EU Repair and Battery Rules: What Changes in 2026 and 2027

Since 20 June 2025, two regulations have applied to smartphones, cordless phones and slate tablets sold in the EU: Regulation (EU) 2023/1670 on ecodesign and Regulation (EU) 2023/1669 on energy labelling. The practical result is a label, in the same visual language as the one on a fridge, carrying seven pieces of information: an energy efficiency class from A to G, the device's rating, battery runtime per full charge, a drop-resistance classification, the number of charge cycles the battery endures, a repairability rating, and the dust and water protection level. It is the first time a European buyer has been able to compare durability across brands without trusting a press release.

The ecodesign side is where the teeth are. Batteries must withstand at least 800 charge and discharge cycles while retaining at least 80 per cent of their original capacity. Manufacturers must supply critical spare parts to professional repairers within five to ten working days, and must keep doing so for seven years after a model stops being sold. Devices must receive operating system updates for at least five years from the date the last unit of that model is placed on the market. Repair software and firmware must be made available on non-discriminatory terms, closing the loophole where parts were sold but pairing was locked. Drop resistance, scratch resistance and ingress protection all carry minimum requirements too.

Directive (EU) 2024/1799 had to be transposed into the national law of every member state by 31 July 2026. It covers mobile phones, tablets, washing machines, fridges, vacuum cleaners, electronic displays and servers, with more categories to follow as ecodesign rules are adopted. Manufacturers must repair covered products at a reasonable price and within a reasonable time, including after the legal warranty period has expired, and must sell spare parts and tools to independent repairers and to consumers at prices that are not deterrent. Choose repair over replacement inside the legal warranty period and that warranty is extended by twelve months from the date the repair completes.

The Batteries Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, in force since 17 August 2023, contains the change with the most visible consequences. From 18 February 2027, portable batteries in devices placed on the EU market must be removable and replaceable by end users. Manufacturers cannot demand proprietary tools, heat or solvents, and adhesives that only release with a heat gun or chemicals are out. Replacement cells must remain available for at least five years after the last unit of a model is sold, at reasonable and non-discriminatory prices. A derogation exists under Article 11(2) where removability would compromise safety or water resistance, and the window for applying for further derogations closed on 30 April 2025.

One company has been building to this specification for a decade. The Fairphone 6+, released on 18 August 2026, has twelve user-replaceable modules including a 4,415mAh battery that comes out with an ordinary screwdriver, a five-year warranty and six major Android updates running to 2033. Everyone else is closing the gap from the software side first, because it is cheaper: Samsung now promises seven years of updates on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, comfortably beyond the five-year minimum, and Apple's support for devices such as the iPad Air (M4) has historically run to a similar span. The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro, with three major OS updates, is the one that looks exposed.

Three practical consequences. First, read the label: battery cycle count and repairability class are now the two most informative numbers on the box, and they vary far more between brands than megapixels do. Second, a phone bought today will be repairable for longer than one bought three years ago, because the seven-year spare-parts clock starts when the model stops selling, not when you buy it. Third, if you are choosing between a sealed flagship and something more serviceable, the gap narrows sharply in 2027, so a sealed design bought now will look older, faster. None of this is an argument to replace a working phone.

Some caution is warranted. The right-to-repair directive is a directive, not a regulation, which means twenty-seven national implementations rather than one text, and the version a brand actually answers to is its local one. Derogations under the battery rules are real, and devices with high cycle endurance and strong ingress protection are widely reported as the likely escape route for sealed designs, so do not expect every 2027 phone to have a clip-off back. And nothing here forces a manufacturer to make a phone thick or ugly. The realistic outcome is service doors, screws and pull tabs rather than a return to the removable battery of 2010.