A 1-2 hour process which includes heating to soften glue, high potential of damaging internal components, or high potential of cracking some piece of glass is not "Screws are how in fact one accesses the battery in an iPhone."
> “A portable battery should be considered to be removable by the end-user when it can be removed with the use of commercially available tools and without requiring the use of specialised tools, unless they are provided free of charge, or proprietary tools, thermal energy or solvents to disassemble it.”
possibly, yes, it’s certainly an argument that could be made in court. However the battery itself can be removed without those. It’s the rear glass that can’t (currently, who knows in 4 years).
Sounds hair splitting I know, but court cases are won & lost on less.
It literally says the following about removing the battery (emphasis mine)
> Unfasten the battery connector cover screws
and…
> remove the single 1.0 mm-long screw securing the charging coil connector cover
After that it’s just two easy to remove adhesive pull tabs to get the battery out (which would pass the test for user replaceable in the EU law).
Complain about how hard it is to get the glass off, fine, but that’s got zilch to do with the EU law