Mastodawn

The EU is introducing an energy label for phones, together with mandatory requirements for phones sold in the EU;

- 5 years of software updates (AFTER they stop selling the device in the EU)

- providing important hardware parts (during sale and for 7 years after), including free software (if needed), to every repair shop, within 5-10 business days

- batteries have to make 800 charging cycles and still be above 80% original capacity

And on top of that, phones and tablets need this energy label (which also includes a fall damage durability and repairability score), and abide by the above requirements, from 20 June 2025.

(https://energy-efficient-products.ec.europa.eu/product-list/smartphones-and-tablets_en)

Smartphones and Tablets

Product Energy Efficiency - Smartphones and Tablets. The 2023 regulations cover smartphones, feature phones, cordless phones and slate tablets. They do not apply to tablet computers, to products with flexible main display (roll-up), and to smartphones for high security communication. Energy labelling is foreseen only for smartphones and slate tablets.

Energy Efficient Products

@ShadowJonathan Sometimes EU does do a good thing.

Matthias 3d ago

@flesh @ShadowJonathan reminds me of this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ptfmAY6M6aA

Patrick Stewart sketch: what has the ECHR ever done for us?

YouTube

flag_nonbinary_wartime

@ShadowJonathan hmmm... that's gonna be interesting

neocat_thinking

@ShadowJonathan what a bad day to be british :( (will still affect us but still would.love the guarantee of this)

sodi, mallory, mira, olivia, alex, em, luna, etc 4d ago

@null @ShadowJonathan come visit me in EU! move here so you can get the guarantee :3 !!!

@sodiboo @ShadowJonathan i wishhhhhhh i wanna move somewhere better

neofox_pleading_reach

Peter McArthur 4d ago

@sodiboo @ShadowJonathan @null Can't just do that any more. ***grr Brexit grr***

Benoît Jones 3d ago

@null @ShadowJonathan
Are you aware of the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, which just passed? It allows the government to dynamically alter British regulations when EU regulations change. So basically we now are dynamically aligned with EU regulations including this one probably.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10224/

Celes 🌙4d ago

@ShadowJonathan this is genuinely cool

there's so much planned obsolescense, especially with the batteries

@ShadowJonathan Absolute BASED

@ShadowJonathan holy shit I can't wait to actually go shopping for a phone in a store and be able to compare the important specs :D

Ungovernable Woman 🖕🏻🇬🇧4d ago

@ShadowJonathan now companies that brag about how great their phones are 24/7 will actually have to prove it

@ShadowJonathan I wonder if that will hurt availability of the Lower end handsets, esp as a lot of the oems are at the mercy of if the chipset vendor can be bothered to support the soc

Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸4d ago

@Dragon @ShadowJonathan Chipset vendors will feel this pressure as well, which is good.

@Dragon I think prices in general will go up as these rules imply less sales (as individual phones last longer)
@ShadowJonathan

@prex @ShadowJonathan that and there’s a cost to supporting it for that long

Abazigal 4d ago

@Dragon Possible that the smartphone market might just shrink to Apple, Samsung and Google? Not many companies have the resources to support their devices for that long, much less remain profitable while doing so.

Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸4d ago

@Abazigal @Dragon Very unlikely. People often forget that selling individual parts, access to schematics, extended warranties (which make more sense if the device has a long lifetime) etc. also adds revenue. It's more of a shift in how to make business, not how much.
Additionally stuff like this strengthens the second-hand market, which in turn causes more sales in repair parts, and so on… a lot of positive dynamics.

Henk Langeveld 4d ago

@Abazigal @Dragon

I suspect my #Fairphone4 already complies with most of these requirements.

And they just lowered the price of the #fairphone5 model.

@Abazigal fairphone has been in business for a decade iirc selling long lasting phones, so I'm hopeful others will find a way. Easier when you're in a niche I'd say, but maybe it can be imitated
@Dragon

@Abazigal @Dragon
I think the reduced competition, higher prices, and less cheap options are all possible scenarios. One concern is that the most financially vulnerable will be exposed to risky tech on the grey market.
For everyone else, phones won’t be ‘more expensive’. They will have the right price tag for a more sustainable product. The way it should always have been.

Franchesca 4d ago

@prex @Dragon @ShadowJonathan I already don’t buy a new phone more frequently than every 6 years, and I would go longer if I could. This is great!

@prex @Dragon @ShadowJonathan well, this is good if that’s the case. Less stuff in the landfills

The Penguin of Evil 3d ago

@prex @Dragon @ShadowJonathan That would be the point in part. Less e-waste. Long lasting devices also mean that the people who want the new cool one are handing on a second hand device with a lot of life left.

Brad Rubenstein “

Economics suggest that as demand goes down, prices go down, ceteris paribus.

@prex @Dragon @ShadowJonathan

@BradRubenstein @prex @ShadowJonathan to a point, but economies of scale also come into play, if they’re making significantly less of a thing then the per unit cost could go up.

I guess we will have to see how it plays out, another interesting component will be how easy these devices become to repair, even if you can get the parts no ones gonna want to repair a device ifs hours of labour to a repair shop

@BradRubenstein @prex @ShadowJonathan I do wonder if 7years was properly researched or if someone pulled a number out their backside. That’s rather long time in the tech world

Brad Rubenstein “

The tech aficionados will always move on to the newest thing. The regulatory question is whether the five year old devices get repurposed by poorer consumers down the line, or end up in landfill.

@Dragon @prex @ShadowJonathan

Brad Rubenstein “

Agreed, it's complicated. But costs don't determine prices. Buyers and sellers determine prices.

Here, the regulators are banking that the sellers will continue to sell even though regulation may make their profit margins smaller. Could be. Or they could slightly pivot to get around the profitability impact of regulation.

@Dragon @prex @ShadowJonathan

@BradRubenstein @prex @ShadowJonathan don’t think there is much margin on the Low end unless you are Apple.

engineer 4d ago

@Dragon @ShadowJonathan Samsung is selling A16 for 130€ with 6 years of support, so it is possible.
Bunch of 6-7y old phones have LineageOS 22 (Android 15) build, but OEMs stopped supporting them years ago. Some companies like HMD have 5y for business users only (2y for standard models) even though hardware and software are the same.
Maybe these new regulations will put pressure on OEMs who are selling bad products, but it could actually make it easier (and cheaper) for those who already invest in repairability and/or longer support.

@ShadowJonathan I’m impressed! Now next up, the EU will mandate each phone to have a constant connection to police servers or something insane like that

@yassie_j @ShadowJonathan one bad policy to balance each good one. Can't be too based after all

Xerz 💗4d ago

@yassie_j @ShadowJonathan I believe these regulations also go in conflict with the Batteries Regulation and meeting them allows phone manufacturers to make the batteries non-replaceable, so... there's that

♡ miss olivia ♡4d ago

@yassie_j @ShadowJonathan

shh don't give them any ideas

madsenandersc 4d ago

@yassie_j
And they would do that because of....what, exactly? Or are you just hating on the EU because you had to endure Brexit?

The Penguin of Evil 3d ago

@yassie_j @ShadowJonathan They already do - it's called the mobile phone network.

@ShadowJonathan *spontaneously bursts into Beethoven's famous ninth symphony*

starfrost 4d ago

@ShadowJonathan Good idea

ablobcatattention

@ShadowJonathan could go a bit further (mostly by also requiring OEMs to provide all required resources to enable the development of 3rd party OSes for their phones, as well as users to run these 3rd party OSes), but it’s undeniably a step in the right direction

flag_nonbinary_wartime

@Reiddragon i second this
@ShadowJonathan

@ShadowJonathan fortunatly aliexpress still will sell us cheap phones.

@ShadowJonathan Nice. But no wonder the tech bros want to get rid of the EU.

CyberFrog 4d ago

@deBaer @ShadowJonathan actual technology regulation? gasp

say it ain't so

LP🔸Dont let the night be over 3d ago

@deBaer @ShadowJonathan GDPR and DMA already did that. There's a reason all the big tech companies funded the ascent of the current American administration. Capitalism wants a labor base of desperate, broken people, with no rights.

@ShadowJonathan some will leave the #eu market #phone

@muzicofiel Good. Getting the trash out at the same time sounds like a win :D

@max @muzicofiel I doubt they will leave the EU market. 500 million consumers…

@muzicofiel @ShadowJonathan yep. The crappy anti-consumer ones.
That will leave more market share for more ethical and better suppliers.

Juan Games 4d ago

@ShadowJonathan niiiice, I hate how my phone stopped software support after only 3y and 9 months.

FediThing 🏳️‍🌈4d ago

@ShadowJonathan

Perhaps credit needs to also go to #Fairphone as they proved these could be done even by a tiny company with few resources. It showed that the excuses made by larger companies were untrue.

Hey @WeAreFairphone did you see this?

Nibor4000 🇬🇧 Ⓥ 4d ago

@FediThing @ShadowJonathan @WeAreFairphone
In the UK, reading this on my Fairphone, scrolling to see if anyone mentions Fairphone. 😄

@FediThing @ShadowJonathan @WeAreFairphone Just based on the image of the label, I think the the FP5 would score “badly”.

FediThing 🏳️‍🌈4d ago

@ShadowJonathan

func_doggoλt_rotating

@ShadowJonathan Too bad companies are prolly going to outplay this again by making the tools and replacement parts horribly expensive.

CatSalad🐈🥗 (D.Burch)

@ShadowJonathan Meanwhile, in the US...

Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell ‘hyper personalized’ ads
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/perplexity-ceo-says-its-browser-will-track-everything-users-do-online-to-sell-hyper-personalized-ads/

Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell 'hyper personalized' ads | TechCrunch

Perplexity is building its own browser is to collect data on everything users do outside of its own app to sell ads.

TechCrunch

eww, no, whyyyy

@catsalad @ShadowJonathan

@catsalad @ShadowJonathan That guy looks like the most techbro any techbro has ever techbro'd.