Back to the Future: EU wants to force smartphones to be equipped with replaceable batteries

Another big seismic change could be coming to smartphones by way of Europe

Extendable, removable battery for the Motorola DROID Pro

In those days, users could buy extra batteries, charge them, and simply swap out a dead battery for a fully charged one. Some manufacturers also offered larger capacity batteries for their handsets that users could insert in their phones for extended battery life. Lawmakers in the EU have already agreed to the new rules which also force battery manufacturers to use a specified percentage of recycled materials in their products: 16% of the cobalt, 85% of the lead, 6% of the lithium, and 6% of the nickel used in a battery must come from a recycled source.

If this legislation is passed by Parliament, phone manufacturers might have to give in to offering replaceable batteries on handsets by designing thicker phones as sealed batteries allow manufacturers to produce thinner models. The capacity of batteries used on smartphones will probably decline since consumers would be encouraged to do what they did in the good old days: buy spare batteries and carry them around fully charged ready to be swapped for a dead battery in a heartbeat.

If someone has an issue with the battery on their phone these days, the device needs to be sent back to the manufacturer or seen at an authorized service center. We can understand that the EU wants to make things easier for consumers by saving them the expense and time of bringing their phone to a service center for a battery change. But the question is whether the inconvenience this saves is worth the inconvenience of having to carry around extra batteries wherever you go just in case the one on the phone dies.

Apple could team up with Android phone manufacturers in an attempt to prevent this legislation from passing

Of course, carrying around a power bank is one way to get around the change to lower-capacity replaceable batteries if the legislation passes. But you can be sure that phone manufacturers are going to fight this with everything they’ve got. Remember, when it came to the common charger directive, only Apple was impacted since most Android phones already use USB-C.

Therefore, there is a good chance that Apple will include a USB-C port globally on the iPhone 17 line, and might end up using replaceable batteries on all iPhone models three and a half years after Parliament passes-if it passes- the new rules covering batteries used on devices sold in the continent.