It’s like the only way they sell new ones now.
If batteries didn’t fail, phones from 5 years ago would still be fine.
I just got the battery on my iPhone XR, a 4.5 year old phone, replaced before a 3 week summer holiday. I had the option of replacing it myself, paying a third party store to replace it, or paying Apple to replace it. The part of the article that concerns me is quoted below.
For "portable batteries" used in devices such as smartphones, tablets, and cameras, consumers must be able to "easily remove and replace them." This will require a drastic design rethink by manufacturers, as most phone and tablet makers currently seal the battery away and require specialist tools and knowledge to access and replace them safely.
That makes it sound like the current iPhone’s, like the XR at least and through the 14, won’t be considered “user replaceable” because they don’t have a back cover that just pops off, like they used to have on the Galaxy S12 or whatever. I’m concerned that this will result in phones either losing decent water resistance capability, or losing brand new battery capacity because manufacturers have to use a smaller battery in order to fit in a bunch of new gaskets and seals around a battery cover.
the refusal to provide security updates.
This is the single largest problem with phone manufacturers today. Apple devices currently get about 5-6 years of full OS updates, and up to 9-10 years of security updates. Samsung is the Android industry in this regard, and they, only just within the past year, committed to 5 years of security updates. Huawei commits to 24 months of security updates.
I can wholeheartedly support the requirements for battery recycling and mandated percentage of recycled material in new batteries, but if the EU really wanted to address e-waste they would be prioritizing legislation to enact minimum security update timelines. This is the single biggest driver of “planned obsolescence” and e-waste in smart phones and tablets today.