The problem isn't necessarily the replacement, even though it's certainly not for a large majority of iPhone customers. The problem is sourcing the battery in the first place. Apple certainly isn't supplying any of them.

In the best case you get one that works properly, if you're unlucky you might get one that has lower capacity, and if you're very unlucky you might just get one that puffs up and catches on fire.

> The problem is sourcing the battery in the first place.

Not really! iFixit and others have done the hard work for you there (I work at iFixit).

They’re not user replaceable. Apple and their certified shops will absolutely repair the battery for you, although I don’t know how many generations of iPhones they support.

That they are not user replaceable is not under any dispute. The question is why.

These are completely unfounded guesses. You have no basis upon which to determine whether it's "difficult."

> These are completely unfounded guesses. You have no basis upon which to determine whether it's "difficult."

Those are guesses, which is why I used "probably" and "it’d be". Glueing parts together takes less space so it makes sense they use that to make phones thinner. I’ve yet to find a single smartphone with the iPhone 7’s thickness and a replaceable battery. The Fair Phone has a replaceable battery, but it’s thicker than every iPhone since the 3GS from 8 years ago.

It’s not a guess. Phones with removable batteries are thicker than “unibody” phones. Sorry but that’s kind of obvious.

If you need a reference: https://www.cnet.com/news/its-time-to-kiss-that-removable-sm...