EU plans 'right to repair' rules for phones and tablets
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2019&nDisplay...
(I also included at least FullHD resolution in the search)
That said, I do feel like there’s a reasonable middle ground to be had: not a swappable battery, but a very easily replaceable one. No special hex screws, etc. Sure you can’t carry around six of them, but if you can replace it once a year you probably won’t need to... and you can always carry a power bank with you instead to recharge it on the go.
I think the SD card requirement is short sighted. As often as storage (and cables, not to mention other things) change I think the added space requirements in something like a phone, even for something as small as an SD card (plus the adapter and the spring mechanism, housing, etc.) is a waste. In a decade you may not be able to even find the same kind of storage anymore. Even if you can it’s not like the latest game that rings in at a bazillion gigathings that would so totally easily fit on your new SD card is actually going to run on your 9.5 year old phone - the processor, memory, etc. simply wont be up to the job.
I would be fine with an easily replaceable battery though... but again, I don't mind a little more volume.
Since it will be prohibitively expensive to take your phone to a store and have someone actually do that (ie: repair it), instead the rule will amount to some complex and less-than-ideal alternative where you can turn in your phone and get a refurbished one instead...
They then “recycle” your old broken phone - ship it back somewhere with significantly cheaper labor (and less strict disposal regulations) where they do some very basic component harvesting (such as screens and storage for those refurbs) and then melt down or simply trash the rest.
In the end you still can’t actually repair your old device (and really, that’s often just an unrealistic expectation this day in time, they’re just too small and complex) and we’ve just institutionalized a wasteful system to make ourselves feel better.
If you want your iPhone to be the size of an old bag phone then it can probably be repairable by any idiot with a screwdriver and soldering iron. If you want to keep it the size of something that fits in your pocket, that’s just not going to happen unless you’re fine with it doing the exact same things as a phone from 20 years ago did. I don’t think you’d be willing to pay $1200 for a smart phone that only makes calls just because you could replace every part in it.
Clearly, the demand for repairable phones is not sufficiently high to sway people from buying ones that are not repairable, and, more importantly, it may not be possible to make a phone meaningfully repairable with how small delicate technology in phones is nowadays.
Not to mention, how do we determine what level of repairability is sufficient, and by what metric? What parts should be interchangeable? Battery and camera? Should we merely make the phone's case easy to open? Why is any one or a combination of these things something that consumers are entitled to and need to have protected by law?
Strawman.
> we can all vote with our wallets and not buy phones that aren't repairable.
"Voting with one's wallet" just doesn't work.
> Clearly, the demand for repairable phones is not sufficiently high to sway people from buying ones that are not repairable,
Yes, that's the problem.
> and, more importantly, it may not be possible to make a phone meaningfully repairable with how small delicate technology in phones is nowadays.
Then the technology has to get bigger again. It's called a trade-off.
> Not to mention, how do we determine what level of repairability is sufficient, and by what metric? What parts should be interchangeable? Battery and camera? Should we merely make the phone's case easy to open?
It's almost as if making decisions involved making decisions. What's your point?
> Why is any one or a combination of these things something that consumers are entitled to and need to have protected by law?
That's in the article. Besides, "because they (resp. their elected representatives) want" is a perfectly valid and sufficient reason.
Recycling is inefficient. Repair requires skill, but is possible, energy-conserving as well as reduces pollution generally. See Louis Rossmann.