Apple has to work hard to comply with new EU rules. Now is the perfect time to completely overhaul the iPhone 16 design.
iPhone 16 design: time for change
The European Union wants to reduce the amount of electronic waste and has passed two new laws to do so. First of all, from 2024, most rechargeable devices must be able to be charged via USB-C. In addition, from 2027, batteries in portable electronics must be removable and replaceable by the user.
For Apple, these are two far-reaching laws, because they go directly against the design philosophy of the company. While USB-C is widely embraced, Apple likes to use its own standards to ensure better quality. The company does this, for example, with the Made for iPhone certification, which shows consumers that they are dealing with safe cables.
And then the replaceable battery. Although it used to be quite normal to remove the battery from your phone, this was never possible with Apple’s iPhone. Everything is tight with Apple devices to guarantee the best experience. Now that Apple has to make the battery of the iPhone replaceable, the company is forced to make major design adjustments. While you’re at it, now’s the perfect time to review the entire iPhone.
Be inspired by Fairphone
It is likely that the European Union will introduce more such laws in the future. After all, electronic waste is a major problem, so why stop at charging cables and batteries? Perhaps the next step is that you should be able to replace the screen yourself if your smartphone is dropped, or that you should be able to upgrade the camera yourself.
Read also: Apple does not give the iPhone a replaceable battery (here’s why)
That is not a strange idea, because Fairphone is already doing that. This company from the Netherlands makes modular Android smartphones that are known for their repairability and the possibility to upgrade them yourself by inserting another module.
Apple is already taking steps in this direction. The company introduced Self-Service Repair last year, so that people who have experience repairing electronic devices can repair their iPhone themselves through original parts, tools and a manual. That is still very difficult and therefore not accessible, but it is a start. Surely the company is thinking about ways to expand this option?
iPhone design is boring
Because let’s face it: the design of the iPhone is starting to get a bit boring. For many years we have practically the same design with minor differences. The biggest adjustment in recent years was that the notch became an island. The biggest adjustment of the iPhone 15 Pro seems to be smaller screen edges. You could say that the design of the iPhone is finished and the folding phone is the next step, but is that the real Apple innovation?
Now is the perfect time to redesign the iPhone from scratch, with environmental awareness in mind every step of the way without compromising on Apple quality. An iPhone 16 that can be repaired and maybe even upgraded.
Apple earns less and less from hardware sales and more and more from services such as Apple TV Plus and iCloud. So it’s becoming more important that consumers own an Apple device and less important that they buy one. If you offer people the certainty that they can buy an expensive iPhone for longer, you can even sell more devices with a higher price.
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