Re:France fines Apple €25M for iOS software that slowed down...
by manfredo on Friday February 07, 2020 @03:45PM
(#22270720)
Ease of battery replacement is another set of tradeoffs. 15 years ago, phones were bulkier and weren't as water resistant. Some phones still have easily replaceable batteries. Other phones, like the iPhone and Pixel optimize for form factor above ease of service - which is not surprising given that they're on the top end of the price scale. Nobody bats an eye about the fact that it's more expensive to service a Mercedes than a Toyota. iPhones are the Mercedes of smart phones.
And battery replacement has been made to be as inconvenient as possible. 15 years ago, swapping the battery was a 15-second task that required no tools. Pull off the backing, pull out the battery, push in a new battery. Before Apple's response to bad press, it was $80 to have a battery swapped. Aftermarket kits were $30, so that is $50 on labor and markup. $50 to do what used to take 15 seconds by an untrained user.
This is a problem of Apple's making, by their design decisions.