EU’s new rules will shake up Android update policies
This is great:
Starting from June 20, 2025, smartphones and tablets sold in the European Union must adhere to the following design requirements (via European Commission):
- Resistance to accidental drops or scratches and protection from dust and water
- Sufficiently durable batteries which can withstand at least 800 charge and discharge cycles while retaining at least 80% of their initial capacity
- Rules on disassembly and repair, including obligations for producers to make critical spare parts available within 5-10 working days, and for 7 years after the end of sales of the product model on the EU market
- Availability of operating system upgrades for longer periods (at least 5 years from the date of the end of placement on the market of the last unit of a product model)
- Non-discriminatory access for professional repairers to any software or firmware needed for the replacement
I'm really looking forward to the improvements in right-to-repair; some of the recent phone models have been an absolute shitshow, using glue etc.
Tags: repair phones right-to-repair eu ireland smartphones mobile-phones devices hardware software-updates support