The EU would like to have a talk with manufacturers about this… Much like USB C for iPhones, removable batteries are in the works again thanks to the EU.
I hope these changes affect the global supply chain, but I’m very skeptical that it’s going to have any repercussions outside of the EU.
Maintaining multiple SKUs with major differences is quite expensive and time consuming, plus confusing for the customer on a global Internet trying to look things up. I expect that this would make at least some manufacturers ship these to other countries, so we would have some options.
These changes tend to be global because it’s cheaper to make the change for everyone than have two different designs and manufacturing (one for EU and other for the rest of the world). And more often than not EU is too big of a market to ignore.
Well, Samsung is selling phones with shit CPUs to Europe and good ones to USA.
I will import EU phones if it doesn’t.
Obviously a global change would be better, and hopefully that’s what happens but at the very least those of us that live in places with worse consumer protection have that opinion.
Edit: In thinking a minute about it, I’m thinking that this probably won’t be necessary. I haven’t looked but I imagine there are still androids with removable batteries on offer, and it’s safe to assume there will be more after this, even if it’s not all. Though I guess if you want a very specific phone with a removable battery, that’s an option.
Bear in mind the law isn’t for replaceable batteries in the way you describe, it just has to be easy enough for a person or a repair shop to do without too much risk of damage.
It’s unlikely we’ll see every phone having a back we can just pop off and pull the battery out.
Even then, there are exceptions. If the phone still retains 84% of battery capacity by year 3, and I think 80% by year 4, it doesn’t have to be user-servicable.
