TL;DR
- The European Council has ended its adoption procedure for rules related to phones with replaceable batteries.
- By 2027, all phones released in the EU must have a battery the user can easily replace with no tools or expertise.
- The regulation intends to introduce a circular economy for batteries.
Just need a tray you pull out of the side of the device that contains the battery with a gasket and a latch. Like a really big SIM or SD card tray.
The manufacturers can take the space needed from the battery making them even smaller and just blame regulators for the change while maintaining roughly the same phone without the battery for the rest of the world. At least that’s what I imagine they’ll do because corporations are always slimy like that.
They might just abandon the water resistance and blame the regulators, that’s what I’m afraid of.
Well some might. Then you are free to vote with wallet and move to the maker who still thinks water resistance and dust is good sell factor for phones. Market working like it’s supposed and so on. Within the guiding barriers market regulations.
I’m sure that it’s possible to do both, though it’d eat even more space for gaskets or whatever.