EU regulators want 5 years of smartphone parts, much better batteries

As part of a larger attempt to decrease their environmental impact, European Commission officials have proposed that smartphones and tablets sold there give 15 different kinds of replaceable components for at least five years.

According to a draft regulation on “ecodesign requirements for mobile phones, cordless phones, and slate tablets” published on August 31, users frequently replace their phones and tablets before they have reached the end of their useful lives, and they are “not sufficiently used or recycled” (i.e., thrown in the junk drawer).
Energy use, the extraction of fresh resources from the ground for new phones, and the storage of non-recycled materials in houses are the costs.

According to the Commission’s findings, extending the lifespan of cellphones by five years from their current average of two to three years would be equivalent to removing five million cars from the road.

The most significant suggested remedy (mentioned in Annex II) is for phone manufacturers and retailers to provide “expert repairers” for five years following the date a phone is taken off the market.
The battery, display, cameras, charging ports, mechanical buttons, microphones, speakers, and hinge assembly would be available to those repairers (including for folding phones and tablets).

Additionally, phone manufacturers have a choice: either provide phone owners with back coverings and new batteries, or create batteries that adhere to minimal requirements.

As an illustration, Apple now asserts that their iPhones are made to maintain 80% of its capacity after 500 recharge cycles.

According to the proposed laws, buyers of smartphones also have access to screens, SIM and memory card trays, microphones, charging connections, and hinges.
Additionally, all of those parts’ repair manuals must be accessible for seven years from the last day of device marketing, with reasonably accessible methods for qualified repair personnel to register and gain access.
Along with board and wire diagrams, if necessary, and access to the software required to approve any locked-down portions, the repair instructions must be quite detailed and include exploded views.

The new requirements cover a lot wider ground, both in terms of reliability and repair.
The requirement that businesses offer security updates for at least five years and “functionality updates” for three years, both of which must be provided two to four months following the public release of security patches or “an update of the same operating system… on any other product of the same brand,” is noteworthy.
This would represent a fundamental change in software support for Android makers.

In recent years, measures like France’s repairability assessment and the EU’s acceptance of USB-C by 2024 have helped advance smartphone laws.

However, the Commission’s proposed regulation would go above and beyond the right-to-repair movement’s most zealous objectives.
State and federal repair legislation often demands that manufacturers only give their own repair professionals or authorized businesses the same components, tools, and manuals.
Although not even close to the extent of the Commission’s proposed requirements, Apple, Samsung, and Google recently made moves to expand their parts and repair options.

By September 28, feedback on the suggestions will be gathered.
A version of these proposals is slated for adoption in the fourth quarter of 2022, and most of them are written to take effect 12 months after approval.

Manufacturers are not thrilled about mandated repair considerations, but it is too soon for comments.

The Financial Times was informed by the IT industry trade association Digital Europe that “possible overproduction, subsequent storage, and disposal of spare parts” would result in waste and increased prices for customers.

In January 2021, the Xiaomi Netherlands branch provided comments on the initiative’s more general objectives.
While acknowledging the significance of software updates, a representative commented that “Operating System support often rely on third parties who may occasionally fail to supply software versions which are compatible with all supported versions of the operating system.”

To ensure “quality and dependability,” Xiaomi added, repairs “must be made by our approved repair network using authentic spare components.”
It would “raise severe risks for consumers in terms of quality, safety, and security” to give repair supplies and instructions to “third-party professional repairers whose degree of technical capabilities, repair time and cost, as well as success rate.”

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