Hacker News Reader

I don't understand why consumer goods can't use 18650 cells to make devices long-term viable instead of soon-to-be e-waste. There are fewer and fewer devices I'm willing to buy because interchangeable batteries seem to be going away.

View on HN

Devices want to be portable. the competition for weight and size is very high. It's ironic how as usage of phones increased considerably with social apps, people seem to not have a problem with thicker iPhones for larger battery. The current iPhone 17 Pro is a chonk that would probably have been considered bulky and backwards 10 years ago.

The trends decide the standard. Many EVs use 18650 but I can see that for competition and weight reduction they may switch to a more proprietary standard like blade batteries in BYD for competition. It all depends on where the competition is going with it.

For earwear, I would say that portability and weight is a big area for competition.

Eyeware and EVs have different requirements than headphones or speakers. Why do headphones need to be disposable? An 18650, or even a Nokia BL-5C (which might as well be a standardized cell, what with the availability) would give them the ability to have their batteries easily replaced by the end user.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com