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> Just let people buy the devices they want But that's not what will happen. Instead people will have to buy the devices manufacturers force on them.

ggreer 4y ago
How are manufacturers forcing anything? They are all competing with each other for customers. The problem is that making a modern phone is ridiculously expensive, and not enough customers want removable batteries to make the investment worthwhile. Samsung made phones with removable batteries. Not enough people bought them, so the product line was discontinued. Apple can’t force you to buy any of their products. Tim Cook can’t send men with guns to your home and put you in a cage. The government can. Anyone who uses that power to force people to make phones with removable batteries is absurdly authoritarian.
- gambiting 4y ago
  I only sorta agree with this argument. It's like saying that headphone jack was removed because not enough people bought phones with them - and that's obviously nonsense, pretty much every manufacturer dropped them within a very short timespan, so there really wasn't any choice in that matter as a consumer. Especially for consumers invested into an ecosystem(apple), manufacturer took away that choice - and the cost of switching away to android to keep the headphone jack was greater than dealing with the inconvenience, so most people didn't do that - but that doesn't mean they wouldn't prefer to keep the port. >>Anyone who uses that power to force people to make phones with removable batteries is absurdly authoritarian. Do you think any and all regulations are authoritarian? Governments everywhere, not just in EU, try to legislate based on what's best for the society. As the simplest example, they force manufacturers to limit transmission power to protect users from too much RF exposure - is that authoritarian? Or just a good idea that protects people? What if customers would prefer phones that have a stronger signal, at the potential expense of health consequences? Similarly, we can decide that it's better for the society if phones have removable batteries, because in theory it will lead to less electronic waste(which affects us all). I don't personally think that's true, I think even with removable batteries people will just buy new phones every 2 years anyway, but I wouldn't describe this move as authoritarian - just misguided.
- yakireev 4y ago
  > How are manufacturers forcing anything? Could you point me to AAA-battery powered noise cancelling headphones? No bluetooth necessary. I have a pair from 2014, and I love that as long as I have some spare batteries, I'm never stuck with headphones which I can't use because of low charge, and that I don't have to charge yet another device. That pair has no bluetooth, so power usage is low: one AAA battery for 30-40 hours of use. When these are dead, I won't find a replacement, because manufacturer does not want me to use the same device for eight years. They want me to have the integrated battery dead in a couple of years and buy a new pair.
  - ggreer 4y ago
    And I miss the form factor of the iPhone 5. Does that mean Apple should be forced to make devices of that size indefinitely? I don’t think so. You’re demanding that the government force people to make things that they no longer want to make, usually because the product is no longer profitable. Someone has to pay for the workers and factories needed to produce these products. Better it be you than the >99% of taxpayers who don’t want battery-powered wired headphones.

ggreer 4y ago

How are manufacturers forcing anything? They are all competing with each other for customers. The problem is that making a modern phone is ridiculously expensive, and not enough customers want removable batteries to make the investment worthwhile. Samsung made phones with removable batteries. Not enough people bought them, so the product line was discontinued. Apple can’t force you to buy any of their products. Tim Cook can’t send men with guns to your home and put you in a cage. The government can. Anyone who uses that power to force people to make phones with removable batteries is absurdly authoritarian.

gambiting 4y ago
I only sorta agree with this argument. It's like saying that headphone jack was removed because not enough people bought phones with them - and that's obviously nonsense, pretty much every manufacturer dropped them within a very short timespan, so there really wasn't any choice in that matter as a consumer. Especially for consumers invested into an ecosystem(apple), manufacturer took away that choice - and the cost of switching away to android to keep the headphone jack was greater than dealing with the inconvenience, so most people didn't do that - but that doesn't mean they wouldn't prefer to keep the port. >>Anyone who uses that power to force people to make phones with removable batteries is absurdly authoritarian. Do you think any and all regulations are authoritarian? Governments everywhere, not just in EU, try to legislate based on what's best for the society. As the simplest example, they force manufacturers to limit transmission power to protect users from too much RF exposure - is that authoritarian? Or just a good idea that protects people? What if customers would prefer phones that have a stronger signal, at the potential expense of health consequences? Similarly, we can decide that it's better for the society if phones have removable batteries, because in theory it will lead to less electronic waste(which affects us all). I don't personally think that's true, I think even with removable batteries people will just buy new phones every 2 years anyway, but I wouldn't describe this move as authoritarian - just misguided.
yakireev 4y ago
> How are manufacturers forcing anything? Could you point me to AAA-battery powered noise cancelling headphones? No bluetooth necessary. I have a pair from 2014, and I love that as long as I have some spare batteries, I'm never stuck with headphones which I can't use because of low charge, and that I don't have to charge yet another device. That pair has no bluetooth, so power usage is low: one AAA battery for 30-40 hours of use. When these are dead, I won't find a replacement, because manufacturer does not want me to use the same device for eight years. They want me to have the integrated battery dead in a couple of years and buy a new pair.
- ggreer 4y ago
  And I miss the form factor of the iPhone 5. Does that mean Apple should be forced to make devices of that size indefinitely? I don’t think so. You’re demanding that the government force people to make things that they no longer want to make, usually because the product is no longer profitable. Someone has to pay for the workers and factories needed to produce these products. Better it be you than the >99% of taxpayers who don’t want battery-powered wired headphones.