You may have noticed that while you can change a battery in your DSLR camera, you cannot change a battery in your smart phone or your notebook PC. That is about to change.
Although batteries are an essential tool in the energy transition, they also have huge hidden costs and environmental impact.
One argument for non-user replaceable batteries in smart phones is that phones can more readily be made water or splash proof/resistant.
The reality is that when batteries were replaceable, most people did not buy replacement batteries but upgraded their phones every 18-24 months. Of course, manufacturers saw that and though, why not get rid of user replaceable batteries?
Then, phone technology was advancing rapidly – remember 3G, 4G, 5G? Remember camera advances? Remember small screens later become 1920×1080 resolution? More memory? All these were reasons for consumers to update their phones, frequently.
Times change and we might be headed back, thanks to the EU rules, to having user changeable batteries once again.
