EU Wants Removable Batteries In iPhones

MojoKid writes "Current regulation, introduced with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) in July of 2006, primarily sought to prevent the unnecessary use of toxic metals in batteries as well as making it easier to recycle and dispose of used batteries. The updated 'New Batteries Directive,' as discussed in New Electronics by Gary Nevision, would go much further. Article 11 of the directive, as currently written, would require that devices must be made in such a way as to allow batteries, either for replacement or at end of life for disposal to be 'readily removed.' Of course, Apple's iPhones and iPods wouldn't meet this requirement, as it stands. It's obvious that an iPhone battery replacement program could be considered a cash cow for Apple as well."

Mooo

[LMacG (118321)]

You mean this iPhone battery replacement program [apple.com]?

$85.95! That's a lot of milk.

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

When the battery costs 12$ to buy yeah, I'd say 74$ in profit for replacing the battery is a lot of milk.

Re:

[thenewguy001 (1290738)]

That is quite expensive, but I've had my ipod for 3 years already and the battery is still going strong. I use it for at least 4-5 hours every day. When the battery does die, $85 will buy a much better cheap mp3 player than this old generation ipod. I don't see any point in replacing the battery for a 3+ year old device for that price.

Re:Mooo

[AnswerIs42 (622520)]

$15.. do it yourself. I have changed out the batteries in three IPods already.

Re:Mooo

[riceboy50 (631755)]

Have you met kettle? Just because it doesn't suit your personal needs, doesn't mean it's junk. Clearly Jobs was able to divine what would be good for a lot of people—I'm sure he's fine with losing out on your business because it sounds like you don't value the same types of features.

Re:Mooo

[gEvil (beta) (945888)]

No no no. You're looking at it the wrong way. Thanks to Apple's requirement that people send their phones back to them for battery replacement, they're ensuring that the batteries are disposed of properly!

(yes, it's a joke, but it will probably also be their defense)

Re:Mooo

[Timesprout (579035)]

Unbelievable isnt it. $85.95 to have your paid for and under contract toy taken away from you for 3 days and have the data wiped while you get the battery replaced and have to re sync everything. How have Apple managed to persuade people this is what passes for "it just works" in this day and age?

Re:Mooo

[Lars T. (470328)]

Wow, so instead of letting Apple replace the battery for free within the one year warranty, you bought a new device - yeah, you sure showed us what an clever, money-conscious guy you are.

Re:Mooo

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

Wow, so instead of letting Apple replace the battery for free within the one year warranty, you bought a new device - yeah, you sure showed us what an clever, money-conscious guy you are.

He ended up spending 'a few bucks more' to get a device with twice the storage & three times the battery life.

Its called not throwing good money after bad.

Re:Mooo

[I.M.O.G. (811163)]

While it may be a cash cow for the company, isn't an official battery replacement program a "good thing" environmentally?

Placing the responsibility to replace batteries on the corporation allows it to be monitored and regulated. Leaving battery replacement in the hands of users makes it easy to throw out the old battery with your weekly garbage collection. I have to be honest - I'm not sure what sort of battery programs are in my area and it seems like going out of my way considerably to find out. Besides, I doubt most people have any awareness of how its bad to dispose of batteries in the garbage... Until its made a priority on a large scale, what worth exists in wasting my time to do some small part?

Re:Mooo

[vio (95817)]

Yes, and no.

While they can spin it very positively, the truth is, at that price you're better off buying a new player... and that's probably what they're hoping too (they are a business, after all...). And what do you do with your old player when you get a new one? ... chuck it. Very environmentally friendly.

If you want people to do the "right thing", you don't charge them through the nose to do it, you have to give them the fewest reasons *not* to do it... and in my book, an outrageous replacement price = reason not to replace.

Besides, when Apple had that massive battery recall a few years back, they sent my gf her new battery but with no way to return her old one (we're on Canada here). When she contacted them to ask how she could return it, they just responded "do whatever you want with it". Nice.

I agree about the lack of easily-accessible programs for recycling :( Our local enviro-coop has their own, but its not obvious...

Re:Mooo

[Sockatume (732728)]

And it's not what the EU's looking for anyway. It has to be easily removable (I'm assuming with common or garden tools) by the end-user or any old electronics recycling facility. They're not going to take "you can send all the phones to us and pay us to take the batteries out" as an acceptable solution.

Re:Mooo

[Lars T. (470328)]

This is positive legislation. It is going to ensure that customers have cheaper and competitive ways to replace batteries.

And just throw the old ones in the trash.

Back handed protectionism

[tjstork (137384)]

This is the EU basically trying to protect its markets for its own cell phone makers. I would think Nokia might be pushing for a regulation like this.

Watch carefully! There will probably be some nice sounding safety or environmental standard coming out of Washington somewhere that is the tit for this tat.

Re:Back handed protectionism

[LynnwoodRooster (966895)]

A lot of times I'd agree with you (the EU is HIGHLY protectionist) but in this case it doesn't work. Go to any cell phone outlet in Asia - look at even the Chinese-only or Korean-only cell phones. ALL have removable batteries. Samsung, Motorola, LG, Palm, RIM, pretty much everyone uses replaceable batteries. Except Apple.

Re:Back handed protectionism

[Sockatume (732728)]

In fact, perusing what manufacturers have user-replacable battieres these days, they've decided to protect Japan's (Sony-Ericsson) and Korea's (LG, Samsung) phone manufacturers while they were at it. And the US's (Motorola) too! How terrible, that their protectionism will harm the economy of the People's Republic of Cupertino so that tiny nations like the US, EU, Japan, and Korea will be able to prosper.

iPhone???

[jfinke (68409)]

Sounds like both slashdot and hothhardware are using the iPhone to get clicks. The regulation is not targeting the iPhone. The iPhone would just have to meet any new regulations that come out. Just like any other electronics device that uses batteries.

Why apple doesn't do this...

[nweaver (113078)]

Apple is obsessed with thin packaging. Look at the iPhone, nano, or iPod touch. A removable battery would add a good 2mm of thickness, which may not sound like much, but thats a good 30% increase in thickness.

Re:Why apple doesn't do this...

[DaMattster (977781)]

Do you really believe this? Actually, it is anti-competitive. If Apple chose to allow replaceable batteries, third party options would arise and cost much less than the 85.95 replacement program. And, you wouldn't be without your iPod for 3 days.

Re:Why apple doesn't do this...

[2nd Post! (213333)]

I believe it. 10 years of Apple products is more than convincing:
iPod->iPod touch (notice how thin it got)
iBook->MacBook Air (notice how small/thin it got)

And you use the word "anticompetitive" in a funny way. You make it sound like Apple's business motive is making money off battery replacements. Apple sells iPods/Macs/iPhones, not batteries. The battery is an incidental, and probably even less profitable than the iTunes store.

The thin design has multiple benefits for Apple:

Higher product density (therefore higher profits per cubic foot storage)
Smaller products are cheaper to ship (lower costs per cubic foot shipping)
Smaller products require less packaging (lower cost per unit)
Smaller products require less material (lower cost per unit)

So there are many reasons beyond design or anticompetitive to make things small/thin

Removable vs Replacable

[jolyonr (560227)]

Don't get confused, what the EU are after is a removable battery that can be safely disposed of. It is not the same as replacable.

ie, it might be perfectly acceptable to have the battery fitted in such a way it can easily be ripped off the surface mount on the motherboard for disposal but in the process destroying the ipod/iphone.

What we (the ipod using public) have wanted is a user-replaceable battery - but we're unlikely to get this because not only does it add to the cost, complexity and size of the product, it also more importantly makes it less easy for Steve to sell us a newer ipod in 2 years time when the battery is still working but at that annoying "just not quite enough battery to last me the day" level.

Re:cash cow how?

[0100010001010011 (652467)]

Or it's a design thing. You know. No extra hinges, lines, anything.

Re:cash cow how?

[0100010001010011 (652467)]

Could you please point me to the model you have? I can only find 4-8GB flash players. One review [mp3.com] even has It's bulky for a flash player. as a "The Bad".

I just went to Insignia's website and found 2 models. A 4GB MP3 [insignia-products.com] player and an 8GB Video/MP3 [insignia-products.com] player. (Aside from their website seemingly written by 2 completely different groups, both had different units, 4GB in metric, 8GB in English)

4GB
Dimensions:
15mm X 46mm X 102mm (.59" X 1.8" X 4.0")
Weight: 0.068 kg (2.4 oz)

8GB
Dimensions:
10.16mm X 40.65 mm X 83.83mm (0.4" X 1.6" X 3.3")
Weight: 0.060kg (2.1 oz.)

This is the specs for the current Nano (which comes in 8 or 16 GB).
Dimensions:
6.2mm X 38.7mm X 90.7mm (0.24" X 1.5" X 3.6")
Weight:
0.037 grams (1.3 ounces)

And here's a "big ole" iPod Classic.
Dimensions:
10.5 mm X 61.8 mm X 103.5 mm (0.41" X 2.4" X 4.1")
Weight: .140 kg (4.9 ounces)

So by "not making the device any larger" you mean making the device larger? Not to mention the for the difference between the Nano and the Insignia, you could go up to a Classic and have 15X the storage space.

Re:I agree on principle, but:

[Asic Eng (193332)]

So? Nothing stops you from buying a replacement battery from Apple.

Re:400 recharges

[Altus (1034)]

Fractional charges only count as fractional charges. If your iphone is at 80% and you plug it into your computer and it charges up to 100% that is only 1/5th of a charge. You can do that 5 more times before you have even used a single recharge.