We’re actually getting a Nintendo with replaceable battery before we start getting smart phones with those again…
Those exist all the time. Samsung Xcover, Fairphone,…
love to see it 👍
“Tober” in those comments had an interesting point to me:
It still needs to fit inside the dock. I’m afraid this could result into a smaller battery.
Yeap, this has always been the trade off for replaceable anything.
If some part is “easily replaceable” it must have a connector thats up for the task, as well as independent structural integrity to support the thing being replaced (the battery) and to properly define the area it fits.
This is one major technical reason why manufacturers got rid of replaceable batteries in the first place. People complained device batteries didn’t last long enough, as well as expressing a desire for smaller devices. Comparing those requests, manufacturers just went with “well, if people are going to replace the device after 2yrs anyway, we can just ditch all that extra support for replaceable batteries and cram a bigger one in while also making the device smaller.”
And yes, people replace their stuff way more often than they should… i still know people that replace their phone every one to two years, which I don’t understand … I’m on my 6yo one now and it’s still perfectly fine.
Counterpoint, battery chemistries have improved a lot over the years. Even discounting SiC batteries, the density of batteries has improved significantly. Most smartphones will last the day, and newer models (even without SiC!) can last multiple! Laptops now have much larger batteries than before, and their processors are less power-hungry. In the modern day, you can have replaceable batteries while also having good battery life. Additionally, the development of new technologies like sodium ion could improve power density and reliability of batteries! Something to look at too.
Many laptops have replaceable batteries that are not glued to the chassis, and they have great battery life. Framework’s “13 Pro” laptop has a battery that can compete with the (Apple Silicon) Macbook Pro, even beating it in some tasks! This is while making lots of other parts replaceable too, like the motherboard, keyboard, speakers, display, etc. It’s not just Framework too, many other companies have laptops that do not use glue (Lenovo, Microsoft Surface, some Asus ones…), and their batteries are not significantly smaller than the competition.
The Fairphone 6, which has a screw-in replaceable battery, has a very respectable battery life (can be multi-day depending on usage) that can compete with competitors in the same price range of 600 euros. HMD also makes lots of phones are easily repairable, and their battery capacities are just as good as the competition and there are no major complaints about worse battery life compared to the competition.
Yes, if you change the battery chemistry, or power draw of the system, you can still get good battery life out of devices. Thats not the point here.
The point here is comparing two devices that are identical minus the fact that one has a user replaceable battery and one does not. The switch 2 is the same in both regions minus that. They’re not going to switch battery types for one region like that as chargers and other components and testing and many other things would also change… they would be more likely to change the wattage of the battery or reduce performance of the cpu to make up for the difference in size.
My point is that, in the modern day with these battery technologies, the difference in battery capacity between two nearly identical devices, one with a replaceable battery and the other with one glued in, is now negligible.
It’s a bit like the push for eSIMs, where Apple recently released phones with slightly more mAH in their eSIM only phones for the U.S. market. Many people argued that the removal of a physical SIM slot (and usually the microSD slot we all love) is needed for larger battery capacities in smartphones, but in reality, the actual difference in the iPhones was very small.
And the existence of Framework, Fairphone, Lenovo, etc. who produce devices with easily replaceable batteries show that it is possible to do so without sacrificing battery life compared to the competition. A lot of the Lenovo Thinkpads have this feature, and compared to laptops with a similar size, weight, and processing power, there is no significant difference in battery life. Framework’s “13 Pro” (note that the screen size is around 13.5") can compete with the 14" MacBook Pro in battery life in a similar form factor, while also offering a replaceable battery and a repairable design. And for smartphones, Fairphone’s latest model can compete in battery life with other phones in the same price range, even with a replaceable battery.
The difference in the battery life of easily replaceable and glued-in batteries is very small, for both large corporations like Lenovo and relatively small companies like Framework or Fairphone. I believe this can be compared to the removal of the physical SIM slot (and the microSD slot), where the actual gain in battery capacity is negligible. In this case, we have a real “identical” product with and without the slot, and the battery capacity difference is very small.
Thank you EU (not Nintendo)
