My youth is back! Mobile phones with removable batteries are back again, but I won't buy one.
Do you still remember that the EU once said it would legislate to mandate the use of removable batteries in mobile phones?
Due to the interests of various parties, after several years of negotiations and tug - of - war, this highly anticipated bill has been stagnant for up to two years, and there is still no sign of it being implemented.
Besides the interest disputes among mobile phone manufacturers and suppliers, consumers also had mixed opinions about this bill at that time.
On the one hand, supporters generally believe that a large number of mobile phones are scrapped every year. The root cause is the insufficient battery life due to battery aging, coupled with the high cost of replacing the battery at the original factory's after - sales service, rather than the poor performance of the phone itself.
Mandating the use of removable batteries can not only save people money but also reduce the generation of electronic waste.
On the other hand, there were also quite a few opponents.
Nowadays, the battery capacity of mobile phones often exceeds 6000mAh. This progress is actually due to the integrated design of non - replaceable batteries. This highly integrated structure not only provides valuable internal space for large - capacity batteries but also enables mobile phones to achieve a slimmer and more beautiful shape, and significantly improves the structural strength and waterproof performance of the phone body.
In short, everyone has their own reasons. This regulation is still pending. It is said that the next progress report will be postponed until 2027.
However, since the EU can't force others to do something, it also can't force others not to do it.
Some time ago, Fairphone, a niche European and American mobile phone manufacturer that advocates environmental protection as its core concept and focuses on modular and easy - to - repair design concepts, finally officially launched its sixth - generation mobile phone, Fairphone 6, in Europe. The product is priced at 599 euros (approximately 5033.61 yuan at the current exchange rate).
(Image source: Lei Technology)
That's right!
In addition to allowing users to replace all the parts of the whole machine by themselves, the biggest selling point of this product is that it can quickly restore power by disassembling and replacing the battery.
So, is the good old days when you could just open the back cover and replace the battery when it was out of power and be fully revived in less than half a minute finally coming back?
Environmentally friendly but low - spec
Before we start, let me introduce Fairphone, the manufacturer, to you.
Fairphone is a mobile phone manufacturer headquartered in the Netherlands. According to them, the current consumer electronics industry is only aiming at one thing - promoting a fairer and more sustainable electronics industry.
Naturally, the products of Fairphone are also called Fairphone.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
Since 2013, they have been launching new products at a rate of one generation every 2 - 3 years. All the mobile phones they have made over the past decade or so adopt modular and easy - to - repair designs, as well as product designs and hardware configurations that are completely unmatched with the price.
In short, with this generation of products, Fairphone 6 still fails to get rid of the past stereotype of being “environmentally friendly but low - spec” in terms of hardware specifications:
Let's first look at the core configuration. It is equipped with a Snapdragon 7s Gen3 processor, with a standard 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
Some readers may not be very familiar with this processor. The representative products of this processor in the domestic market are the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ and the realme 14 Pro+. It can be simply understood as one of the many variants of the Snapdragon 778G.
It can run games like Honor of Kings and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile smoothly, but it is powerless when it comes to more performance - intensive applications.
It features a trendy small - screen design on the front, with a 6.31 - inch LTPO OLED screen, a 1.5K resolution, and supports an adaptive refresh rate of 10 - 120Hz.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
Turning to the back of the phone, there is the familiar triangular module design. This time, Fairphone has added many lines to the back cover, giving it a design sense similar to that of the CMF phone 1. The back cover can be freely disassembled and repaired, and can be replaced with a multi - functional back cover with a built - in card holder or a lanyard.
There is also no surprise in the imaging system. It has a 50MP LYT - 700 main camera and a 13MP ultra - wide - angle camera.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
For domestic manufacturers, this is probably the imaging level of a mid - range performance phone priced around 1000 yuan. However, the simple module design looks quite neat.
Of course, for Fairphone 6, the biggest selling point is still the removable design.
The disassembly method is very simple. You don't need alcohol, pry tools, or a heat gun. You just need to remove two screws and then pull the back cover -
(Image source: Lei Technology)
Hey, just like the old Nokia phones, the back cover of the phone is opened!
Inside the phone, there is a removable 4415mAh battery. The official claims that the longest battery life can reach 53 hours.
However, based on my experience, even if the Snapdragon 7s Gen3 is very power - efficient, it can only last for about 6 hours in daily use.
It is worth mentioning that, different from the old Nokia phones, this battery is not fixed by simple contacts and clips, but by screws and cables.
(Image source: Lei Technology)
In other words, we probably won't see the operation of instantly replacing the battery with a simple disassembly on this phone.
However, as long as you have the tools, you can open the phone in just two or three minutes, unscrew six screws, pry open the cable, and replace it with a new battery.
Moreover, if you are skilled enough, you can even shorten the whole process to less than a minute.
If we use the energy - replenishment formula to calculate, in order to fully charge a 4415mAh battery (based on a nominal voltage of 3.8V) in 1 minute, the average charging power output per minute is about 1006.62W (this is the effective power actually delivered to the battery). If we consider the output of the charger, it needs to be even higher, exceeding 1100W.
What about 100 - watt fast charging? In the eyes of Fairphone, it's just a piece of cake.
Why did removable batteries decline?
Looking back now, the development history of smartphones is a history of removable batteries gradually fading out of the stage.
In the “feature phone” era, ordinary people usually carried two mobile phone batteries when traveling. If one battery ran out, they could directly use the other one.
When I was in high school, since my Nokia 6300 could only last for about half a day when reading novels, I always carried at least two spare batteries with me. Every day when I got back to the dormitory, I would use a universal charger to charge the three batteries in turn. It was like having a magazine - like charm.
(Image source: Nokia)
Moreover, mobile phones at that time used nickel - metal hydride batteries. Due to the memory effect of the batteries, people generally deliberately “over - charged” their phones when they first bought them to “activate” the battery capacity.
Whether this operation is effective is still a mystery to this day.
After the iPhone came out, traditional removable batteries began to decline.
For smartphones, the large touch screen ensures that their power consumption will not be low. With the development of smartphone technology, the performance of processors and sensors on mobile phones has become more and more powerful. Manufacturers need a battery with large capacity and light weight as support.
Just like this, lithium - ion batteries officially stepped onto the stage.
(Image source: Apple)
Compared with traditional mobile phone batteries, lithium - ion batteries undoubtedly have many advantages: they have a higher power density, a longer lifespan, and as a soft - pack battery, they only need an aluminum shell for packaging, which requires less volume compared with the steel shell of traditional nickel - metal hydride batteries.
But that was still not enough.
So, Apple turned its attention to the removable design. A removable design means that there must be a mechanical structure related to the battery, which is completely unacceptable for high - precision smartphones. Just like this, lithium - ion batteries were buried deep under the metal shell that could not be easily opened.
As an industry leader, Apple's actions were naturally followed by many other manufacturers.
Li Nan of Meizu once explained the non - removable battery of Meizu phones:
“The design of the shell and card slots of removable batteries will take up space, thus reducing the actual battery capacity (if the same body as the MX2 uses a removable battery, the battery capacity will be reduced by about 15%).”
Moreover, non - removable batteries, to a certain extent, eliminate the behavior of “opening the back cover”. This continuously enhances the integrity of the overall design of the phone, makes the corresponding three - proof performance more reliable, and can also prevent users from replacing the battery with a mixed - quality third - party battery, improving safety and reducing the probability of after - sales service.
From any perspective, for mobile phone manufacturers, this is simply a choice with all advantages and no disadvantages.
It will always be a choice for the minority
Whenever I am occasionally troubled by the battery level, I always miss the days when I had a removable battery:
After all, no matter how fast the charging is, it can't be as fast as directly replacing the battery.
However, if you really ask me whether I will choose to buy a Fairphone 6 just because of its removable battery design...
