Re: Repair != Green
Nothing to do with the companies wanting you to buy a new device when the battery predictably fails of course (probably just outside the warranty period), despite everything else still being fully serviceable.
That horse has long since left the stable, since the makers behaviour suggests that every person on the planet wants a unibody phone with a fixed battery. Even the likes of Samsung, LG and Motorola are succumbing to the fashion for sealed in batteries in almost all models. At the highest end, that may be a necessity, since those buyers are fashion/tech conscious, price insensitive, and like the modest benefits of (claimed) waterproofing, and a more rigid handset. But look how the sealed battery is percolating down to the mid-price. The latest Sammy J5 "upgrade" is a sealed battery, the newly announced Moto G5S is a sealed battery, etc.
I certainly accept that most buyers don't care, and are happy with a throwaway device. But there's a good minority that do care, and the extent to which removeable batteries are now as rare as hen's teeth shows that the makers are producing what suits them, rather than addressing the sizeable niche who want to buy a phone and keep it for four years or so. With model-on-model technology progress slowing down, there's fewer reasons to upgrade, and the only way that phone demand will hold up is if people are forced to upgrade - and that's the key driver for non-removeable batteries.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
