Built in obsolescence - Phones without an easily replaceable battery

[Jonj1611]

I am pretty sure none of the oneplus phones have "user" replaceable batteries. The Guardian also states the Oneplus 8 Pro has a replaceable battery but I have that phone and it really doesn't.

Like all devices the manufacturer can replace the battery for a price. Batteries whether genuine or not are not expensive items, the labour etc is which is why I expect the labour price isn't included in One Plus's replacement costs

The rear cover is stuck on with an adhesive and the new 9 pro the battery is split into 2 parts. What I think they mean is oneplus can replace the battery. Not that the battery is replaceable by the user :/

[MrJim]

Sorry I should have specified Pro since that has IP68 rating apparently, but looks like the non-pro also has replaceable battery - £13 ex vat (interesting, didn't think you were allowed to quote £ ex vat these days) for the part, though I think there's a labour fee as well. Pro's battery is £17.

Well, kudos for One Plus for actually advertising their battery replacement service, but it's a shame that the phone's not actually designed for end-user battery replacement. I'm also a bit worried about the cost of labour, which they don't quote...

[kalniel]

I guess it depends how much it is, but if the battery is replaceable even by one plus, then that at least addresses the concern about phones being disposable once batteries no longer hold charge.

[cheesemp]

This has bugged me for years. I replaced the battery in my Nexus 5 but it wasn't easy and never quite went together as well. The replacement battery wasn't genuine either and wasn't much better than the old one. This time I've settled for a Galaxy M51 with 7000mAh battery! I'm hoping with the large battery size I may still get a day once it hits 3 years old. Being this large I can trickle charge (using an old weak charger) it over night from ~30% to ~80/90%. That should stop the battery being stressed and make it last even longer (Lithium ion batteries age more when fully charged/discharged which I never do). Now all I need is to persuade Samsung to give it 3 years of OS updates like the A and S series and my e-waste will be reduced...

[cbdeakin]

It's really the minimum phone manufacturers could do, regarding maintenance and repairs (and it would be cheap to build into designs too).

I don't feel a need to keep replacing my phone every 2-3 years, I just don't game on phones anymore, except for simple games like Tetris. This might change if they can design a phone with a huge screen that folds out, but I expect it would cost about as much as a Mac PC.

I do miss the speed of my cheap, but powerful Quad core Leagoo T5 phone, the Nokia 1.3 I use is much slower.

[Scryder]

Relevant video on planned obsolescence I saw the other day... thought I'd share. Later on he talks about Apple and their phones:

[MrJim]

Relevant video on planned obsolescence I saw the other day... thought I'd share. Later on he talks about Apple and their phones:

I just watched that video yesterday, by coincidence - really interesting!

[matts-uk]

Sorry I should have specified Pro since that has IP68 rating apparently, but looks like the non-pro also has replaceable battery - £13 ex vat (interesting, didn't think you were allowed to quote £ ex vat these days) for the part, though I think there's a labour fee as well. Pro's battery is £17.

Retail sales MUST be quoted gross (inc VAT). Business sales are typically quoted net (Ex-VAT).

The regulations do not adequately deal with retail consumers buying online directly from B2B suppliers. Should a retail consumer start shouting sale-of-goods and distance selling regs, a supplier may need to prove they are a B2B supplier to defend a small claims action. Publishing Ex-VAT prices is one of the ways a business might attempt to prove it's intention is to sell (only) to other business customers.