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JulianL

macrumors 68000
Feb 2, 2010
1,657
654
London, UK
Hopefully this will make Apple implement a way to allow you to stop charging the phone before 100% (or keep a bit of battery reserved to 100% doesn't actually mean the battery is completely full).

Fast and wireless charging are also not helping battery health - iPhones since the 8/X definitely seem to have lower battery health after 1-2 years than phones such as the 6s/7....
Because of this article I just checked the battery health on my iPhone 13 Max purchased on launch day. I thought the fairly widespread advice was to not let the battery run too far below 50% before recharging and I am terrible at not doing that, I often let it get down to less than 15% before charging and on occasion have even drained it completely. I also always charge wirelessly. Because of what I assumed was my abuse of the battery I was very surprised to find iOS reporting my battery health still at 100%. Maybe Apple has improved things in recent years? I usually get the newest iPhone every year on launch day and have definitely seen some of my older iPhones with battery health of 90% or even less by the time I sold them after 12 months of ownership.
 

bluecoast

macrumors 68020
Nov 7, 2017
2,220
2,639
It's not like Europe doesn't have strong, competitive technology. Just not in every field and mobile phones currently isn't one of them.

The infrastructure those phones rely on to actually work as a phone, that's a whole different story.
Weird to think that 20 years ago, Nokia (Finland) occupied the market leader position in the handset market that Apple does now.
 

EdT

macrumors 68020
Mar 11, 2007
2,428
1,979
Omaha, NE
“Ensuring longer battery life”

Ok, good luck enforcing that lol.
It’s not that hard. All you need to do is invent a new battery device that is better than Lithium Ion and do it with cheap, safe, and long lasting materials. I would think that such a battery would have a lot of other device applications, so I’m surprised that no one with any battery dependent device has done that yet.

I may look at this over the weekend and see if I can have an answer about how to do this by next week.
 
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Robotti

macrumors regular
Oct 16, 2014
249
713
I think @d686546s was referring to Ericsson which is one of (if not the) world leader in telecommunications technologies (GSM-5G), at least in Western countries.
Nokia and Ericsson both. At least now when Huawei and ZTE are not very hot in the west.
 
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Wahlstrm

macrumors 6502a
Dec 4, 2013
847
847
Five-year spare parts seem arbitrary and not very green at all. That's ancient in the world of tech. EU registration team just seems to be full of tech-illiterates with good-sounding intentions.

The whole point of this is for it to be a hassle to sell something that won't survive a minimum of 5y without repairs.

Designing a product that's likely to fail after 2-3 years will now come with the penalty of having to pay for and store a ton of spare parts. Any and all benefits you historically would get by cutting corners on components will be gone.
 
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gaximus

macrumors 68020
Oct 11, 2011
2,241
4,375
Hopefully this will make Apple implement a way to allow you to stop charging the phone before 100% (or keep a bit of battery reserved to 100% doesn't actually mean the battery is completely full).
iPhones for a longtime now have been doing this, they actually have more than “100%” battery life. And once the battery is charged over over what the user sees as 100%, it then lets the battery drain until back to 100%, and cycles like that until taken off the charger.
 

I7guy

macrumors Nehalem
Nov 30, 2013
34,302
24,031
Gotta be in it to win it
The whole point of this is for it to be a hassle to sell something that won't survive a minimum of 5y without repairs.

Designing a product that's likely to fail after 2-3 years will now come with the penalty of having to pay for and store a ton of spare parts. Any and all benefits you historically would get by cutting corners on components will be gone.
Apple doesn't design products that are destined to failure. My 5s bought in 2013 are still working. Where I see the issue is the battery. What is going to happen is that phones will no longer be petite. I don't think battery technology is there as people subject these batteries to a littany of abuses(heat, draining, continual charging) and the EU expects these batteries to last? Baloney.
 

ackmondual

macrumors 68020
Dec 23, 2014
2,434
1,147
U.S.A., Earth
This is part of why contracts with PC vendors are so expensive... for example, businesses in these cases will pay Dell multi-million $ contracts to ensure that Dell maintains parts and services for their business critical hardware.
 

Crowbot

macrumors 68000
May 29, 2018
1,706
3,920
NYC
They could just require devices to contain batteries that are accessible and replaceable by consumers, like most electronic devices. I had two hot-swappable Mac laptops in the past and I never had to worry about my device outliving my batteries.
Unless the replacement batteries go obsolete. ;)
 

Ronald Reagan

macrumors regular
Dec 9, 2016
130
217
We do you say we allow the EU to make its own perfect mobile phone that meets all of its restrictions and requirements? Then after a couple years on the market, we’ll compare sales numbers to the then current iphone.
 
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timber

macrumors 65816
Aug 30, 2006
1,156
2,124
Lisbon
No, but they were indirectly funding it for far too long by continuing to pay Russia for gas.
The EU lawmakers pay for gas? Or for anything? The EU isn't a country.
Even if the EU was some sort of US of Europe (which it isn't) does the federal government purchase gas or oil in the USA?
If some EU members had better followed EU policy we would indeed be better.
 
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akbarali.ch

macrumors 6502a
May 4, 2011
803
692
Mumbai (India)
For Apple it wont be an issue stocking parts for 5yrs, they provide service for upto 6-7 years anyway. This will be hard for other manufacturer who are basically manufacture and forget next month, for them to stock parts for 5yrs, i doubt its possible
 
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Mousse

macrumors 68040
Apr 7, 2008
3,498
6,722
Flea Bottom, King's Landing
Smartphone manufacturers supplying the EU will be required to provide spare parts for at least five years from the date of a device's introduction and ensure longer battery life, according to new draft proposals published by the European Commission.
Longer battery life? YASS! Spare parts for 5 years? Y'all a few sandwiches short of a picnic.:rolleyes:
The new proposals also cover software, and require manufacturers to provide security updates for five years after devices leave the market and functionality updates for three years.
Security updates for 5 years? So long as they don't add new bugs in the process, I'm on board.
Apple has typically offered software support to iPhones for almost a decade after they are released, but owners of Android phones typically receive only a few years of software updates, so the regulations are likely to greatly impact Google.
They do software update differently. Apple's software update is monolithic. Y'all want the latest version of iMessage? Gotta get the latest update. Want the latest security update? It's in the update. With Google, it's modular. Want the lastest Gmail? Just download it from the Playstore, aite. Want the latest security update? 🤣🤣🤣Y'all SOL.😒
 

d686546s

macrumors 6502a
Jan 11, 2021
653
1,597
I think @d686546s was referring to Ericsson which is one of (if not the) world leader in telecommunications technologies (GSM-5G), at least in Western countries.

I was indeed and I'm also not sure why this here has developed into some sort of who has the longest tech sector. No one disputed that US companies are quite dominant in the consumer electronics space.

The point was that "technology," which was the original claim, is a massively broad area in which European companies and entrepreneurs have definitely found their niches in which they make tremendous contributions. Many have been mentioned here and generally Europe has made some key contributions to the infrastructure on which the world today runs, although it would be foolish to claim these for Europe alone. It's also a pointless exercise, but that's the internet for you.

Overall these things are always in flux. 20 years ago Canada and Finland were world leaders (if you go by corporate HQ) in mobile phones, today it's the US. Who knows who'll be at the forefront of innovation in another 20.
 

avz

Suspended
Oct 7, 2018
1,781
1,865
Stalingrad, Russia
No, but they were indirectly funding it for far too long by continuing to pay Russia for gas.
Thanks to the central banking system "to pay Russia for gas" is just a classy way to say "to dump some of the EU's inflation onto Russia".

It is funny how the British are complaining that "Germany is not doing enough to help Ukraine", thus pretty much implying that the Germany should once again have a "political party of war" as they once did in the 1930s, cause Ukraine is simply drowning in the Germany's past footsteps and simply unable to pull the weight. Like Churchill once said if it has worked once, it will probably work again. Britain is once again whispering in Germany's ear: "You can do it, Russia is weak."
 

jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,489
4,277
The whole point of this is for it to be a hassle to sell something that won't survive a minimum of 5y without repairs.

Designing a product that's likely to fail after 2-3 years will now come with the penalty of having to pay for and store a ton of spare parts. Any and all benefits you historically would get by cutting corners on components will be gone.

I have tried to find the draft proposal but can't; and the original article is paywalled and others refer to it but have very little information.

From what I could find, this doesn't make manufacturers build more durable devices; nor necessarily stock a lot of spare parts. As long as the parts are available from the OEM then they may very well meet the spare parts requirement. Unless it mandates component level viability then a few (more expensive than the phone) boards may meet it as well.

I suspect this is less impactful then some believe. Even the battery cycle requirement is only applicable if the battery can't be replaced:

Under the EU’s plans, if manufacturers can’t supply batteries to consumers for five years, they will have to meet a set of battery endurance tests instead. These will ensure devices achieve 80 percent of a rated capacity after 1,000 full charge cycles. Manufacturers will also be forced to ensure software updates never have a negative effect on battery life.

I suspect, with some redefining of battery capacity, manufacturers will be able to meet this without any impact on repairs. For example, using a larger capacity battery but defining full capacity as a smaller number gives them a lot of room before a battery reaches the magic cycle limit; which is different in the reference article then MR reported.

Not sure how you address software not impacting battery life, but battery life is different from discharge rate. It may require more frequent charging but still met the cycle/capacity regulation.

Of course, there are exclusions:

The regulations won’t apply to phones or tablets with a flexible main display “which the user can unroll and roll up partly or fully,” or smartphones designed for high security environments.

Is a foldable screen exempt as a "partial roll up?"

"EU Draft Proposals Require Manufacturers to Make Pi Equal to 3​


Indiana beat them to it, almost.

The EU lawmakers pay for gas? Or for anything? The EU isn't a country.

No, it is confederation; which is one of the challenges it faces in regulation.

Even if the EU was some sort of US of Europe (which it isn't)

No, and the US tried a similar system before adopting the federal system; even then states have a lot of leeway to go their own way.

does the federal government purchase gas or oil in the USA?

Yes, it does.

If some EU members had better followed EU policy we would indeed be better.

That's the weakness of a confederation - there is federal governing body that can set enforceable laws that preempt individual state laws. In a system requiring unanimity to enact regulations smaller states yield power beyond their size; and enforcement is difficult as a result.
 

EdT

macrumors 68020
Mar 11, 2007
2,428
1,979
Omaha, NE
Most phone manufacturers don’t make their own parts, or at least not all of them. So if phone maker Gluggle doesn’t have a part for a phone because the company they depend on is out or went bankrupt?

Yes you can say that’s the Glurggle’s problem but the only way for a phone maker to be certain is to buy and store parts themselves. And that will make phones more expensive.
 

EdT

macrumors 68020
Mar 11, 2007
2,428
1,979
Omaha, NE
Thanks to the central banking system "to pay Russia for gas" is just a classy way to say "to dump some of the EU's inflation onto Russia".

It is funny how the British are complaining that "Germany is not doing enough to help Ukraine", thus pretty much implying that the Germany should once again have a "political party of war" as they once did in the 1930s, cause Ukraine is simply drowning in the Germany's past footsteps and simply unable to pull the weight. Like Churchill once said if it has worked once, it will probably work again. Britain is once again whispering in Germany's ear: "You can do it, Russia is weak."
China isn’t. And invading Russia has a chance of China joining the war also. That’s not guaranteed, but do you want to risk your future on some other countries political leaders?
 

avz

Suspended
Oct 7, 2018
1,781
1,865
Stalingrad, Russia
China isn’t. And invading Russia has a chance of China joining the war also. That’s not guaranteed, but do you want to risk your future on some other countries political leaders?
I can only quote Victoria Nuland: "F**k the EU". Every 100 years or so in order for capitalism to survive it really needs a big war to rejuvenate itself and tidy up the balance sheets.
 

needsomecoffee

macrumors 6502
May 6, 2008
438
952
Seattle
These statements are so common on the internet and so ridiculous. How do you know how difficult these tradeoffs and costs are? How do you know how much money they would make or lose? This is the kind of thinking which politicians do..."its not going to be too hard for that waitress mother of 3 to work the extra shifts to pay the taxes so we can forgive that Harvard law grads student loans"....
Actually having worked for a very technical, high-cost device mfg for nearly 20 years, I am quite familiar. But Apple-stans always have reasons why the company that pretty much invented and maximized returns from throw-away device gets a pass re: Mother Earth.
 

Wahlstrm

macrumors 6502a
Dec 4, 2013
847
847
Apple doesn't design products that are destined to failure. My 5s bought in 2013 are still working. Where I see the issue is the battery. What is going to happen is that phones will no longer be petite. I don't think battery technology is there as people subject these batteries to a littany of abuses(heat, draining, continual charging) and the EU expects these batteries to last? Baloney.

The main target for this is obviously not Apple.

If anything it’s more about getting the rest to operate the way Apple does.

iPhones tend to last and be supported for many many years while some, even higher end, android phones don’t even receive software updates after a few months..
 

CarAnalogy

macrumors 601
Jun 9, 2021
4,220
7,764
To adequately represent all 27 member states and their political groups we need a lot of MEPs. And just because we have more lawmakers does not mean that we automatically have more useless or bad laws.

And I suspect that there aren’t actually as many laws that need to be repealed as you think.

Thank you for actually replying instead of just disagreeing.

I admit that I don't actually know enough about EU politics to comment. I only say that because there have been a lot of stories in the news lately about EU laws affecting US companies and the general consensus seems to be that there is a bit of overreach.

But I think my comment still stands for the US.
 
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