Apple must comply with a new European regulation concerning batteries!
European laws force Apple to change standards that were previously considered final. After the European Parliament’s approval of a common charging standard forced Apple to say goodbye to the iPhone’s Lightning port in favor of USB C, the next thing could be a change in the regulations, which offers to the end user the possibility to change the battery of your iPhone.
According to the settlement, the proposal aims to reduce waste and improve environmental sustainability. User-replaceable batteries comply with rules that “will regulate the entire life cycle of batteries, from production to reuse and recycling”.
The regulation establishes that by 2027, portable batteries built into devices must be removable and replaceable by the end user, allowing sufficient time for operators to adapt the design of their products to this requirement. This is an important provision for consumers.
What will the builders do?
Although a few years ago this regulation would have only affected Apple, since since its launch the obviously removable battery of the iPhone, today most manufacturers have adopted this design, which gives an appearance more modern, keeps them slim and makes a big difference when it comes to water resistance.
Immediately taking this reality, the settlement does not intend to return to the old design of placing the removable battery in the battery compartment on the back of the phone. Thus, EU regulators have defined “easily removable” as “removable from a product using commercially available tools”. With which, Apple’s challenge will be to provide options to access it without too much hassle.
While Apple started offering a self-service repair program last year, this process requires the rental of special tools, which will likely conflict with new EU regulations, the full text of which reads as follows:
A portable battery shall be considered readily removable by the end user when it can be removed from a product using commercially available tools, without the need for specialist tools, unless provided free of charge with the product, proprietary tools, energy or solvents to disassemble the product.
While Apple could partially remedy this situation by providing its “specialty tools” for free to European customers, a ban on the use of “proprietary tools, heat or solvents” could force the company to offer more standard options. and widely available to allow European consumers users to repair their devices without restrictions.
On Sunday 9 June, the European Council approved the regulation on batteries and waste batteries, closing the adoption procedure. The following steps are only formalities, for the European Parliament to approve the regulation and publish it in the Official Journal of the EU so that it enters into force. While Apple and other electronics manufacturers will have until 2027 to adapt.