense as standardising the amount of concrete needed to build an apartment block.
kurkosdr,
That’s a problem today, but only because of the lack of battery standards in the first place. If there were standard battery templates manufacturers would engineer the phones with standard batteries in mind.
Your objection would make more sense if we weren’t talking about thousands of devices with the same form factors. All manufacturers have engineers at the table solving the same identical problem, it’s just wasteful to keep reinventing the wheel over and over again with similar but always incompatible results. It’s your opinion that every phone needs to have a different incompatible non-standard battery, but my opinion is that doesn’t need to be the case and standardized batteries would be just fine.
Sorry but LiPo batteries already exists in all kind of “standardized” size, so it’s not that hard for a phone manufacturer to select a rather common form factor suitable for its own device, look here to get an idea https://hexunbaba.aliexpress.com/store/200272 an stop finding excuses. And that’s only one battery manufacturer, you can look around…
Well since your opinion involves establishing an “one-size fits all” mandate on something which is a major factor of innovation in mobile form factors, I am against it. Don’t expect me to sign any relevant petition on it.
Just look at all the internal layout innovations that happened in phones from 2010 to today and how it affected battery size and shape to see why your idea is absurd.
I still don’t see what these “battery innovations” actually renders the smartphones more “useful”. And there’s no “one-size fits all” bs, but like I wrote before, the number of already available “off the shelf” battery form factor shall be enough to fit every use. I’d say like the Ax paper size that you can divide by two and always get the same ratio, a standardized battery ratio should be made so that you can reduce their size and stack them to get larger capacity out of the smaller ones in older phones that used larger models. That would be real true innovation, not gluing batteries inside your phone and charging $80 to get it replaced.
kurkosdr,
I assume you’re talking about my opinion (can’t tell with wordpress) but if so I never said a standard needs to be “one-size fits all”. A standard could easily accommodate different form factors. Anyways don’t fret because this is just a leak about the EU considering mandating battery replaceability, and not standard batteries.
You make a big commotion against standards, but calling them “absurd” is more of an exaggeration for effect rather than an argument against it. There is no reason for every phone to have a unique battery, that’s a byproduct of not having standards in the first place. If there were standards engineers wouldn’t have any trouble engineering phones to use them. We disagree, so be it, haha.
Thom Holwerda,
I’m in agreement. This is one of the more frustrating ways that manufactures are encouraging waste. I assume the legislation not only mandates that the battery is replaceable but also stops the practice of blocking battery sales to consumers (as apple does)..
While I hope something like this passes, it’s not clear that companies like apple would give customers worldwide the benefit of replaceable batteries, or just those customers covered by the law.
The older marketing term is “planned obsolescence”. What we’re selling today, gives customers a taste of what’s to come. When the new thing shows up, the old thing should be just barely usable, worn out and ready to throw away. I think it started with the car manufacturers, but please don’t quote me on that.
The problem for the makers/designers is, the barrier of investment has dropped considerably, as consumers want more longevity from their purchases. People want their cars to go more years, and more distance. The same can be said for cell phones, which can cost anywhere from US$40 (dollar-store burner phone) to over $1,000 (high-end iPhone).
For myself, my cell phone now has an after-market battery, which I bought online for $9. The original battery lasted ~5 years. I think another 2 or 3 years of life for this cell phone is well worth the $9 I spent for the replacement battery.
Apple should take note. The fanbois/grrls are becoming disillusioned with the upgrade cycles on their iThings.
Wages haven’t dramatically increased in the last decade so that’s pretty normal people wants to make savings on absolutely non essential things, like commodities and such. Plus we are told that phone and batteries contains rare earth mined in horrible conditions and we should throw them away at the first sign of failure ? The more you use you old devices, the more you it is profitable on long term, both for you and the ecology : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2mkCaNH_gY
Personally I would be satisfied with standardized batteries. This would mean physical size, connectors and voltage and whatever else is required. Obviously not only one size but a few of them.
I don’t think it ought to be required that every phone must literally provide a way for the average consumer to swap batteries. Just that the phone is not velded shut so that any average repair shop can sensibly open and re-seal the phone without voiding warranty or compromising IP-certified water resistance.
sj87,
That’s a good point, where do you draw the line? Targeting the average joe might be a tall order on some of these models. But at the very least I think anyone with moderate skill ought to be able to do it at home using an appropriate kit. There are many causes of e-waste, this would go a long way towards solving at least one of them!
A few standard screws are OK, and there should be no risk of damaging the phone while opening and closing it.
Nowadays on a lot of models you have to deal with glue, many screws, and a huge risk of damaging ribbon cables, the screen, water resistance, etc…
Glue is quite easily dealt with although there will be no “certified guarantees” of achieving original levels of water resistance. Changing a battery on any modern (current) device is piece of cake for repair shops. The biggest concern seems to be with how the battery is attached to the chassis. Many manufacturers use pullstrips but others insist on sort of permanent glue on.
I changed my phone a few months ago because it had problems with the battery.l I could have perfectly put up with my old phone at least two or three years more.
Why are they picking on Apple here when the Android manufacturers are much worse about supporting their products? Apple will replace a worn out battery in an iPhone for something like $80. They just did this for an 6S I have.
Secondly, a user-replaceable battery introduces impedance due to the connector, and it’s less efficient soldered battery. With our current level of battery technology, we need to squeeze out efficiencies as much as possible.
Third, just make the manufactures commit to making official parts and service equipment available for like a decade. They could probably make a ton of money off of official parts and drive business to repair shops, like how the car manufacturers do it.
With that being said, I would like to have the option of buying something like the Fairphone in the US and installing PostmarketOS on it. The big blocker for this is the spectrums don’t line up across the world, and each country doesn’t respect the other countries certifications. We would need to sync the allocated spectrums and establish treaties say other countries testing is equivalent and sufficient. This is really the way forward for those of use who want to maintain out electronics.
Flatland_Spider,
I certainly agree with your point about many android manufacturers dropping the ball especially with updates, that deserves a failing grade. Nevertheless I think the reason apple gets so much negative press is because apple directly takes part in sabotaging supply channels for repair shops and actively interfering with recycling programs. Even apple’s own certified repair shops face artificial scarcity and delays due to apple’s efforts to control the after-market. In this regard apple is much guiltier than the average android manufacturer. IMHO comprehensive legislation should address all causes of shortened lifecycles, both hardware and software.
The wire and battery itself probably have much more resistance than the connector, so I doubt the difference would even be perceptible, but I’d be interested in seeing whatever data you have on it.
It’s definitely doable, but in the US it’s an uphill battle to pass laws for consumer rights over corporate greed.
Like said above, using 10 years old smartphones, with replaceable batteries. Never noticed that “impedance due to the connector” thing. You really have to come down on earth with your FUD. Btw, replaceable batteries can also evolves while technology improves. And replaceable batteries costs around $10 and you can swap them yourself. You don’t have to throw the whole device to trash when something break, or you do the same with your car when you get a flat tire ? Seriously…
Conflicted here. On the one hand, replaceable batteries would reduce e-waste and empower consumers. On the other hand, you lose water resistance and add bulk to the device.
I’ve yet to discard a device due to the battery. Cracked screens, though…
Water resistance ? But what the hell are you all doing with your phones ? Bulk of the device ? Take a bare HTC Evo3D in hand, with replaceable battery and even headphone jack and tell me about the bulk. Stop this nonsense, really. Phones are sure thinner but are now so large you almost need two hands to operate them comfortably, otherwise they’ll fall off from your grasp anyway due to their size getting slowly “out of hand”, hence the trend to get something more “manageable” with the foldable phone.
They can make water resistant phones with replaceable battery compartments easily enough.
Hell, you can coat all of your electronics with hydrophobic sprays to make them water resistant.
Think about this, instead of ‘oh my god they are doing innovative things to fit more in!’
They are not. As we advance, things just get smaller. Including battery cells. So if we had a few standard sizes, and you would be able to keep your 1000 dollar phone for 10 years, you could potentially get a week of battery time by a 10 year newer battery!
Phone makers haven’t really innovated much more than some software, and gotten camera components of the same size with better capabilities. That doesn’t give them an excuse to kill the 3.5mm jack, or seal in batteries or remove MicroSD Card slots and force us to use their cloud storage, in essence owning your data.
Late night / Early morning rant. Hoping my Librem 5 phone gets here soon…
Why not just set a standard for battery durability at must retain X% of original capacity after Y charge cycles? Given how flimsy most smartphone circuitry is, switching the industry to LiPO4 or similarly long lived battery chemistry would solve a lot of battery-replacement woes without mandating a form factor. This is hardly some niche thing, even Samsung is switching to LiPO4 for the S/Note 20 series.
The EU is practically a self parody of busybody government. It’s easy to say mandatory user replaceable batteries are a great idea but in a couple years they’ll be telling you what color trousers you are allowed to wear. There is clearly a surplus of psychotropic substances in Brussels.
It provides many “elite citizens” to have a job, and pretty well paid. And opportunities for their kids as well. And also recycle them in private companies after a while. And back. And forth. It’s a whole financial recycling ecosystem.
Well obviously all phone makers should use an established standard in their phones also. AA batteries should do the trick