The EU is imposing new quality rules on smartphone and tablet manufacturers and introducing a new label to support them. From this, you can deduce how long your device will last.
De Europese Unie voert vanaf 20 juni nieuwe regels in voor fabrikanten en verkopers van smartphones en tablets. Enerzijds moeten toestellen voldoen aan nieuwe Ecodesign-regels en anderzijds verschijnt er een nieuw label.. Dat moet consumenten snel tonen hoe robuust, repareerbaar en zuinig hun toestel echt is. De regelgeving werd al in 2019 goedgekeurd.
The EU has a concrete goal with these rules. According to European research, the average lifespan of a mid-range smartphone today is three years. This should increase to 4.1 years, mainly by improving the quality of smartphones. The label should enable consumers to quickly compare devices themselves based on their build quality.
Ecodesign: Designed to Last
The first pillar of the regulations consists of the Ecodesign requirements. Those who want to sell smartphones on the European market must now ensure that they can withstand a knock. If they do break, they should be easy to repair.
Requirements
Specifically, the EU demands the following:
- All smartphones must be resistant to drops and scratches. Resistance to dust and water is also mandatory.
- Batteries must be of sufficiently high quality. According to the EU, this means they must survive at least 800 charging cycles without the capacity dropping below 80 percent.
- Operating system upgrades must be available for longer. The EU mentions at least five years after a product has been placed on the market.
- Manufacturers must make critical parts available within ten working days when repair is necessary, and this for up to seven years after a product has been sold on the EU market.
- Professional repair services must also have free access to all software and firmware that may be necessary for a repair.
Sturdier Devices
Some rules will have more impact than others, but taken together, they can bring about a major shift in the lifespan of smartphones (and tablets).
Regarding drop resistance, most manufacturers have already built in more robustness of their own accord. For charging cycles, the EU applies a fairly conservative standard. Oppo, for example, has been offering double for most models since last year. With these rules, access to repairs promises to become easier, even for older devices.
Longer Support
Perhaps the most important requirements relate to updates. The EU demands adequate updates for up to five years after a device has been put on the market. The manufacturers who have been offering seven years of updates since this year effectively meet that requirement.
Those who don’t, and for example only offer four years of security updates, no longer comply with EU rules. The midrange segment still has some catching up to do in this regard, as does Motorola. However, there is a side note for the Motorola Razr 60. It gets a far too limited four years of updates from launch, but due to its flexible screen, it is not subject to the new rules. For unclear reasons, the EU has allowed an exception for this.
A spokesperson for Oppo told us the company has changed its policy to provide six years of security updates for all new devices.
In general, the Ecodesign rules do promise to remove important hurdles that stand in the way of a long lifespan for a phone. Anyone who now buys a somewhat decent device from the mid-range or higher can in principle assume that the purchase of a new one will only be necessary after four or five years.
Energy Label Tailored for Smartphones
The EU supports the new requirements with a new energy label, which will provide more than just energy efficiency information. The label will be mandatory for all smartphones and tablets, and contains information linked to the Ecodesign requirements.
What’s on it?
The label looks as follows:
- The scale of the energy class, known from other electronic devices.
- The class for the given device. In the case of a smartphone or tablet, this actually says very little.
- The endurance of the device on a single battery charge. This measure is more relevant and gives an idea of how long you can go without a power outlet.
- The drop resistance, expressed in a score from A to E, where A is the most robust.
- The battery lifespan in cycles. The EU itself does not clearly explain how to interpret this figure, but it presumably refers to the total number of cycles before the capacity drops below 80 percent.
- The repair score, again on a scale from A to E, where devices in class A are the easiest to repair.
- The Ingress Protection (IP) rating. This indicates how dust and water-resistant a phone is.
Easy Comparison
According to the new rules, the label must be clearly visible everywhere, both in stores and at trade fairs. Manufacturers must also provide the label information freely online. The energy class is a fairly worthless indication for smartphones and tablets, but all other information is relevant. This allows consumers to quickly compare devices on important aspects based on objective figures.
It remains to be seen how accurate the European indication is for battery life. Looking at cars, for example, we see that the European standards for consumption are quite forgiving, thus overestimating actual efficiency. Even if the battery score isn’t entirely accurate, it does provide an objective figure for consumers to compare.
Europe Expects Impact
Europe expects a lot from the new regulation, but compares it with figures from 2010. The EU’s bureaucratic slowness hinders more concrete objectives. In any case, the intention is that the total sales of smartphones and tablets will decrease, as people will use their devices longer.
98 Euro Savings per Year
This should both save consumers money and limit the environmental impact. Besides lower production impact, it also creates less e-waste. Europe hopes that adding an energy class will also lead to more energy-efficient hardware, which in turn should reduce the energy consumption generated by smartphones and tablets. The EU expects a 25 percent reduction in electricity consumption for charging smartphones.
The EU also calculates the expected savings for end users. Because the need to quickly purchase new devices decreases, an average saving of 98 euros per year per household would be created by 2030.
Already Noticeable
The regulation seems to be a good thing in any case. It’s hallucinating to say that smartphones have an artificially short lifespan because they no longer receive security updates, or are no longer repairable. Every smartphone is a product of an enormously complex global logistics chain, with a global footprint. The EU now wants to force manufacturers who put such products on the market to do so in a responsible manner through regulations.
That the regulation works is a certainty. “In preparation for the new EU regulation on eco-design and energy labeling for smartphones and tablets, we have made the necessary adjustments in our product development, production and after-sales services to meet the requirements”, says Oppo, for example, in a response.
The impact is also visible with parties like Samsung, Google and OnePlus. They haven’t proactively increased the support for their smartphones to seven years out of the goodness of their hearts. The same applies to Oppo, which was stingy with security updates in the mid-range segment before the directive, but has now adjusted its policy.