New EU rules stipulate that all smartphone batteries must be easily replaceable, yes, including those in the iPhone.
Do you need to replace your iPhone battery?
The European Parliament has approved new rules for the sustainability of batteries. It sets stricter rules on recycling efficiency, disposal and so on, but most importantly, batteries in portable devices will now have to be user-replaceable. That goes for phones, but it goes for all portable gadgets. Does this mean we’re going back to the old days of bulky handsets and flip-open battery doors? It doesn’t, but it will still cause a huge uproar.
"It will be interesting to see how this plays out and which devices fall under the rule. MacBooks could feature easily removable batteries," Apple power user jlc1978 said in a Mac Rumors forum thread that Lifewire participated in. "Tablets and phones will be harder to make 'easily removable' without a change in design philosophy. Low-end electronics will be the hardest hit, from a cost standpoint, since many are now simply thrown away. No more Tiles with single-use batteries, for example."
The new rules state that the user (you or I) must be able to remove and replace the batteries in their gadgets. But this probably won’t change much about the appearance of our phones. Instead, the changes will mainly take place on the inside.
