But simultaneously, I don't know if that many people would consider it to be selling point either nowadays. Battery capacities don't seem to shrink as quickly anymore, such that the phone probably gets damaged/stops receiving updates/is replaced anyway by the time the battery would need swapping.
Although perhaps that'll change now that the changes between even 2-3 year models are getting pretty small and software support periods are increasing.
I will rather pay the extra 50€ in case I need to change the battery in a few years.
People not, but marketing people do.
There isn’t really a marketing strategy of “nobody values this but we will fight to the death to get the product designed that way so we can spend a ton of money convincing consumers to want something they don’t”.
Or, let me rephrase that, there is no sustainable marketing strategy like that. People do try (see: New Coke, Humane AI pin).
[1] https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/1538
[2] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/03/intel-revives-the-mh...
(Manufacturers probably also like phones that have to be replaced in a few years due to battery age.)
I realize if this logic was applied to everything the phone could double in thickness, but for a consumable part like a battery, it seems worth the sacrifice to make the repair trivial for the average user armed with nothing but a small screw driver.