BERLIN — With four months to go before a European Union regulation requires that every smartphone, tablet and laptop sold in the bloc have a battery that users can replace themselves, manufacturers are quietly reworking designs, repair shops are hiring, and engineers are arguing about water.
The rule, part of the E.U. Battery Regulation adopted in 2023, takes effect on Feb. 18, 2027. It requires that batteries in portable devices be removable and replaceable by the end user “with commercially available tools” and without specialized equipment, heat or solvents, and that spare batteries be available for at least five years after a product is withdrawn from sale. Devices that are rated to be used in water for more than two hours a week are exempt, a carve-out that regulators say was intended for diving equipment but that some phone makers have explored.
“The era of the glued-shut phone ends in February,” said Dr. Katharina Voss, who oversees product regulation at Germany’s Federal Environment Agency. “We have had several very creative conversations with manufacturers about what counts as a diving device. A phone you take in the shower is not one.”
The regulation is expected to reshape devices sold not only in Europe but worldwide, because manufacturers are reluctant to maintain separate designs for a market of 450 million people. Industry analysts at Counterpoint Research estimate that redesigning for replaceable batteries adds between 1 and 2 millimeters of thickness and 8 to 15 grams of weight to a typical flagship phone, mostly from gaskets, screws and a rigid battery tray that replaces adhesive.
Several Asian manufacturers have already shown compliant models at trade fairs, with back panels that pop off after unscrewing two or four small screws and batteries that lift out with a pull tab. The largest American phone maker has not publicly described its approach, but supply chain reports suggest its 2027 models will use a battery held by screws and an electrically released adhesive. Water resistance is the chief engineering concern; most current flagships are rated to survive 30 minutes at 1.5 meters, a standard that is far harder to meet with a removable panel.
Repair businesses see a windfall. “A battery replacement today takes 45 minutes and needs a heat plate and a steady hand,” said Tarek Mansour, who runs a chain of six repair shops in Berlin. “After February it takes five minutes and a screwdriver. We will do more of them, charge less for each, and sell a lot of batteries.” He said he had hired four technicians in anticipation.
Environmental groups, which campaigned for the rule for a decade, say the real gain is longevity. Europeans replace their phones every 3.3 years on average, according to the European Environmental Bureau, and battery degradation is the most-cited reason. “If the battery is a part and not a death sentence, people keep the phone a year or two longer,” said Lucía Herrera, the bureau’s product policy officer. “That is 50 million fewer phones a year.”
Ms. Voss said inspectors would begin checking retail shelves in March.
A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 11, 2026, Section A, Page 11 of the European edition with the headline: Phone Makers Race to Redesign Devices as E.U. Replaceable-Battery Rule Nears.
