A year ago we reported that the European Union was considering requiring manufacturers operating in the old continent to design their phones to make battery changes easier. What’s more, Mobile phone batteries will have to be removable, by law, from 2027. In the purest style of the old Nokias. And, of course, this has its advantages and disadvantages.
To begin with, and they certainly had not counted on this in Brussels, Liquid protection would be a thing of the pastToday’s handsets are highly water and dust resistant and much thinner than they were years ago. Plus, it would make the job of keeping a phone from being tracked by Find My a lot easier for thieves, since they would simply have to take it off and never see our iPhone again.
Apple engineers disagree with the move
This is part of a whole series of legislations of the Council of the European Union. It includes, as we have already said, the objective that by 2027 any electronic device aimed at the consumer make battery replacement as easy as possible for the user. He has spoken about this in an interview John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering.
There may be a slight conflict between durability and maintainability. You can make an internal component easier to maintain by making it discrete and removable, but that adds a potential point of failure. Through data we can understand which parts of the phone need to be repaired and which are better made so they never need to go to the shop. It’s a kind of balance.
Our iPhones are IP68 certified, making them highly water resistant. […]. To achieve these levels of resistance, there are a lot of high-tech adhesives and sealants that make everything waterproof, but of course, that makes opening the phone a little bit more difficult. So there’s a trade-off.
The future of the iPhone with removable battery
Currently, Apple sells a tool kit and any user could repair their own products. iFixit experts use these types of tools. And the truth is that, although it is not worth it, makes it clear that repairability and sustainability is a priority for the brandthat component replacements are a priority.
In fact, the “Apple 2030” plan involves moving to 100% recycled and renewable materials, clean electricity and low-carbon transportation, and achieving net zero emissions. That is, offset all CO2 emissions.
On the other hand, it is true that they have until 2027 to find a solution, but the benefits do not seem to be enough to justify the drawbacks. The interior would have to be completely redesigned, with the extra risk of failure that this entails, we would lose resistance to water and dust, and there would be less chance of recovering the iPhone if it were stolen. The “unibody” concept would go down the drain. So we’ll have to see if this ultimately comes to fruition or not, but at first glance, it doesn’t seem like a change for the better.