Are removable batteries dead?
“Removable batteries were very usual in smartphones a few years back, almost every brand bundled that, except Apple”
But, there are very few smartphones in the market currently with removable batteries. Why so? Bear with me for a few minutes!
Even today, most of the smartphone batteries are removable but only by using few hardware tools unlike what we did with our nostalgic Nokia phones!
Everyone is concerned with battery life in their smartphones. With our increasing usage, we need more battery and to cope up with our need, we get smartphones with higher battery capacity or we carry power banks with us!
But, think for a moment, When you need your smartphone battery to last for a few days without the conventional charging supply,
Which is a more convenient way?
To carry with you a full-charged & light-weight removable battery
Or
To carry a bulky power bank?
You have the answer! But, that’s not acceptable to smartphone manufacturers due to the following reasons:
A) Waterproofing: To make smartphones waterproof, it’s necessary to achieve some IP ratings, and having a removable battery makes it pretty difficult to achieve the purpose
B) Design & Weight: Every manufacturer is competing with others to make slim and light-weight smartphones and keeping the removable battery adds some weight due to the extra protection panel required on the battery
So, yes it seems difficult to get removable batteries back in the game.
Well, Apple has never produced a smartphone with a removable battery but there can be a twist in the story!
Very recently, there was a leak of the European Union (EU) law, which may force Apple to make smartphones with a removable battery and the law would apply to all manufacturers selling smartphones within any of the European Union’s 27 countries
Well, this is just a leak and nothing official but if this is true, I’m sure Apple would resist the same by any means as adopting removable batteries would be a huge compromise with Apple, especially for the design and space utilization they’re having in their smartphones!
But, Why would the EU suggest manufacturers for adopting removable batteries?
E-Waste! Electronic Waste is a huge issue at a global level and with enforcing removable batteries, they would force manufacturers, not to bundle batteries every time with new smartphones to reduce E-Waste!
Let’s see how this goes!
References: Mashable, Techengage, TechRadar, 9to5mac
