this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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There's nothing to figure out. All manufacturers have already used removable batteries in the past. Just blow the dust off the old designs and adapt them!
There will be a lot to figure out. The new designs provide features that the old ones couldn't- and there are very few people who would prioritize a replaceable battery over other features.
I don't know if you ever see the ifixit tear downs, there is no new tricks. The battery is still replaceable, it's just that the manufacturing process adds more stuff to "anti-tempering". Let me list a few:
I gotta gently push back against this. You may not know them personally, but there are a LOT of people who have gone back to dumbphones over this. IMO, this is a large part of why dumbphone sales are catching up on smartphone sales for the first time in years. I even know some elderly folks who stopped using cell phones entirely when smartphones stopped having replaceable batteries (easier to going back to having a landline when one is retired/not raising kids, of course).
There are very few people who buy the currently existing smartphones who would prioritize this feature, yes -- because anyone who does prioritize this feature has been excluded from the entire smartphone market for several years now.
It'd also go well with modern battery packs, because you can just have a spare battery sitting and charging away in your bag, and can swap it on the fly, without having to have a cable dangling about that might get caught on things, or bent the wrong way.
The only downside with a replaceable battery is that you have to switch the phone off to do it, but that's small potatoes for effectively charging the phone to full in an instant.
Back when I had a LG V20 I didn't even bother to plug in the phone, I would just swap the batteries once or twice a day and never need to worry about charging. Super useful, especially when you're away from home.
Side note, I wonder if it would be possible to add a second smaller battery to the phone to keep the phone on for the minute or two that you're swapping the battery, so it never needs to turn off. It's not a huge issue, but it would be pretty convenient if possible.
I think it's extremely hard to tell what people would prioritize. If you aks them hypothetically, everyone probably is some green warrior for mother earth. But then when push comes to shove, the industry will give them the choice between a flagship phone, glued all around, and a phone with a removable battery with all the greatest specs from five years ago. Of course many will chose the glued one, and then some people will be like "welp, the free market has decided". 🤷
edit: typo
This whole practice infuriates me to no end. The market has never truly been given a choice in any of these changes since every phone worth buying has copied the others (removing headphone jack, replaceable batteries, SD card slot, no charger, etc) all around the same time. Never stops sycophants from telling the rest of us that nobody wants these features 'becuz da market sayz so.'
Please tell me what new design / feature precludes an easily changeable battery? The only one is supposedly the ever slimmer form factor, which is IMHO not actually that wanted because everyone I've ever seen immediately adds bulk back with a case. If the phone was a little thicker, more tough, and not glass all around, I could see people going back to not needing a case.
They sure will fight it. The main counter-argument I see is water proofing, but I believe I've seen a phone with good proofing but still accessible. Don't remember the brand and model though.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 was a good example of this. The back panel and battery was removable, and the charging port had an extra plastic cover that went on top to protect against water ingress
Dang, looking at those phones from back then, they were such good designs. Simple yet effective.