Since the EU law is about making batteries "removable with normal tools" one could argue that encapsulating the battery like a camcorder battery with a plastic

Since the EU law is about making batteries "removable with normal tools" one could argue that encapsulating the battery like a camcorder battery with a plastic hull isn't needed. A normal pouch with contacts will do. Assuming "All day battery life" (24h) a 1% reduction in battery life is about equal to 15minutes but frankly I can't see the replaceable battery reduce the capacity at all if you are doing halfway good engineering - there is plenty of void space in an iPhone even now. By that I mean space over/under PCBs where the battery cannot go because it is still just a rectangular polygon even in say the iphone 15. I think it has 2 rectangular smaller cells with a casing around them to make an L shape. So why doesn't apple forgo the "casing" and take that sweet 10 to 20% extra capacity? :)