In the apple devices i have seen the insides off there is plenty of room to add screwed brackets that hold the battery in - the battery does not fill all availa

In the apple devices i have seen the insides off there is plenty of room to add screwed brackets that hold the battery in - the battery does not fill all available space because even pouch cells are basically rectangles. That means in every curve there is plenty of space for a screw post or hook. But I agree that "Apple makes an original, user-hostile decision" is a bit too simplistic. I have long since come to the conclusion that Apple simply always chooses the cheapest option for them in cases where user-serviceability is concerned or to maybe put it another way they ignore user-serviceability semi-actively. Routing screw posts costs time and wear on tools. screwing in extra screws costs time thus just mainly gluing the battery in place is the cheapest option. Soldering on flash and RAM saves on costs and makes the PCB design easier. At the same time it "locks" the longevity of the device neatly. This leads to not-overlong replacement cycles simply for practicability reasons - for instance modern chrome eats all the RAM.