Great news for EU consumers, bad news for some mobile device makers (looking at you Apple). The EU has announced new requirements effected by the end of 2024 for mobile devices. The European Parliament has voted to make USB-C the common charging standard in the EU. All mobile devices with up to 100W power delivery (including phones, tablets and earbuds) sold in the region will have to come with a USB-C charging port by the end of 2024. Laptops will need to make the switch by spring 2026. Products that come to market before these deadlines won’t be affected. It’s no secret that the…
iPhone 14
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Apple (and other smart phone makers) are facing pressure from federal (such as The EU) and state governments to make their devices last longer and easier to repair. It appears Apple is already ahead of the curve as iFixit suggest this is the most repairable iPhone model in several years. Apple acknowledged that the iPhone 14 was designed to be easier to repair, but it might have undersold that upgrade. iFixit has finished a teardown of this year’s base iPhone, and it’s clear that the device was reworked from the ground up with do-it-yourself fixes in mind. The back glass is easier and cheaper…
While the future iPhone 14 does not include a charging brick and the battery replacement is going to run you $99 ($30 more than previous generations) at least you battery is replaceable. Most Android phones after 2010 switched to a non-removable battery mainly to make the phones thinner (by not having a removable back cover). Despite the name, non-removable batteries are removable, but not very easily. Most consumers will need to purchase specials tools or take their device to a repair shop.. However, many Android owners may not be aware of this or don’t want to bother with the hassle and…
Apple has removed the ability to use a physical SIM card in their soon to be released iPhone 14/iPhone 14 Pro with the removal of the SIM Tray. This means existing iPhone users will not be able to pop-up out their SIM card and use it in their shiny new iPhone 14. This also means for people who travel internationally who opt to buy and use local physical SIM cards to avoid data roaming fees won’t be able to do so via this method (though they can use an eSIM option instead). Apple added plenty of new features to its…