It had been in the works for a while, but now it has formally been adopted. From the article:
The regulation provides that by 2027 portable batteries incorporated into appliances should be removable and replaceable by the end-user, leaving sufficient time for operators to adapt the design of their products to this requirement.
Yeah, it’s just a blatant lie that a phone with a removable battery can’t be waterproof without being massive. I had a galaxy s5 active years ago that was, and the difference in thickness between that and the standard one was negligible.
Phones are really at the point where there’s not really much point being thinner - hell most people put protective cases on phones anyway that dramatically increase the thickness, I know I do!
If they could instead build the added protection a case gives you into the phone, on top of a headphone jack and a microSD slot I’d be set - we need a Panasonic toughphone or something.
BRING BACK THE STRENGTH OF THE NOKIA 3310 - I WANT A SMARTPHONE AS INDESTRUCTIBLE AS THAT!