User-replaceable batteries are coming back in a big way

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more news about gadgets and smartphones, follow Dominic Preston. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.How it startedIn 2023, the European Union agreed on two landmark pieces of legislation mandating how portable tech products with batteries must be designed, aiming to improve longevity, repairability, and recyclability. Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1670 came into force last year and applies specifically to smartphones and tablets, while Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 takes effect next year and covers almost every other piece of technology with a battery inside.The wider rules, which kick in from February 18th, 2027, are simple: Users must be able to remove and replace batteries with basic tools, or specialized tools that are provided with the product for free, and compatible spare batteries must be sold for at least five years. The tool requirement means swapping the battery doesn’t need to be as simple as popping off a clip-on cover, but can’t be much more complicated than removing a few standard screws. The regulation applies to headphones, e-readers, portable game consoles, laptops, and more. If it’s got a battery, it’s probably covered.There are a few exemptions. Smartphones and tablets are the big two, simply because they’re already covered by that other law, which requires manufacturers to make a variety of spare parts for phones available for at least seven years. Some of those parts need only be available to professional repairers, but others must be provided to end users, and must be designed to be replaceable by a layman with basic tools. Batteries are covered by that requirement, but with a specific, and important, exemption: If a battery still has 83 percent capacity after 500 charging cycles, 80 percent after 1,000 cycles, and the device has an IP67 rating, then battery replacement can be limited only to professionals. Essentially, if your phone is waterproof, and its battery will last at least three years with minimal capacity loss, then it doesn’t need to be user replaceable. For years there was ambiguity about how these two sets of regulations would interact, but in a notice published last year the EU confirmed that the existing smartphone and tablet rules “prevail over” the new, wider regulations.Some other devices are entirely exempt from either set of rules, including certain medical devices and products that are designed for use in an environment “regularly subject to splashing water, water streams or water immersion,” for example. That’s not intended to catch any product with waterproofing, but would cover swimming and diving gadgets, or bathroom appliances like electric toothbrushes. The EU has just finished collecting feedback on a further set of proposed exemptions, which could include wearables like smartwatches, fitness trackers, and smart glasses, on the basis that their battery enclosures are often so small that there’d be a real risk of damaging the batteries during removal. Campaign group Right to Repair Europe is one of the voices opposing further exemptions, pointing to the example of the user-removable battery on the Pixel Watch 4 to prove that it’s possible.How it’s goingWe’re already seeing some manufacturers prepare for the change. Over-ear headphones with replaceable batteries are rare, but have existed for years, though launches this year suggest they’re about to become much more common. Fender was one of the first with its Mix headphones, which hide easy access to the battery under one of the ear cushions. Sennheiser just followed with the launch of its Momentum 5 headphones, which allow for battery-replacement using nothing more than a Phillips-head screwdriver.And of course, Fairphone has been beating this drum for years. Its smartphones and headphones have long had user-replaceable batteries, including the latest Fairphone 6. Most impressively, it also managed to make earbuds with easily replaceable batteries, the Fairbuds. Despite the exemption for other wearables, as it stands wireless earbuds are included in next year’s incoming rules, giving the rest of the industry less than a year to figure out how to pull off the same trick.“Our current products already match and even exceed these upcoming requirements because we have focused entirely on repairability and longevity since day one,” Fairphone’s public relations manager Alon Brandt told me. “We have actually been a driving force behind these new EU regulations, shaping them by actively partaking in discussions and meetings to show the rest of the industry what is possible when you prioritize longevity. We design our devices to walk the walk on the circular economy from the very start, which makes baseline legal compliance just a starting point for us rather than a difficult milestone to reach.”There are more products coming, too, and not just in audio. Code snippets suggest that Amazon is planning to introduce Kindle e-readers with user-replaceable batteries, though we’re not sure exactly when. Leaked images of an upcoming Xbox Elite 3 controller suggest it too will have a user-replaceable battery, while it’s been rumored for months that Nintendo is working on a version of the Switch 2 with a removable battery — though it’s only expected to launch in Europe.And that is one of the risks for buyers who live elsewhere. While Sennheiser made a single, user-replaceable version of the Momentum 5 to release worldwide, other manufacturers may find it more economical to make distinct versions for the EU and other markets. Buyers in the US may not always reap the benefits of these EU policies. Inés Alberico, campaign manager at Right to Repair Europe, thinks that’s unlikely to happen often though. “While there is always a possibility that some brands could attempt to limit certain repairability features to EU models,” she said, “in practice, manufacturers usually prefer global product designs.”The flipside is the risk that some companies may go the other way and skip the EU rather than comply with the rules. It’s already been reported that Meta is holding off on launching the Ray-Ban Display smart glasses in Europe with the battery rules in mind, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see smaller manufacturers decide the EU isn’t worth the bother too. It’s a big market, so that’s potentially leaving a lot of money on the table, but redesigning to meet the EU’s requirements isn’t as easy as swapping one type of screw for another.“When designing for battery accessibility, it’s really a balancing act between user convenience, product size, and structural durability,” Fairphone’s Brandt told me. “Making a battery easy to replace means we have to factor in extra clearance around it and carefully plan for contact wear over time, which directly impacts the overall form factor and layout of the device. Finally, choosing to skip glue in favor of pop-out components completely changes how the device handles everyday impacts and drops, meaning our mechanical architecture has to be incredibly precise to distribute those forces safely without sacrificing serviceability.”Outside of the Fairphone, smartphones have mostly been unaffected — since last year’s regulation doesn’t require user-replaceable batteries so long as the battery longevity is sufficiently high, it’s unlikely that we’re able to see a return to the halcyon days of quick-access battery compartments on phones. Instead, we’re seeing more manufacturers emphasize batteries that can retain capacity over years of use — Realme and Oppo have both touted batteries holding 80 percent of charge after 1,600 cycles — while high IP ratings are becoming ubiquitous even at low price points, and not just in Europe: Last year’s Moto G Power 2025 offered an IP69 rating for less than $300.The only other change we have seen is Apple’s move to a new electrical-release adhesive for the battery compartment in its most recent iPhones, which requires only a small electrical charge from another battery to unstick the cell. Apple declined to comment on the record about whether this change was in response to the EU’s latest rules, though it’s not clear why it would be — modern iPhone batteries are designed to retain 80 percent of their capacity after 1,000 charging cycles, meeting EU requirements. The company has already sold spare parts and repair kits to users for several years, though not for every product type, and it doesn’t always make the process easy.What’s nextSince the upcoming law doesn’t actually come into force until February 18th, 2027, companies still have plenty of time to get their ducks in a row. Still, it’s likely that before then we’ll see more and more manufacturers launch products with user-replaceable batteries, across audio, e-readers, gaming handhelds, and more. Only time will tell whether most of those products are EU only, or whether the new European laws shape the nature of tech worldwide.That may impact to what extent we see similar legislation enacted elsewhere. Multiple US states have right-to-repair laws either on the books or in the works, and it wouldn’t be too surprising to see state lawmakers issue copycat requirements as a way to force companies to bring those EU-designed products to the US.It’s likely that some product categories will move slower than others. Tech companies will have breathed a sigh of relief that wearables look likely to be exempt, but if wireless earbuds aren’t carved out as well then there may be a scramble to adapt the miniature designs for easy replaceability. “The in-ear form factor demands extreme miniaturisation, to fit the driver, antenna, processor, microphones and battery,” notes a recent report from consultants Futuresource, going on to suggest that meeting the requirements will make earbuds both bigger and more expensive to manufacture.There also remains uncertainty about how some elements of the law will be interpreted. The law requires that user repairs be possible using “commercially available tools,” which are “tools available on the market to all end-users.” Right to Repair Europe’s Alberico points out that this is a broad definition, likely to include a lot of tools not found in most houses, so there will likely be nothing to stop manufacturers requiring the sorts of less common screws that require dedicated electronics tool kits. There’s also no strict definition of the “reasonable” price that manufacturers are required to set for spare parts. “That will likely take time — and possibly litigation — to clarify in practice,” Alberico says. “But without fair access to affordable spare parts, repair will struggle to become the simplest and most attractive option for consumers.”The big disappointment is that the separate phone and tablet legislation means we won’t see any real changes there, so long as manufacturers make their batteries and devices durable. “This creates a false tradeoff between durability and repairability,” Alberico says. “Robust, waterproof devices should not have to come at the expense of user-replaceable batteries. While the ecodesign legislation requirements meant an improvement in battery durability and replaceability, at Right to Repair Europe we’ll continue to advocate for all products to be designed with user-replaceable batteries.” Whether the EU will listen remains to be seen. Otherwise, the main product people seem to want to replace the battery in may remain one of the only ones where they can’t.By the wayThe smartphone and tablet ecodesign rules are also why the EU now has mandatory battery and repairability labels giving ratings for devices.The US may not get all the benefits of the EU rules, but last year Fairphone started selling its repairable Fairbuds XL headphones in the US. Here’s hoping its phones come next, currently only available for US buyers through open-source software company Murena at a hiked up price.It’s probably no coincidence that Apple released what iFixit calls the “most repairable MacBook in 14 years” just ahead of the new rules.States including California, Colorado, and Texas now have right-to-repair laws, but unlike the EU regulations these largely don’t require manufacturers to design devices around repairability with basic tools for a layman.Read thisThe Verge’s Sean Hollister has a great writeup of the experience of using Apple’s self service repair store for replacing an iPhone battery, a process that doesn’t meet the spirit of the new EU laws at the very least.Right to Repair Europe has a helpful breakdown of which common products are covered by which repair rules in the EU’s complex legislative web.Bloomberg runs down how this legislation, along with complex software rules, are causing headaches for companies including Meta and Apple. It’s a good read if you want the Big Tech perspective on EU regulation (Hint: They don’t love it).Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Dominic Preston