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It's official: Smartphones will need to have replaceable batteries by 2027
(www.androidauthority.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
this is straight-up BS. there were many phones with ip68 and user-replacable batteries back when sealing the battery in a phone was frowned upon. not all but many.
I have a two-way radio which floats in water and has a replaceable battery. It's just excuses. However I do believe they got rid of replaceable batteries to save on space and thickness of the devices.
I think you're right. They then quickly learned that it's in their best interest to have a sealed system. Makes it cheaper to obtain higher IP ratings. Sells more devices. It obviously did nothing that hurt sales. Samsung is making an IP68 rated device with replaceable battery and still takes SD cards right now. It's only $600 to boot making it handedly cheaper than flagships. So why isn't it what everyone's pointing at in these threads? Cause the majority of people, even in these very threads, aren't buying it. These are not the factors that decided buying a phone. Otherwise removable batteries, SD cards and 3.5mm jacks would still be ubiquitous, but here we are.
Honestly, I never buy a phone without an audio jack and sd card.