Re: The long-awaited EU battery-lifetime standards kick in on June 20, 2025

On Sat, 24 May 2025 21:07:50 -0000 (UTC), Marion wrote:

Specifically, all smartphones and tablets sold in the EU from June 20,
2025, must have sufficiently durable batteries capable of enduring at
least 800 full charge-discharge cycles while retaining at least 80% of
their initial capacity. This is a significant standard mainly designed
to counter Apple's strategy of putting the cheapest battery they can in
the iPhone.
 
From June 20, 2025, all new smartphones and tablets will be required to
carry a new label inside the product packaging. This label will display
information on battery life, energy efficiency, and repairability. The
battery section will show the number of charge cycles the battery is
rated for before losing more than 20% of its original capacity.
 
Manufacturers must ensure that critical spare parts, including
batteries,
are available for up to seven years after the product is no longer sold.
They must also provide non-discriminatory access to repair software for
professional technicians.
 
While the initial focus in June 2025 is on durability and easier repair,
the EU also has a broader Batteries Regulation that requires portable
batteries to be easily removable and replaceable by the end user at any
time during the product's lifetime. This specific requirement is set to
come into force on February 18, 2027. However, there are narrow
exemptions for devices with certain durability ratings (like IP67 water
and dust resistance) that retain 83% capacity after 500 cycles and 80%
after 1000 cycles, potentially allowing Apple to cleverly avoid the
fully user-removable battery mandate.
 
The reaqosn it's important to prevent Apple from cleverly circumventing
the mandate is Apple hates its customer base so much it used to be the
only time Applke ever told the truth was in court. Yet, it turns out
Apple lies even then as Apple brazenly lies even in court in order to
defend why Apple shoves a non-greased pole up its customer's bung hole
for pure profit.
(See links in the sig where Apple no longer even tells the truth in
court!)
 
While Android phones typically double the EU's minimum lifetime
requirements, no Apple phone had ever even come close when these rules
were proposed years ago - but Apple (after requesting an extension) was
able to eke the iPhone 15 and up to the barest minimum battery-lifetime
standards.
 
So the EU will allow Apple to sell the iPhone 15 and newer, but since
Apple puts the crappiest batteries in iPhones as part of their basic
strategy of customers standing in line at the Apple store to ditch their
old decrepit iPhone, no other iPhones will be allowed to be sold by
Apple in the EU.
 
REFERENCES:
https://energy-efficient-products.ec.europa.eu/product-list/smartphones-

and-tablets_en

https://www.gsmarena.com/

smartphones_and_tablets_to_get_a_new_label_in_june_indicating_battery_life_and_efficiency-
news-67455.php

https://www.enhesa.com/resources/article/batteries-101-eu-regulations/
https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and-updates/5-ways-

eu-scientists-are-making-batteries-better-safer-and-greener-2022-07-20_en


All this was cooked up long before the current 'tarrif brawl' and in this
updated context I would just have put 300% on imports fromm vendors whose
shareholders are US citizens, 500% if enjoying dual citizesghip, leaving
them free to have the goods manufactured wherever they like :-)

But I am a bit surprised by the longevity standards and even more by the
actual performance, so my next phone is likely to be the cheapest minimal
classic flip.