The European Union has announced that it intends to extend the list of devices covered by its new legislation on the standardization of smartphones and electronic devices. In particular, it was about mandating the use of USB-C as a single connector in order to limit the proliferation of chargers on the market, with huge waste at stake and technical limits for users.
From now on, it is about integrating handheld video game consoles into this list of devices that the law also adopts a shutter in the battery part of the devices. These batteries should soon be removable to facilitate their replacement without disassembly which is mandatory for the user.
Thus, starting in 2027, all handheld consoles will be required to offer an easy replacement for their battery, something that has already been approved for smartphones. The law states that the battery must be removed from the product using commercially available tools, not specialized tools, unless provided free with the product.
Implicitly, this also says that the battery for handheld controllers should be accessible, not buried under various boards, modules or cables, and not glued together. Therefore manufacturers can face some limitations in the design of their housing, which are limited both to the size and position of their battery, but also in the long run in the evolution of their design that can force a modification of the batteries and thus the pursuit of spare parts with specific shapes or connectors that the customer must inform to avoid compatibility errors.
Handheld consoles should have easily replaceable batteries
We’re already thinking about Nintendo and the future Switch that this law will undoubtedly cover… but Nintendo can already argue that its battery is accessible with a simple screwdriver, and it remains to be seen if the glue used complies with European legislation.
The proliferation of consoles / laptops such as Steam Deck or ROG Ally and many other references will also be affected by this law, and things can be much more complicated with these models …
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