this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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Seems pretty clear cut to me. Also, USB-C being mandatory on iPhones as well soon. The EU very clearly clarified that there are no loopholes and every chargeable device will have a USB-C port, no exceptions, I'd expect the same from this.
Can you point me to that USBC clarification? I thought that they had only specified a wired charging standard and that you could get around it by using only wireless charging.
I'm pretty sure I read a similar exception for this battery law that was gonna make it not really apply to phones, but I can't find it now.
Source
No exceptions.
Leaks suggests that the iPhone 15 will have a USB-C charging port. Also I can't imagine Apple going full wireless thus incapacitating the user's ability to effectively use the phone while charging.
I can. They'll just figure out some sort of clamping accessory for their wireless chargers.
Wouldn’t MagSafe achieve that functionality if that’s the case? 🤔
They already have magsafe chargers. TBH that would be the best move for Apple. The downside would be no more direct cable data backups. That makes me think no choice but USBC for this next phone.
Now pretend you are Apple. They'll see this legislation and think - "we want people to buy new phones, not keep what they have, so we need to fuck with users to make that happen". So maybe they'll define battery to include battery management system. Maybe even some DRM and some proprietary or encrypted device communication in between the battery and the phone. Now it's hard for anyone to use their phone with an OEM battery because of the DRM. Or if they do permit OEM batteries then Apple could be dicks and put scary popups on the screen like they do when people replace their screens and gimp the battery so they can't charge or discharge as fast .
And Apple could go further. If they're the only ones selling ungimped batteries, they can control the price of those batteries and sell them sky high. $150 sounds like a great fuckoff price point to deter people. And who's to say how many batteries they hold in stock - just because the phone has replaceable batteries doesn't mean Apple sells batteries.
So that's what you have to worry about. EU legislation does have some wording controlling spare part availability and prohibiting software restrictions on batteries so I would hope that is sufficient, but who knows.
Definitely crossed their minds at the EU, ofcourse they expect companies to ride the edge of what's permitted. That's what companies do. The EU wants batteries to be way more ecological, cheaper and very easy to find and replace. If they deem what a company is doing not in line with this philosophy, they will overnight ban that product from being sold anywhere in europe.
Apple may fight that decisions in court, but definitely loose because the EU looks after their citizens and Apple looks out for their wallet, and those courts tend to take the side of the people. Meanwhile loosing literal billions in profits and being publicly labelled as a non-environmental conscious company.