Image credit – iFixit
Back in the day, there were many companies who created smartphones that had removable and replaceable batteries. This meant that in the event your phone’s battery health is bad and is no longer holding its charge as well as it should, all you would need to do is swap it out for a new one.
This is versus the current design of smartphones where if a battery is failing, sure, swapping it out is possible, but it could be expensive. Customers are instead encouraged to just buy a new smartphone. However, that’s not what the EU wants because according to an alleged leaked document from the European Union (EU), they want the return of easy replaceable batteries.
The EU is expected to discuss the possibility of making this mandatory as early as next month, where if the law is passed, it could force companies to start making phones that have batteries that users could easily replace themselves. This is not a bad idea as it could help cut down on electronic waste, although we imagine that many companies probably won’t be too thrilled by it.
This is not the first time the EU is tackling electronic waste in the smartphone industry. Not too long ago, the EU wanted to make it so that all smartphones use the same charger, which would basically force Apple to make the switch from Lightning to something a bit more ubiquitous like USB-C.