They would just "underdevelop" other areas to make their phone "breakable" or "prone to accidents". I am not that hyped because of that.
Only EU though
As if they're gonna make a separate iPhone only for the EU. And no way they're gonna ditch that market, which is literally larger than USA's
*In the EU.
Manufacturers aren't going to make a different model for the rest of the world. It's much cheaper to just make one model.
A good example is Tesla models 75D and 100D - they both have the exact same battery pack but the 75D is electronically limited so that the range is less than on 100D so it's cheaper tho it's the same car.
I have mixed feelings on this. I think there were a few good reasons to move to sealed batteries. In an ideal world you could give consumers choices between the various trade-offs and offer multiple models or variants.
But of course that will never happen because non-replaceable batteries present a far better business case. If they were forced to offer options, the manufacturers would deliberately make the user-replaceable models far shittier and then complain to the regulators that they were unpopular.
Has anyone else always had a spare phone battery in the pocket to swap on the go?
Imagine you could just do that.
I absolutely loathe the EU and it's institutions, but every once in a while a pro consumer standardization is a good coming out of them.
I had an S3 for ages because you could get a replacement battery for like $12. Upgraded to an S10, can no longer swap the battery. Biding my time.
I hate this forced upgrade/payment model and how phones seemed to double in cost almost overnight.
They're even trying to get sneakier with the contracts. 3 years now to payoff your device, instead of 2, but the payment is the same. Absolutely bonkers.
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