Gone are the days when we could easily take off the smartphone's battery and replace it with a new one. You didn't need a heat gun or a specialized tool to pop open the back of your phone, and you could easily do that with your fingernails. It seems like we could get the good old days back, thanks to a law passed by the European Union.
According to a new report, the European Parliament has changed a previous law that will force all gadgets, including smartphones, to have easily replaceable batteries. The MEP's vote count ratio for this change stood at 587 to 9. The term ‘easily' means that users should be able to replace the batteries without requiring special tools.
This means OEMs, from Apple to Google to Samsung, all have to make drastic changes to their smartphone designs to adhere to the new change that asks them to mount easily replaceable batteries on their devices. Also, the ‘glass sandwich' design certainly needs to be dropped if the brands want to implement easily replaceable batteries unless they have an alternative plan already in place.
The EU laws about smartphones are actually forcing OEMs to cut down on environmental waste
Of course, this law only applies to Europe. However, it is doubtful that smartphone brands, including Samsung, would design phones specific to EU laws. In general, the recent EU laws have brought much-needed changes and actually forced smartphone companies such as Apple and Samsung to protect the environment.
As we all know, Apple and Samsung removed most of the important in-box content from their smartphone retail boxes just in the name of saving the environment. The reality was that they wanted to make more money by selling parts separately rather than providing them inside the box. Apple sells its phones with all the in-box content, and the EU has also forced Apple to bring USB-C to iPhones, which will likely happen this year. Following this, India also passed the same law.
The new EU law that asks OEMs to implement easily replaceable batteries comes into effect 3.5 years from now, which means early 2027. The EU could also extend the time frame should OEMs need more time.
