It had been in the works for a while, but now it has formally been adopted. From the article:
The regulation provides that by 2027 portable batteries incorporated into appliances should be removable and replaceable by the end-user, leaving sufficient time for operators to adapt the design of their products to this requirement.
Why would they incur the cost of retrofitting their factories or production process for a small minority that wants removable batteries. If there was enough demand they’d know because they’d market it as a feature and profit from it. Truth is normies don’t care or prefer the look/feel of soldered batteries and unibody slim phones. I’d personally like all phones to have an unlocked bootloader but I know that’s not what the market wants and manufacturers rarely offer it. I can’t force them to make one for me so I just ignore them and buy the one with an unlocked bootloader.
My entire family would prefer removable batteries.
It is not a case of consumers choosing one or the other. It is a choice that was taken away because new phones are more profitable than new batteries.
And while even I will say “Yes, I prefer how sleek unibody phones look.”, that acknowledgement is not equivalent to saying “I prefer owning a unibody over a phone with replaceable batteries and other parts.” or “I’d rather buy a unibody.”
Only reason I use a unibody is because I am unable to get a used smartphone with replaceable batteries for ~$300 at all, nevermind a decent one.
They don’t make them with removable batteries because now when your battery dies, the phone is useless. So you have to buy a new one. Phone sales would dry up. We should be moving to a production model of sustainability and durability. Phones and electronics can be made to run indefinitely. The battery is really the only exhaustible part. Replace that when it dies, then the life rest of the electronics is extended. This is the most efficient model, resource and energy-wise.