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by throw47474777j 1063 days ago
More materials will be used. People will change batteries that don’t need to be changed, and will buy and carry more batteries than they need. There will be a massive inventory of batteries in the supply chain, many of which will simply age out of their shelf life before ever being useful.

The chances of this being a net gain for the environment are basically zero, but the waste will make money for a bunch of people.
2 comments
DaSHacka 1063 days ago
> The chances of this being a net gain for the environment are basically zero, but the waste will make money for a bunch of people.

You mean as opposed to now with locked down serialized batteries requiring special tools to replace? I'm sorry I just cannot understand your point at all.

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throw47474777j 1063 days ago
> I'm sorry I just cannot understand your point at all.

Unnecessary batteries being sold = people profiting from waste.

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DaSHacka 1063 days ago
As opposed to unnessary batteries unable to be reused? Or even the hardware of the devices themselves having a far higher chance of being thrown out in favor of the consumer 'just buying a new one,' as battery replacement costs get more and more prohibitively expensive.
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throw47474777j 1062 days ago
Battery replacements aren’t prohibitively expensive, and iPhone at least don’t get ‘thrown out’ - they get recycled or reconditioned.
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letrowekwel 1063 days ago
Why exactly would people change batteries that don't need to be changed? Phones do have battery health indicators, and buying one costs money. There's no logical reason to change one, until they have degraded significantly. The only difference is that now you can change it more easily yourself, rather than having someone else do it for money, which they will happily do regardless of battery health.

When combined with requirement for longer support with updates, this change in legislation will help creating a healthy second-hand market for more devices. Cheap, non-serviceable Android phones that get updates and are used only for a year or two are the real source of waste, we need a proper second-hand marker for those similar to expensive Apple devices.

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throw47474777j 1063 days ago
> Why exactly would people change batteries that don't need to be changed? Phones do have battery health indicators, and buying one costs money.

You can't seriously be saying you don't understand why people buy things they don't need.

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