Indeed, it looks as though Apple may not have to worry at all: as noted on Reddit, batteries that can maintain an 80% capacity level after 1,000 cycles aren’t covered by the new rulings. Apple meets that standard, as per its official support documents, on models starting from the iPhone 15 that launched in 2023.
I have a Samsung with over 1100 charges and a capacity of 88%. Well beyond needing its battery to be replaceable.
All flagships probably meet this standard.
(The biggest exception is probably super-slim phones, but they would lose that one feature if they got made compliant.)
and even with that, recent iphones are way easier to repair than a few years ago. I would not say anyone can do it, but it’s definitely easier than before when you basically had to disassemble the whole thing
batteries that can maintain an 80% capacity level after 1,000 cycles aren’t covered by the new rulings.
So most people who want to reclaim 100% capacity after 2-3 years of use won’t be able to do it themselves. How disappointing.
I think the “80% after 1000 cycles” isn’t ambitious enough. 1000 cycles is still very easy to reach, and some phones already barely last a full day when new so even that 20% lost capacity can really degrade the experience. I’d argue that it’s not even an ambitious target at all, as even bog standard lithium ion batteries are frequently rated for that lifespan or more.
I could understand it if they had an exception for potential future technologies that would be pretty much guaranteed to outlast the useful lifespan of the device (such as solid-state batteries which could in theory last for tens of thousands of cycles and thus last for decades, if it is ever able to leave the lab). But as it is now with the unambitious goal of 1000 cycles so many batteries will be exempt by default that I don’t think it’ll change much.
Maybe I’m wrong, but the rule sounds fine:
In any case phones are going to last longer. The ones with replaceable batteries because you can replace the battery. And the ones with sealed batteries, because they have to compete with the replaceable ones.
The debates that led to these regulations seem tedious as hell. I miss being able to just pop in a new battery (I used to always have a spare, because batteries sucked a decade ago), but this said, I don’t miss the IP rating on dust and water that meant using a phone was risky in a light drizzle.
That’s just the designed to fail but where they want you to buy a new phone even though the old one functions perfectly well with a new battery
If this is true, this ruling might not matter because
batteries that can maintain an 80% capacity level after 1,000 cycles aren’t covered by the new rulings. Apple meets that standard, as per its official support documents
