On June 20, 2025, the European Union did something no jurisdiction had attempted at this scale: it legally mandated that smartphones sold across all 27 member states must be durable, repairable, and supported — not just sleek and fast. The rules, drawn from the EU Ecodesign Regulation (2023/1670) and the Batteries Regulation (2023/1542), represent the most comprehensive overhaul of consumer electronics standards in the bloc's history.
What do the rules actually demand? Devices must now survive at least 45 accidental drops without losing functionality. Batteries must retain at least 80% of their initial capacity after 800 charge-discharge cycles. Manufacturers are required to make critical spare parts available to professional repairers for seven years after a model is discontinued — and five key parts including batteries, displays, and back covers must also be available directly to end-users. Software security patches must be provided for a minimum of five years.
A new A-to-E repairability score, developed by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, now appears alongside every phone's energy label. The score assesses ease of disassembly, tool requirements, spare-part availability, access to repair manuals, and pricing transparency. The European Commission projects that these measures will save European consumers €20 billion in expenses by 2030 and cut 2.2 TWh of electricity consumption.
But not everyone is celebrating. The Right to Repair Europe coalition — representing over 180 organisations — has called out several notable gaps. Spare part prices will not be included on the repairability label, a key omission compared to France's now-abolished domestic repair index. Manufacturers are required to publish only 'indicative pre-tax prices' for spare parts, meaning they are not legally bound to honour those figures. A company can technically comply with the law while charging 60% of the device's retail price for a battery.
'Part pairing' — the software practice of locking components to a specific device's motherboard so that third-party repairs disable key functions — is still permitted under the new regulation, provided manufacturers can cite security or safety justifications. Consumer groups call it the single largest remaining barrier to independent repair.
The most structurally significant change is still coming. From February 18, 2027, under Article 11 of the Batteries Regulation, every smartphone sold in the EU must have a user-replaceable battery — removable by the end user without specialist tools, thermal energy, or solvents. Apple has already redesigned its battery adhesive system in anticipation. The question is how manufacturers will absorb design overhaul costs, and whether those costs eventually reflect in device prices.
The Brussels Effect is real: when the EU set the USB-C standard, Apple redesigned the iPhone globally. Regulations made here tend to become standards everywhere. The right-to-repair wave is heading outward — roughly one-third of American states have now passed some form of repair legislation, and 57 bills are active across 22 states as of early 2026.
