EU plan 5-year updates and security
European regulation
According to new legislation and a plan from the European Commission, smartphones and tablets must receive security updates for at least five years. Manufacturers must also be able to provide the parts needed for repairs for five years. Read more about the new regulations and what's involved here.
A new proposal from the European Commission concerns environmental rules for devices and tablets. In this way, the use of products should be extended so that you do not need a new device every two years. This way, products can also be repaired more easily and recycled more often. Extending the life cycle of smartphone devices and tablets to five years would be equivalent to removing five million cars from the road, according to the EU. Also, smartphones and tablets should be able to receive security updates for five years and manufacturers should be able to continue to deliver at least 15 parts within five business days. Think screen, cameras and batteries. This must also be available to consumers for five years. In addition, there will be maximum prices on parts, which should make repairing the devices attractive. There are also calls for relaxing the free replacement of a device's battery.
Energy labels and encryption
As an aside to the above regulations, there is a section on energy labels in the proposal. For example, it wants energy labels for smartphones and tablets. These labels will indicate the likely battery life and will also include information about a device's protection against water, dust and drop resistance. This will make it even more transparent for consumers as to the exact condition of their purchased device. In addition, the European Commission wants consumers' data on devices to be encrypted by default with a random encryption key.
Users should also have the function to securely delete it and then generate a new encryption key. That should make the process of deleting data easier, thus ensuring improved privacy. This proposal comes after the European Union already agreed this summer to require USB-C connectivity. That regulation, too, is intended to curb electronic waste (E-waste). The USB-C requirement will go into effect from the end of 2024.
Manufacturers disagree
If adopted, these rules will have hefty consequences for phone manufacturers. Indeed, most manufacturers currently promise only two or sometimes three years of updates for devices. So all phone brands would have to take extra steps to guarantee more updates, as well as keep parts available for repair. According to the Financial Times, major manufacturers are resisting. These include Apple, Google, Samsung, Oppo, Huawei and Xiaomi. Their argue instead that more electronic waste will be created this way because more parts will have to remain available longer. This, according to the big boys, is going to lead to overproduction. Because of these extra costs incurred, the rules could lead to increases in prices and a smaller supply of cheaper devices, as they would be less interesting to produce. A move in this direction has already been made in the United States, following years of criticism over the repairability of iPhones. Apple recently rolled out a repair program, allowing consumers to order parts and equipment from Apple to repair their iPhones themselves. In any case, we are very curious to see if these new regulations will be passed and what they consequences will be. Click here for our range of smartphones!
