Leaked EU documents suggest Apple may be forced to make new iPhones have a removable battery

iPhone battery replacement

In the early years, one of the reasons the iPhone stood out is due to the non-removable battery. That’s basically the standard operating procedure across the board these days, but the European Union may be looking to make some changes.

TechRadar has the report today, which is based on some leaked EU documentation by Het Financieele Dagblad, suggesting that Apple could be forced to make new iPhones feature a removable battery. The change would not just be for Apple, but for all smartphone manufacturers — basically making many of them go back to how smartphone designs were before they made the switch to the non-removable path.

The documentation states that the goal is to have all smartphones feature a user-removable battery. This would include Apple. And it would be a rule in place for any smartphone manufacturer that wants to sell a phone in the EU.

The proposal is not public yet. However, the documentation suggests that it will be officially unveiled sometime in March.

The goal here is multi-faceted. First, the documentation states that it wants to reduce electronics waste, something that dead batteries tucked away into otherwise operable phones can cause. In addition to that, the documentation states that smartphone owners should not have to rely on a company like Apple or Samsung or Google to replace the battery in their phone, as a user-removable battery makes that much easier to fix.

This particular change would not go over well with Apple, which, as mentioned above, has never opted for a user-removable battery design in the iPhone lineup. And other companies that have adopted the non-removable battery have made their phones slimmer, and water-resistant features have also been improved.

Forcing companies to go the opposite way would have some interesting results as far as smartphone design is concerned. But, what do you think? Should this be something the EU, and other regions, try to enforce? Should we go back to the days of a removable battery?