The EU will force Apple, Samsung and other manufacturers to increase the life of mobile batteries

Until recently, the life cycle of a mobile phone was only 2 years. Planned obsolescence designed by the manufacturers caused them to stop updating 24 months after launch.

Currently support has been extended to 3 or 4 years, and companies such as Apple or Samsung, in anticipation of this law, which we will now explain, have already begun to offer advanced repair services.

But for European Unionnot enough. Extend the life of mobile phones to at least five years reduces energy consumption and pollution from production and waste. Equivalent take 5 million cars out of circulationin terms of pollution, according to the Financial Times

European Union today published an initiative that will become law. This proposal focuses on three points: increase the repair cycle, increase the battery life of mobile phones, and increase support for software updates.

First, the initiative proposes force manufacturers to keep parts and component parts of 15 mobile parts, at least during 5 years since the launch of mobile. During these 5 years, the user should be able to repair any malfunction without problems.

Also, Batteries will need to increase their lifespan so after 1000 complete cycles load, continue to maintain their capacity at least 80%.

Mobile phones must have a label detailing battery life, as well as drop and water resistance ratings.

Finally, manufacturers must guarantee mobile service updates up to 3 years after the end of production, and 5 years of security updates, according to Engadget. An important nuance: it’s not about launching, but about when production stops.

At the moment, this is an initiative, which means that it will be discussed with interested parties. But the EU’s decision is to make it a law, as it has already done with the obligation to use USB Type C chargers, a law that has mostly affected Apple.