This is great news.
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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I've seen a few comments about Bluetooth headphones and TWS earbuds but I don't think it's really too much of an issue. For over ear style headphones Steel Series have already proved the concept as they have a headset that has hot swappable rechargeable batteries. No reason other manufacturers can't design a fitted one that could be replaced.
As for TWS buds, so many of these must already be in landfill when the tiny batteries give out. We've already got rechargeable batteries for hearing aids that can be replaced by the user. I'm sure something similar could be achieved for TWS buds.
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I’m all for it, but how is this going to work with tiny things like AirPods? Currently the whole thing is packed with tiny batteries glued onto the electronics so that it can fit in your ears. How do you ever make that replaceable without making them huge?
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The EU being the voice of reason once again. As someone who has kept his phone alive by swapping the battery (which, with its still probably too hard and involved for the average person even with an ifixit kit), I think we could cut back hugely on e-waste and save people a lot of money by enforcing swappable batteries.
2027 is just too long to wait.
I mean, while the idea is nice, it's too slow. There are many ways to fuck up a consumer device, and they are making them illegal one thing at a time.
It's like those privacy laws - no effect at all, while we are now discussing stuff here, on a network designed without any government participation.
There's not that much choice there, it genuinely takes 2-3 years to implement hardware that is radically different from what you're currently doing.
Because they're making millions upon millions of phones, they need to really nail the design before they start mass production. And that's neither cheap nor fast.
The big manufacturers can probably afford to do this faster, but the smaller ones might struggle so you need to make it fair.
By 'those privacy laws' do you mean GDPR? Because that's caused Threads not to be released in the EU, and you'll notice that all your devices now have USB C. These regulations have had a pretty significant impact.
Phones take years to develop. Forcing removable batteries onto manufacturers under an aggressively short timeline would cost billions.
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