

No, you don't need a smartphone with a removable battery

No, you don't need a smartphone with a removable battery



AndroidPIT iPhone 7 plus 1138

Battery technological advances


If you want more battery power, go for an external battery


New purchasing criteria



AndroidPIT Samsung Galaxy S8plus 1966



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An option that’s no longer important


Would you like to see the return of removable batteries?
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Readers' favorite comments

  • Skyler “evo4g63t” B Jun 20, 2017

    Ridiculous article, current phones don't last a day under heavy usage. It had nothing to do with looks either the main purpose of the design is to try to get people to upgrade their phone when the battery dies.

    What we don't need is 30 minute waterproofing and phones encased in glass.

    My main reason for continued use of removable battery is extended battery, I can use my phone any way I want and still have juice at the end of the day.

  • Diz Jun 23, 2017

    WTF ?? are you for real? The reason I have resisted upgrading to a newer Note from my sterling Note 4 is PRECISELY because there isn't a removable battery on newer models. I like SD card slot and 3.5mm headphone socket too. I use them all, all the time. Don't iPhone me with stuff I'm told I need like the designers of Excel 1.0.

    As others have mentioned before me, I don't care about glass/bamboo/carbon fiber/titanium backs I cover mine up with a slimline rubber case for better grip, grip, yeah grip so the damn thing doesn't slide off onto the floor at 10 degree tilt. Or out of my pocket like a wet bar of soap

    Thank God the 'guru' that wrote this piece doesn't design phones..... I hope.

  • Greg1100 Jun 20, 2017

    If phone makers would only read these comments and act on them, we could have the best phones ever.
    NO glass backs, removable batteries, - for me, no curved screens as I always put a reinforced glass screen cover on my phones. Expansion of memory, in fact most of what has been left behind, but worked.
    The Note 4 was the last proper smart phone.

  • Willy Malone Jun 20, 2017

    Crap article. Seems the vote is clearly in favour of the majority wanting a return of replacement batteries. Who's trying to cod whom here....

  • Mastana Mahi Jun 20, 2017

    Older phones gave me the ability to put an extended battery. Fast charging is good as long as you have a wall socket or external battery is good if you have a place to carry. Extended battery could easily double battery life. Hence the reason I am still using Note 4 which is running perfectly and runs for two days straight under heavy usage.


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  • Even my grandma knows that glued-in batteries are fucking stupid as I saw when I told her that my wife's iPhones battery is glued in and she immediately got an expression on her face which clearly portrayed what she was thinking which was "well who's the fucking idiot who screwed that up".

  • You presume to tell me what I want or need and then proceed to try and feed me bullshit? FUCK YOU !

  • Lmao this entire article was a massive gaslight. Really, the majority of users prefer to get a whole new phone instead of replacing the battery? Do you get a new car when your battery is dead???? Unbelievable.

  • It's simply a marketing trick to force you to pay money for changing the battery. It's a scam. I'm sick of it.

  • Replaceable batteries are needed. The cost for the producer is the same for a replaceable and a non replaceable battery. The only reason to make phones with non replaceable batteries is that at the end of the life of the battery (one year,just over it ?) we have to change the phone. Although here in Vietnam the same shop where I buy all my phones, a branch of the biggest name in the country for phones, unflinchingly replaces old batteries if asked to do so. I observed how they do and it is incredibly easy

  • 92 percent of the 2,864 respondents disagree with the opinion that replaceable batteries are not needed. Feel free to buy yourself a new phone every other year, and a new car every time your gas tank runs empty. Stupid. Reminds me of the iPhone user who mentioned they had to buy a new one because their old one was all full of photos they'd taken. They'd never learned how to offload the pictures! What will THEY do when the battery finally dies? But hey, that's Apple users for you. My $69, 3 year old 16gb, Android 6.1 phone with 4G, GPS, Bluetooth, etc. is running fine and my wife's identical one just got the battery replaced for about $10. Both phones have 128GB micro SD cards and neither is half filled because we DO know how to offload photos. 10 years from now, we'll maybe have spent another $20-$30 on new batteries. You'll probably have spent another $5000-$7000 on "new" phones. Obviously, some people have more money than sense.

  • Horse shit. As everyone disagrees with this. All the reason for removing the removable battery option are beyond bullshit. They're all pathetic excuses to sugarcoat the real reason of wanting us to buy a new phone every time. OEM does their best to make sure we buy new phone each time and that includes locking the bootloader to make sure we cannot develop and continue supporting our phone.

  • I've never read such an utter pile of rubbish claims as in this piece. So we should be satisfied with a market trend that is clearly devised to force the public into dumping perfectly good devices and keep the producers happy because hey, the "majority of users" is a consumistic, money-strapped bunch and so should be you! mister expert, beat it. you're a joke.

  • Paying a grand for a phone and being expected to get a new one in two years when the battery stops holding a charge - what planet are these people living on ??!! I have a Note 4 with 16 MP Camera and more Pixels-Per-Inch than a Note 9 with its 12 MP Camera - OK, two of them. My battery stopped holding a charge after 2-1/2 years, so I replaced it for around $35 and the phone is still going strong on year 4 and counting. So instead of being out another grand after 2 years of ownership, I'm out $35. Oh wait - my rubber case split year or so ago, so I think I had to shell out another $30 or so. And the phone is waterproof enough for me - never stopped by rain yet, the screen protector has a hairline crack not easily visible, and my rubber case is awesome - I have dropped the phone dozens of times. The phone companies have figured out P. T. Barnum's adage about a sucker being born every minute, so yes, why wouldn't they make batteries non-replaceable?

    • Not to mention the Youtube video I watched last night showing things big companies don't want you to know, and #1 on the list was that Apple's $1000 iPhone only costs them about $200 to make. Yeah, 400% markup. Barnum was right.

  • You have got to be kidding me! Who paid for this article? Just look at the response numbers inside this very article. I personally paid for an LG-V20 out of my own pocket when I had to upgrade my phone a while back. Up until then I had not even heard of LG phones. I found the model from research just because I refuse to buy a phone without a replaceable battery. Fortunately for me it had just been released. I have replaced the battery twice already. That is really important to me, and I think to everyone since smartphones are pushing the 750.00 to 1000.00 dollar mark these days. My latest battery purchase was just a few weeks ago. The battery cost me 11.00 dollars on Amazon. That's twice I would have had to shell out 750.00 or more for a new phone. So with a personal savings of 1500 to 2000 dollars over the last few years, I call B.S. on this article. I have resigned myself that I will be exiting the flagship phone owner rolls in the near future. As soon as I can no longer procure a new or used smartphone with a replaceable battery, I intend to convert to my Tablet for the fun stuff, and drop back to just phone and text for my phone if necessary. I am a generator/Solar power tech by trade, so keeping abreast of battery technology is at the core of my world. the one statement I agree with in this article is that the chemistry of batteries does break down at the latest in about 48 months. I however feel if we are paying around a thousand dollars for our phones the devices should be good for more than 48 months. Or even less if we sadly accidentally damage our battery by overly discharging like I did to my last two. Sorry Pierre because I love your other work. I especially liked your latest article on "Getting Started with the Google Pixel 3. But on this subject, we will just need to agree to disagree. To me personally it just looked like payola.

  • Boar Oct 6, 2018 Link to comment

    The main reason manufactory stop making phones with removable battery is to force you to buy a new phone every two years. If one manufactory does it, the others will make sure your phone does not sell well with bashing articles like this one.

  • Add me to the list of those who made the mistake of buying a phone without a removable battery. The phone would freeze and become unresponsive and the only thing that could be done was wait for the phone to completely run down and recharge it. After that happened a few times I was planning what new phone to buy and making sure it has a removable battery. I currently have the LG V20 and a replacement battery for when it needs it. Hopefully it will last until this sealed case madness goes away.

  • astar Sep 22, 2018 Link to comment

    What kind of moron writes this kind of article? Donald Duck Dump Trump climate change denial fool? Coming from what claims to be a reputable Android website? It is fools like these bloggers-posing-as-writers propagating such idiocy that the Earth is going to shite with electronic waste pileups and disposable US$1000 phones that you have to throw away every year.

    My LG G3 is going strong only because it is on its 3rd battery already. It takes me only 5 seconds to change a battery, something which I can pre-order online as soon as I notice battery life/capacity degradation - way before it fails. Why do I need to buy a new phone when I have rooted it and it performs faster with a newer OS version than when brand new? It is way more powerful today then when I first unboxed it.

    On the other hand, retarded moron writers, such as this Pierre Vitré, has to travel to a service center to surrender his phone while some minimum wage technician-stranger looks at his naked selfie photo collection for upload to some ransomware site... While paying a king's ransom for a battery replacement for a $5 component part. And having to fall back on his homing pigeons while waiting for "servicing" completion. Or worse, who is so dumb f*ck stupid he throws it away and goes out to buy a new phone.

    This idiot writer does not even understand that sealed non-removable batteries are a greedy cash grab exercise.

    I registered as a member just so I can slam this retarded writer and/or this click bait website. Wouldn't bat an eyelid if I never come back to this idiot site anymore. Boy I sure hope somebody archives this (Way Back Machine yeah!) so that Pierre Vitré can be remembered & quoted for his idiocy.

    • What kind of moron believes in the "climate change" hoax? Science is based on reproducible experiments. I can describe an experiment that anyone in the world can perform to confirm that gravity exists and follows certain equations. You can't describe any reproducible experiment to confirm "climate change" because it isn't science. In fact it isn't even a falsifiable theory - everything "confirms" it. It's the result of fudged temperature data being fed into bad models. It's a scam being used to promote global socialism. NONE of the predictions of the climate alarmists have come true. ZERO.

  • Kockak Sep 16, 2018 Link to comment

    Im sticking to my old Note 4 (and avoided Note 5, 8, and 9) for the removable battery and IR blaster. Problem with fixed battery is the TROUBLE of having to go to experts and leave your phone to someone else's hands when your battery finally dies (which most likely would come at a most unexpected time).

  • I just chose a replacement for my old phone based first and foremost on the removable battery. I am buying a Moto E4. Removable battery and battery life were my number 1 and number 2 criteria, so don't tell me it isn't important.

    You have only said why the manufacturers don't offer removable batteries--to make more money! The consumers still want them. Who wants to be suddenly without a phone? And who wants to spend $700-$900 for one every two years? I refuse to.

  • I'm sick of being lied to. Curved screens and no bezel to increase likelihood of screen breaking. Glass back for same reason- with lies about antennas and wireless charging- like glass is the only material that would work. No headphone jacks so I have to buy their Bluetooth gadget & can't plug it into my work truck. Can't change a battery - nonsense about waterproofing- like the guts behind the battery bay can't be waterproofed. I delayed buying new for as long as possible, because they kept removing features I wanted. So much BS it's unbelievable. They should just say: we want it to break often so you buy another.

  • Manufacturer propaganda for built in obsolescence.

  • wtf dumb reasons in favor of non removable batteries.. these manufacturers hv become greedy why dont you cuto to chase and give this as the real reason of this..they want you spend more $$$ buying new phone than $ battery

  • the fuck i dont. GTFO!

  • This article is such hogwash. The problem with these sites and "tech bloggers" are that they are paid shills by the tech companies to promote their products and their stupid trends. Very few if any of these bloggers know about how business truly works and how resources and manufacturing processes are used to make these phones. There are finite resources and rare earth elements that go into electronics. Finite means....there is limited quantity of resources available. Promoting the moronic and downright unethical trend of making phones without removable batteries is enabling the destruction of our planet. In the future.... electronics...including smartphones will be forced to become completely modular and user repairable once these money hungry manufacturers have exhausted resources. The ignorant writer of this article doesn't realize that you don't need to make batteries non removable to obtain a premium design or waterproofing. Smartphone manufacturers use those 2 marketing slogans as a way to get away with planned obsolescence. Not to mention the huge amounts of electonics waste polluting our planet. Most people don't recycle their smartphone or electronics when they fail....they merely toss it in the dumpster. Removable batteries will eventually make a comeback as governments are already cracking down on planned obsolescence.

  • This smells like a paid shill article. Have you even LOOKED at your 2 polls in this article? 80%+ of the readers disagree with you.

    • The original poster probably gets their new iPhones given to them for free so they can write articles about how wonderful they are. If someone GAVE me an iPhone, I'd sell it immediately and use the cash to pay MY NEXT MONTH'S
      MORTGAGE PAYMENT. Ditto if someone gave me a $1000 Samsung. The $69 Samsung Galaxy Luna Pro 16GB phone I got on sale at Target is still doing great for me after 2-3 years being used over 4 hours daily.

  • I hate conspiracy theory and all paranoid crap but I swear I've lost count on how many times I've come across these sorts of articles from all major tech bloggers trying to normalize this insane trend of non-removable battery androids. It seems these so called experts are either not as technologically literate as they want to appear or are being deliberately disengenuous by blatantly omitting the greatest advantages of removable batteries that once made android phones such attractive alternatives to iPhones. I'm not going to list them as you probably are smart enough to figure them out if you possess good critical thinking skills and some common sense but I gotta say these tech blogger gotta come out and just be honest to their readers about their massive bias and pandering to tech giant sponsors

  • This article's really bad. Did Samsung pay you to write this? Why would you want a limited function like a battery? .. its just doesn't make sense.

  • The BS meter is off the chart in this article! Phone freezes up. Battery dies. Battery gets low. Trivial to fix with a removable battery. Pop the phone open and swap in a new battery. A monumental pain in the ass to remedy with a non-removable battery. The real agenda behind phones with non-removable batteries is cheaper manufacturing costs. Screw the customer royally to decrease costs and make more money.

  • I agree with those that think this article is nonsense. I've NEVER had a smartphone battery that lasted all day, or a smartphone battery that wasn't shot after about 18 months. Why would I want a new phone every 2 years when newer phones typically offer such marginal improvements over their predecessors? I'm currently using a 2 year old LG G5 (WITH a removable battery), and I have no need of the marginal improvements offered by the G6, G7 or any of the other current handsets. I'll just replace the battery when it no longer retains enough charge for my use. Phone manufacturers are cynically looking for new ways to force customers to replace their phones more frequently - not just with sealed-in batteries but with glass backs that are guaranteed to smash within months of purchasing a phone. Anyone up for a mass consumer movement to get manufacturers to give customers what they want - replaceable batteries, resilient (i.e. non-glass) backs and 3.5mm headphone sockets?

  • Before: my battery is end of life, buy a new one put it in and good to go,

    Now: My battery is end of life, send phone into a service centre, spend a couple weeks without it, have to pay a labour charge on top of the cost of the battery, and risk getting my device back with all the data lost to factory reset. Yea absolutely much better option

  • Using the LG G5 as an "example" of people not wanting removable batteries is malarkey -- we want removable batteries, what we do NOT want is batteries that are a pain in the ass to remove... popping that thing in and out of those prongs, and juggling the bottom of the phone while you do it is grossly unwieldy .. as if they designed it to fail.

  • I hate when companies tell me what I need. I won't buy a smart phone without a removable battery or SD card slot. I do a lot of work out in areas with no electricity and no signal. I take my G5 with me and 3 or 4 spare batteries and it's perfect. I can't access google photos to upload my pictures so that's why I need a SD card slot. Everything is becoming so cookie cutter. If I wanted an iPhone I would go get one, but I have a brain and actually like personalized things so I went with Android.

  • utter nonsense! I just bought a G5 when my LG V10 died. Why? because it was the only phone I could find with a replaceable battery! I travel. I take photos. I carry MULTIPLE extra batteries so I can swap out on the fly and keep going - while my friends are looking for an outlet, or going back to the hotel to charge their phones, I can keep touring. don't freaking try to tell me I don't need that ability. what i don't need is a thinner (and therefore easier to drop) phone that I'm going to put in a protective case anyway. or a phone I can walk around pouring champagne on (such idiocy). I DO need a swappable battery, a headphone jack and the I/R blaster (yes, I use it). all functions makers are removing while charging more. and that's utter bullshit IMNSHO

    • Preach it brother! Only reason I still use my LG V20 is swapable batteries. I travel every few months and I will not start hunting for an outlet in an airport because by phone died all of a sudden. I usually carry one spare just in case I need more than 12 hours and if I travel I always have 3 batteries for those long overseas flights.

      Sure I could carry one of those battery chargers, but they are bulky and very inconvenient.

      The only reason companies are dropping the ability to swap your batteries is planned obsolescence. After 2 years those phones with clued in internals are as good as trash. Very sad they also cost 900$+

      So yes, this article is idiotic. There is a real need for phones you can swap your batteries. Until you have a phone with a battery that lasts a week and will not decay over 2 years I am not swapping to any new phone... frankly it would be a downgrade!

      Can't understand why there isn't a super premium phone with swapable batteries, I would pay 1000+ for the option if it also came with an sd card!

    • I've since swapped the G5 for an LG Stylo 3 Plus.... the battery is less of a pain to swap out, I like the stylus.... too bad the camera isn't as good.

  • ****** all phone manufacturers...don't expect you will gain smart customer using this cheap trick of yours..do you think planned obsolence will bring any benefit to you huh?? What a bullshi*...perhaps you can only do that when everything you believe in is just fucking money...******

  • I was hoping that this article would reveal some magic technology I've been missing but managed to cite not even one reason why I don't need a rechargeable battery.

    I'll give you a good reason. I was using the battery-hungry Google Maps on my phone in Rome, miles away from my hotel, when the battery died. Thanks to having a Note4, I carry a spare charged battery, popped it in and was on my way to the restaurant. I would have been dead in the water without it.

    And, wrong, a lot of us DON'T have two-year "free phone replacement" contracts. I own my phone and with new smartphones costing as much as a decent laptop computer there's no way I can afford to ditch my phone every 24 months just because the battery won't take a charge anymore. Again, thanks to my seven year-old Note4, I just buy a new battery for like $9 every year.

    I intend to nurse this Note4 until it dies of old age. And I have another spare I bought on eBay when that happens. What's next? Cars you have to replace when it needs an oil change?

  • This article is COMPLETE BS. We know the reason why: planned obsolescence. Batteries are always the first thing to go and we KNOW the phone companies expect this to lead to increased sales.

  • I have a Galaxy S5. I've had it about 5 years. I've changed the battery 5 times because the reception at work has been terrible. I've gotten into the habit of turning off data when I'm not actively using it. Just 2 months ago, the reception got better. I don't know if Verizon did that or work bought a base station. If I get 3 years off the battery I just put in, I will consider buying a phone with a glued in battery. I may require a battery warranty to go there.

  • I own a 2014 Samsung Galaxy Note 4, with a removable battery and extra micro-sd card slot. If it keeps lasting, I'm good to roll with this for years to come. A non-removable battery means clearly that the phone is not worth having, that it has planned obsolescence baked right into it. And having to manually reset a phone that has locked up when you can't remove the battery? Nightmare. There is no good argument for non-removable batteries...as this boneheaded article abundantly, unintentionally proved.

  • I can NOT believe how deeply of the phone manufacturer KookAid spring the author of this article drank. Given the almost universal hatred toward batteries the consumer can't replace themselves, one might be tempted to find the cave in which he lives and invite him to visit reality once every year or so.

    That's all that it would have taken for someone with the stones to put their op-ed out there to bother learning what the rest of the world thinks.

    Battery tech improved? Um, no, not really. The flagships today last a whole lot LESS time than my 2 year old LG with a consumer replaceable battery. It's not lasting 3 days anymore, so I'm thinking about replacing the battery. That'll set me back a whopping $25 bucks, and I can keep my phone the whole time.

    Why would I go out and buy something else? It works. It does all I want a phone to do.

    Manufacturers HATE people like me.

    What was wanted was higher turnover in phone purchases. That's it. The rest was rationalizations and opportunity to make good on those rationalizations. I could care less if I pulled out a phone that makes other people scream in terror and flee into the night. LOOKS aren't important to the practical. They're not even on the "do I care about this?" list. They want FUNCTIONAL (and durable would be a good thing, too).

    Spending hundreds of dollars per year on a flagship that has designed obsolescence and a functionally useful life of two years is, well, not desirable. That's not "courage", that's marketing for profits. It's the right of companies to do that, but it's not "right" when it comes to respecting consumer choice and demand.

  • How is it that there are so many of us human beings agreed on this super extraordinary factor of the stupidity of smartphones with embedded batteries and no one exists in the sane world not wanting to do anything about turning around this phenomenon on its head once and for all ?
    Imagine the billions of us humans all remaining silent while all the phone manufacturers simply carry on making their sealed up slick phones and there is no one with a powerful enough voice on this earth of ours able to bring about a sensible change so that we may all begin to use our phones with a bit of wisdom and think of the power source ...the battery....and the importance of being able to replace it instantly when it needs to be ...without having to send it to a repair/service centre....
    It seems as though this world is ruled by The Mafia Clans who must regularly meet to work out how best to control us...and our elected governments blindly allow this type of nonsense to carry on without any regard is like the negative of THE ICING ON THE CAKE
    When will we grow up to see true sense and get together to bring the right kind of changes in our daily lives ?

  • Was this written by a 14 year old? He certainly looks older than that, but he has to be after reading this. This article is nothing more than a very shallow and non-researched sales pitch.

  • How much did Samsung & LG pay you to write this puff piece for them? All you're pushing is manufacturers' desires, not consumer demand. I would NEVER buy a phone without a replaceable battery. To do so would be to ask for trouble, and to pay for that trouble at premium rates.

    Planned obsolescence won't drive the market for smart phones. Wise, upgradable design with owner-replaceable parts (like replaceable batteries, SD card slots, & styluses) WILL.

  • What a ridiculous article. The part that got to me the most was this:


    The problem with this argument is one simple truth. You have to PAY for that new phone. A phone, need I remind you, can be around $650 WITH a new contract, depending on the phone. The Pixel 2 XL for example on AT&T averages at around this price on a new contract. Why should I pay $650-$1,000 for a new phone when the one I have already does everything I want it to do, and is perfectly fine minus the battery? This is why people here want removable batteries in their phones. I'm not a person who upgrades their phone every year or two. I bought the Note 4 when it first came out in 2014, and I'm STILL using it as my phone in 2018. It still works great, and does everything I need it to do, and it's all thanks to.... you guessed it.... a removable battery!! My Note 4 is currently on it's 4th battery, as I like to change out my battery as soon as I notice it isn't holding a charge as good as it used to. At which point, all it takes is a quick visit to Amazon, $15, and 2 days of waiting for the battery to arrive. Thank God 3rd party companies still make batteries for it too!

    When I buy a new smartphone, I don't want to be forced into buying a new smartphone, just because the battery is dead. I want to make the investment when I'm ready, and be enthusiastic about a good new investment into an awesome new gadget. How am I supposed to get enthusiastic about buying a new phone when I'm only paying the money to do it because my old phone battery died? That's not exciting, it pisses me off! $650-$1,000 is a lot of money, A LOT of money. I could buy a new mid-high end computer with that kind of money, and a computer can do far more for me than a smartphone. Why should I pay that much for a phone if I am not being promised a long life for the product, just because a battery can't last for more than 1-2 years? I'll be blunt, if I'm paying $950 for a Pixel 2 XL, it better last a bare BARE minimum of 4-5 years before replacement. Period, no excuse. $950 is a lot of money. Why should I invest that much into a product that I know isn't going to last very long, regardless of any fancy new features it has? End of 2 year contract or not, you have to dump a lot of money from your checking account for that phone either way, so having a replaceable battery means when the battery dies, I don't have to worry about taking a financial hit from it, because replacing it only costs $15.

    Saying that "Your contract is up anyway, so you might as well replace the phone and upgrade." is such a high and mighty argument from someone who has a lot of money to throw into buying phones. I am not going to spend $650, $800, or $1,000 on something that I know is not going to last for more than 1-2 years. That is absurd. I don't care what fancy new features the new phone has. To me, that much money for something that won't last is NOT a good worthwhile investment. The entire reason I switched from iPhone to Android in the first place was the replaceable battery. Getting rid of it is just Android becoming more like Apple, in offering fewer choices and less freedom to the consumer as a means to get them to buy more expensive phones. You are essentially paying $1,000 for a product that has an expiration date out of the box just because of a battery that is super cheap to manufacture. SCREW....... THAT! Replaceable batteries are a must have, and if they're never coming back, then I'll just keep using my Note 4 until it dies. I am not paying that much money for something that won't last a bare minimum of 4-5 years. End of story.

    Also, the excuse of the "Premium look and feel" is also absurd, because what's the point of the premium look and feel when you're just going to put it in a case anyway? You'll never feel the back of the phone, because it'll be in a case, and if you actually use your smartphone without a case, you're setting yourself up for disaster when you accidentally drop it, and the glass on the back cracks, which by the way isn't an issue with phones with plastic backs now is it? Glass cracks, but plastic doesn't crack. More expensive phones with shorter lives due to no replaceable battery, and their more delicate now too because they're made of freaking glass. Yeah, that sure sounds like a worthwhile $1,000 investment.

  • Replaceable batteries are essential when the internal battery life is noticeably reduced as happens to ALL mobile phones. With a user replaceable one like the Galaxy Note 3 or 4, just swap out a new battery and you've got power like the phone was brand new. The author is completely uninformed about mobile technology or perhaps trying to hawk external battery packs.

  • The title of this article intrigued me as it was totally against what I believe in. So, I read it. And then it made me angry. What a stupid, stupid article to support something so stupid and selfish! They must think we have no brains.

    The comments made me feel better. Thankfully, there are people who speak common-sense. Nice to read from you guys.

    I own a LG V20, wanted to upgrade to V30, checked the spec's, saw non-removable battery, closed the page. No way, Jose! I like to upgrade to a new phone every year because I like new gadgets and I can easily afford a new phone every year or less. But now I will hold on to my V20 as long as it works or there's a worthy upgrade on the market with removable battery, SD card slot and 3.5 mm jack. So, in my case, the manufacturers lose my money by being stupid.

    When I am on a trip back home to India, I move about a lot and use power-intensive features of my phones, navigation, phone calls, text messages, whatsapp, internet, music player etc. I carry 3 spare batteries in my pocket. On long days I have been known to change batteries twice, using almost 3 batteries in the whole day. If I am carrying a backpack (don't always do) I have a power pack to charge the batteries with an LG battery charger. I don't have to remember to look for a power socket every time I enter a building, I don't worry about long journeys, I do NOT conserve battery, I do not use power saver apps. And I am never tethered to a power socket or even a power bank.

    Death to the non-removable battery!


    • Same happened to me, was looking at the V30, but non removable battery was a no go. I would most likely buy a new phone every year for new and amazing tech. But non swapable batteries? Nope, will stick with the V20 until I find another phone with replaceable batteries. If it never comes, guess I'll get another v20 from ebay if mine dies...

      • Sorry guys, I have bought a V30 and need to update my comment here.
        Now, before you jump down my throat, let me say 2 things.
        1. Given a chance to buy one of two identical phones with the only difference being removable and non-removable battery, I would unhesitatingly buy the removable battery phone, even at a higher price.
        2. I still think this article is asinine and commercially motivated.

        Why did I buy the V30 then?
        1. I was bored having the same phone for 15 months.
        2. I had money to burn, so I could try out the V30 and if I didn't like it I could throw it away and go back to my V20.

        Not regretted it though. I bought it in India, online, before I got there and started using it right after I got out of the airport. (I got my nephew to bring me the box at the airport.)
        Four days later I took a trip to Thailand with family. As you know, phones get used lots more during travel and have to go through lots of low-signal areas. That's why we carry power banks and spare batteries. The V30 shone in such conditions. The only thing better than a removable battery phone is a phone whose battery runs on and on. I got easily 20 hours out of it, with 17 hours more showing on the battery usage prediction. I have several such screenshots which I took simply because I was so thrilled with it.
        I can't tell you how liberating it is to not have to carry batteries and power banks and still be confident in using and overusing your phone.
        Now, I have had the phone for 2 months and there have been two days when I have re-charged it during the day. One day I had to spend 4-5 hours in an extremely low-signal area (almost zero bars the whole time indoors). Second time, I left the camera on and screen on by mistake for about 2 hours or so.
        Both times battery didn't run out, but was low enough that I gave it to boost as I was expecting long days.
        For power back up, I have a tiny battery pack shaped like a cylinder, 3300mah, it plugs right into the bottom of the phone and you can use the phone at the same time. That's all I carry and that too only because I have nomophobia.
        Don't have to recharge every day now. I can leave it simply off charger over night and charge it on the wireless charger in the office next day. No sweat.
        Have had to come to terms with the battery status in a new way. Now 30% is not a cause for concern as it would probably run for 7-8 more at least.
        While having not regretted it, I would still prefer to go for removable battery over waterproofing. I don't give a hoot about waterproofing. It's useless. Normal phone works fine in rain, and current waterproofing will probably fail in a puddle and sea water. When it comes to dropping phones in toilet, just don't do it. If I dropped my phone in the toilet no matter how waterproof it is, I will bin it and get a new one. I won't touch that thing to my face ever.
        One concern is that battery performance will degrade after about one year. It doesn't matter to me as I would be looking to get a new phone anyway by then but it is a real concern for sure.
        A weird change was the battery cover. I use a magnetic phone holder in the car and I used to put the metal plate inside the battery cover instead of sticking to the back of my V20. Now, with V30, no battery cover to open. So I had to find an artistic solution for it.
        Went out to a train station with my DSLR and my guitar. Took a posed picture of the guitar with the tracks, printed it on a sticker, pasted that on the metal plate, stuck the metal plate to a transparent Spigen case and put the case on the phone. Job done.
        With the plate on, the wireless charging doesn't work. So, I use another case, same Spigen case but no plate, for all those times when I am not driving. Or without the case though I worry then as it's a smooth phone and very slim. Looks amazing with or without the case.

        That's my real experience, folks, love the phone, love the new features, would be better if it had removable battery but for now I have given my V20 away.


  • My battery died halfway through my contract on my Sony Xperia. I had to pay an extra 300$ to pay for the balance on the phone !! For this reason I am loving my LG G5. I will NEVER own a phone without a removable battery.

  • it is consumerism and capitalism at "best" (if there is such thing, there isn't)
    this is convenient for manufacturers and extremely inconvenient for consumers
    it is not only about an aging battery. having a removable battery is also about long trips, where you can have 4-5 fully charged batteries you can use till you get to charge all of them, it is also about choice
    naturally, none of the above are advantages for manufacturers, a dumb class of imbecile consumers are not learning that bad is good for them, that bloated has advantages (like scuba diving with your phone and other stupid / apple style things like this). apple, on top of that, was recently discovered to slow down their older phones, in order to make you buy new ones, barely supperior yet exorbitant. I wonder how stupid the regular Joe consumer can get. probably, no limit.

  • The big corporations are taking the mainstream users (their core audience) for a ride. They didn't make batteries sealed to appease power users... Obviously, the opposite. They made batteries sealed so that the large majority of people wouldn't fiddle with their phones and maybe figure out how to fix them themselves. So they go into a phone store, are told their phone is new and that fixing it wouldn't be much better than buying a new phone, and ideally the company pushes out another brand new unit some way or another. Or at the very least charge for a battery replacement or a warranty that covers it. Profit either way.

    And don't talk about the the users finding phones that have removable if they want. 2017 was the removable's death, no flagship phones. LG was the final holdout that caved in for no real reason. Now if you want a removable phone that isn't budget shit, you need to get a 2016 LG or a 2014 Samsung... "Great"

  • I feel the same way as many others. I think we should expect mobile handheld devices to last 3-4yrs plus if we choose to keep them. The battery is the weakest link and should be user replaceable as shown by Apple's latest admission. Software upgrades should make users aware if they will downgrade the performance of the older phone and allow them to opt out permanently.

    I believe the culture of non user replaceable batteries is making us more wasteful as many people do not realise that a battery replaced might increase the life of their device. Some may not even be aware it is possible to replace the battery. The result is the unnecessary early purchase of a new phone which plays right into the hands of the manufacturer.

    I love new features but smartphones 2-3yrs old are now very well equipped.

    My thoughts - get out of your phone contract, go sim only, get your battery replaced before you buy a new phone and increase the life of your current device. There are many great repair services on ebay.

  • I'm so glad I have journalists to tell me what I need and don't need as a consumer.

    Wait, no...I'm not. That's not your place to do. I get to decide what features I want in the technology I'm spending my hard-earned money on. You report honestly on the benefits and drawbacks of certain features, and let me make up my own mind like the intelligent consumer you assume I'm not.

  • Nonsensical article. A ridiculous entreaty in favour of the indefensible non-replaceable battery. Further proof that the trendy set city-slickers are dead-set against the environment. The lesson to be learnt here is not to fall for any signaling but tackle them on the issues.

  • Three reasons why manufacturers and carriers don't want you to have a removable battery:
    1. Planned phone obsolescence & forced upgrade into a new plan after only a couple of year battery life span.
    2. Limited data usage because of customer fear of running out battery life from using their phone too much.
    3. Up-sell extended warranty & repair costs for fixing dead battery phones.

    None of these are to the consumers benefits, only to the manufacturer's & carrier's benefit!!!

  • Wow, the author managed to be condescending and rife with error, all in one piece.

    Not to decry anyone for their personal choices, but this mentality is often found among people who don't mount a spare tire on their car or are magically caught off-guard when they are 90 miles away from the nearest gas station in the Mojave...looking for a charging station for their electric car.

    Look, we love spare battery function and water resistance. The Galaxy S5 had both and dominated the market for some time. With an LG G5 or V20, you can *still* have water resistance with the addition of a lifeproof case. There is no reason -other than what seems to be a trend of planned obsolescence- why we cannot have flagship phones with removable batteries.

    As for cases- I know some people love sleek looks. Heck, I like pretty things, too. But even if I had a waterproof phone, I'd still own a case. How many times have you glanced at a random person's phone to see a cracked screen?

    Whether you admit it or not, you depend on your phone- with navigation, information and the ability to accurately summon emergency services if needed. Essentially, your life depends on that piece of *very* expensive equipment functioning when and where you need it, not just when conditions are convenient. When your battery starts to die or is shot to the point of barely keeping a 7 hour charge, are you just gonna wing it?

    Let's think of another $500+ tool that could be used to assist you- a handgun. When you carry a handgun, do you carry it without a holster? Would you only keep a handful of rounds in your magazine? If/when your magazine fails (this is the weakest link in most firearms) or runs dry, do you just chuck it at a person and hope for the best? Absolutely not. You carry it in a holster (case) to protect it and yourself from damage, you carry a spare magazine.

    Personally, I am not a "hope for the best" kind of person. Everything mechanical will fail you to some degree at some point. I don't want to be the poor sap hugging a wall because my pretty little phone can't hold a charge 20 months after I buy it or the guy who is stranded on the side of the road because I didn't have a spare tire. How are phones -if they have truly become so important- any different?

    Semper Paratus,


  • It is apparent that the writer is nothing more than a shill for the cell phone industry and makes no pretense about it.


    So, according to this guy, everyone SHOULD happily become the equivalent of Apple customers who, lemming-like, line up days in advance WHENEVER a new IPhone comes out to shell out $800-$1000 on a phone they DEFINITELY DO NOT NEED except for the fact that their batteries are non-removable.

  • Modern "Cell Phones" are really very powerful hand held computers that happen to make phone calls. No one would willingly buy a laptop or netbook without a removable battery that can be replaced when it goes bad (which all now use Ni-MH 18650 cells that eventually go bad) so why would you want a hand held computer that costs almost as much as a high end laptop that will be useless when the battery dies?! A lot of consumers use MVNOs like Boost, Ting, Tracphone, etc. and don't replace their phones every couple of years because they aren't tied to an overpriced contract that embeds the (inflated) cost of that shiny new phone in the exorbitant monthly fees.

    I have a Galaxy S5 and have "8" replacement batteries for it and have had to recycle another "6" that have worn out over time. I keep a spare battery in my billfold so I always have an instant backup. I will not be replacing my S5 with a phone that can't remove the battery easily. In fact if I ever have to replace this phone I will probably just get another S5 (albeit most likely refurbished) because it A.) does everything I want it to do B.) is very stable and performs very well C.) is water proof and impact resistant D.) is easy to make minor repairs such as replacing the camera lens, power port door, back cover, screen, etc. and E.) runs the newer versions of Android allowing me to stay current. I'd like a shiny new Galaxy S8, LG V30 or similar but I don't want to pay $800 for something that will be dead in 24 months and a new battery for my S5 is only 5 bucks (other parts are just as cheap).

    For most professionals, function and form win out over looks and style when it comes to computers, i.e. "Cell Phones". We use our cell phones. We don't wear them like a hat.

  • I have a s5 and a s3 as back up until samsung comes out with a new removable battery phone. Watch out samsung, lg might beat you to the punch.

  • nobody Sep 22, 2017 Link to comment

    If the article was written by a manufacturer it makes sense because they figured out how to force people to buy a new phone when the battery dies from allowing it to discharge too often. ALL Li battery have heat and discharge issues and when people let them run down they do not recharge to a full level even though they show 100%. Samsung figured it out with the Galaxy 7 and Apple figured it out from the beginning. Until people demand replacement battery phones and tell the manufacturers their bull on thinner phones is the reason it will not stop.

  • Try Sep 21, 2017 Link to comment

    Remember the Note 7 recall debacle? Samsung paid a pretty price for their decision on a permanent battery.

    Ever go on trips or camping for days without a charger? I bring 5 batteries, play music and take pictures/videos the whole time and still have batteries left.

    When your phone dies, how long do you charge before you can use it again? I'm at 100% immediately and throw the dead battery on a charger.

    Forgot to plug in your phone at night? Sucks for you. I'm still at 100%+.

    I think LG made a mistake abandoning this feature on the V30. So I'll upgrade my V10 to a V20 instead.

    • Correct! According to Wall Street, even before the Note 7 was recalled for a 2nd time and production was halted, analysts said the company stood to lose $10 billion in revenue and $2 billion to $3 billion in profit, but if the Note 7 has replacement battery, Samsung cost would be only around $500 millions.

      It's too bad that LG just follow the footsteps of others.

  • What a load of horshite this article is! just WHO are you trying to kid?
    I've had removable batteries in almost every smartphone I've owned. Why? because I am a heavy user of every aspect of my phones on a daily basis, the amount of numbies that come out and say that nobody gives a shit about removable batteries! Like...wtf... there's plenty of us here who DO! I have the V10 and am waiting for some $'s to come in before buying a V20. I currently have 4 batteries for my V10 and will likely get at least another two for a V20 if I get one.
    My search after the V20 will be for a phone that has the most easily replaceable battery once the original starts losing conditioning it will need replacing, and NO I refuse to upgrade my phone every 2 yrs! I care about the environment and think that this endless throw-away society end NOW!
    Carting around power bricks shits me, small removable batteries when you cant always get to a power point is the way to go and always has been. The survey at the end here tells the REAL STORY!

  • I have owned an LG V10 for a little over a year. I recently noticed that my phone was no longer able to maintain a charge for a full day. I ordered a new standard battery and I also found an extended battery. I spent right around a $100 for both.

    To me, replacing a phone when the battery fades is like buying a new car when the tires wear out. I will buy a phone with a replaceable battery as long they continue to exist even if that means I forego the latest iPhone or Samsung device.

    And to put on my tin foil hat, with modern phone advances, there is little need to replace your phone every year or even two. My phone is fast enough and fast the features and functions that will probably have a useful lifespan of 3-4 years. If I was stupid enough to buy a phone with a built in battery, I would already be thinking about replacing it. Now, who would that benefit? Built-in batteries are such an obvious method of forced obsolescence that I can hardly believe it is legal. Imagine if your screen wore out? Or your CPU wore out? Would you just cough up another $600-800 dollars? And is it any coincidence that battery life for these phones is not covered under the manufacturer's warranty?

  • Diz Jun 23, 2017 Link to comment




  • I too prefer a removable battery, and mettal back plate instead of glass. I like a case on my phone anyway, will never see the back of the phone, only to change the battery when its old.

  • I find it ironic when people say a removable battery isn't needed, but then have a battery pack, or have a battery saver app running, or say they have fast charging instead. You don't need any of that if you have a second battery. You can use all of your phone features and never worry about your battery running low. Personally, I can't understand not wanting a removable battery.

    • Exactly, right? When major phone manufacturers stopped making phones with replaceable batteries, it made me so angry. A smart phone is the weapon of choice for the modern road warrior, no soldier in their right mind would carry only a single magazine in their battle rifle, and why should we settle for phones without replaceable batteries?

  • I was a big believer in removable batteries. I always carried a spare battery in my pocket for that reason. I was hesitant to get a Note 5 because it didn't have a replaceable battery. But I got one. I've never thought about it since. And my pocket is lighter for it. My S8+ is so good with the battery I can't remember when it has ever dipped below 25%. All those years of worry for nothing.

    • You are not a real power user then.

    • I'd like to ask what you do on your phone. Do you just do social media, photography, and light gaming? If that is so then I understand why you have your opinion, modern phones can tolerate that, but in my case I want to do so many other thing, all that you do plus using live wallpapers, having my phone at max brightness all day, heavy gaming, live weather weather and news updates, allowing my family to use my mobile hotpot, multitasking with several battery draining applications, listening to music, listening to books, reading, and anything else I can possibly think of. Additionally even if you are a light user replaceable batteries are better for the environment because you, and a couple billion other aren't throwing away their phones every few years. Also do you think it's fair that you have to buy a phone every few years or pay to have your battery replaced? In short in many important ways replaceable batteries are superior to those sealed inside metal and glass sandwiches. I ask that you consider my argument, please.

  • z b Jun 21, 2017 Link to comment

    Yes, I do need a smartphone with removable battery.
    If my phone end up at a seabed, i'm not gonna scuba dive to get it. But if someone do got it, it is better that it's not working and not fixable, for the security reasons.
    Removable battery is becoming forbidden technology like free energy.
    So it is all about the money. A lot for the few supplied by the rest.

  • i dont think it is necessary to have removable battery. but what will happen if your phone inbuilt battery got damaged.

    • I had this happen recently to my LG Stylo 2 after 8 months of heavy use and wear and tear the battery quit holding a charge very long.

      Popped the back open and my battery was cracked the water damage mark was positive and it looked like I was screwed until I looked on ebay for an oem replacement battery it was $10 all together my phone works now. Just waiting for my upgrade because when I went into Verizon to try and upgrade they wanted $160 right on the spot I had an account credit of $200 I was told that that would not be usable toward another phone I was dumbfounded so since I had the 2 year contract I was stuck moral of the story always go with removable 🔋

  • Pretty silly article. MOST people would rather replace that $30 battery in a couple years than that $600 phone they can get another year or two out of.

  • The reason there is no more smartphones with removable batteries is because these manufacturers decided to no longer go this route, reason is people don't upgrade as often if they can just replace their battery on their phone, they are all following the Apple route of making sure that you will have to buy a new phone every two years. this is the reason why you see the removable battery going the way of the dodo bird, not this, quoting from the article "This feature no longer seems to be a priority for many manufacturers since there are fewer and fewer of them in this field", the reason there is fewer and fewer of them in the field is because these manufacturers are making sure of this, it's not like the consumer has a choice in the matter, if they did removable batteries would still be the norm, you can not be serious with this statement.


  • Yes I have a removable-battery smart phone. I have the J5 2016 because when I bought it, it was the BEST NEW phone that offers a REMOVABLE-Battery with a PRICE that I can pay.

  • It came to me reading about new tablets, that the best battery saver for my phone is the 8" tablet used for ereading and media / chromecasting around the house, keeping the phone fresher. I selected my former LG and current ZTE phones with removable battery in mind, but as a practical matter never bought an extra and carry a small 5000mAh external that will back up any device - I've lent that to others during the day more often than charging my own. The one great advantage of replaceable is a battery "going bad" does not mean throwing out the whole device or a ridiculously pricey shop repair.

  • Mark
    • Admin
    Jun 20, 2017 Link to comment

    The problem is phone makers really don't care what we want. They just decide what they can get away with and do it. Then you through in all these self proclaimed experts that tell you how great it is. Then all the sheep that buy what is cool regardless if it is a rip off or not. The few of us that fight for what we want ( a phone that will last more than 2 years ) are just drowned out. As long as the lemmings buy what is put in front them we have little hope.

  • Tom Jun 20, 2017 Link to comment


    The titel is questionable and almost none of the 'arguments' make sense and are debunked in the comments.


    This is a classic error made by the editor:
    The fact that manufacturers don't think a removable battery has priority, doesn't mean users do.

    It's called Push-Strategy, Pierre! And it's all about the money.

    This aricle confirms my feeling that manufacturers don't give a damn about their customers...

    The Note 4 was the last proper smart phone.

    • The Note 4 also had a slight curve on the edges, so you couldn't place properly any glass protectors on it.
      Plus, it suffers from bootloops due to the "eMMC read fail" issue which will eventually take place and thus render your device useless.

      • That's funny- I put a reinforced glass screen protector on my Note 4 as soon as I unboxed it- still on there 2.5 years later, still there. Still doing a job. No raised edges either. Second thing I did was to install Nova Launcher. Phone working perfectly at the mo.

      • Mark
        • Admin
        Jun 20, 2017 Link to comment

        Same with mine put on screen protector put it in otter box case. It has bounced down the road after being left on the roof of the car drowned by my 4 year old removed the battery, dried it out, and back to normal. with a removable battery IP68 is not necessary. The note 4 is still the best Samsung ever produced.

      • Diz Jun 23, 2017 Link to comment

        Had mine 3 years, only issue I had with it 6 months ago? dying battery that wouldn't take a charge. $12 later I was back in business 100%

      • Can confirm; have a bulky phone case, glass protector fits no problem. Not sure if you are replying through experience or news. I personally have had the note 4 for over 2 years. Perfectly working. I go through about 2 full charge cycles worth of battery on my phone daily. If it didn't have a removable battery it would be like my ipod 4 that I've had since 2011 - the poor thing barely lasts 20 minutes browsing the web.

    • It's not like that they don't read it, they know everything about customers but they don't want you to get the perfect product as it's not good for them to keep your phone in hand for 5 years or so. They want you to change your phone every 2 years or every time there is an upgrade available.

  •   31
    Deactivated Account Jun 20, 2017 Link to comment

    the absence of a removable battery is an issue...
    I can't think of any benefit or improvements to my user experience that's achieved by a non removable battery..
    there is nothing reasonable about a 2yr lifespan..
    waterproofing can be achieved with a removable battery and
    there's no justifying the laughable and completely impractical trend for glueing a glass panel to the rear of a smartphone..

  • Phone companies need to ensure their batteries last at least 2 years if they are going to make the battery none removable, guaranteed. This all seems to be about phone companies and not clients. Forcing clients to change phones after a set period and the resale value is nil when that period is over. I used to sell my phones to help with the upgrade cost as i buy my phones, i have a sim only contract. If you look away from phones watch companies like Brietling have replaceable batteries, its not impossible. Like 99% of people I use a case so dont need glass backs, i want a durable phone. Better speaker quality as this is still very poor, better storage and faster speed. Good flat qhd screen, No stupid curved edges. Companies need to focus more on what's being offered and not so much on how it looks.

  • LisaC Jun 20, 2017 Link to comment

    You need a removable battery so that when your phone freezes (and it will freeze), you can immediately reset it. The hard button- based resets don't always work when a phone is truly frozen.

  • Samsung lost a lot of consumers after not offering the removable battery option after the success of the Galaxy S5 & Note 4,which are still very popular phones,Samsung seem to want to follow in the path of Apple and copy everything they offer trying to gain iPhone users to there phones,we lost Plastic as well,and Glass had to be used if Apple used it,theN the Note 7 fiasco really showed to Samsung that the battery problems they had could have been solved if they offered the removable battery option on the Note 7,and the Samsung name got a bad reputation,because they rushed out the Note 7 just because Apple were going to release the iPhone 7,Samsung most have lost a lot of money with the Note 7,people are using there phones more and there are not power options everywhere you go,so loads run out of power more regularly ,so you can not carry power banks all the time,so the removable battery option would still be very popular if the phone produces would offer it




    • Agree, and it's backed by 88% voters that want removable battery back.

      For me I don't care about looks on my phone that much, I dont mind having a bulky phone as long as it can last at least one full day under heavy use.

      It's too bad that Project ARA was cancelled, it offers modular components for upgradeability. I will choose easy upgradeability over looks anytime.


  • ljhaye Jun 20, 2017 Link to comment

    It feels hostile to users, Android community used to denigrate the iPhone because of the lack removable storage and the lack of removable batteries. Every time Apple does something Android OEM's feel compelled to follow their "lead". Its sickening that we cant ever be in pole position outside of larger phone screens (thanks DELL)

  • If you work in an office, then there are many power sockets to use to charge your phone. There are many jobs where there is NO conveniently placed wall sockets. As said above, battery packs are bulkier an probably a bit heavier than a battery and inconvenient to have a lump of plastic jutting out from the bottom of you phone.
    The change to fixed phone batteries is a part consequence of so called journalists continually bleating on about " premium looks". I would never use a phone without a case, so the back would never be seen, so plastic is perfectly good enough--super light, strong and allows for battery removal. Far better than "premium looks" glass backs- super slippery and super smashable. Stupid, stupid. I also never let my phones get anywhere near water- electronics and water have never mixed. These new phones are NOT waterproof- only water resistant.
    Mark above is perfectly correct when he says that phones are planned obsolescence. I have 2 old Galaxy S3's- still working, both with Nougat 7.1.1 running on them. As long as I can get a battery for them, I will keep them running.

  • storm Jun 20, 2017 Link to comment

    Copying Apple isn't much of an argument for fixed batteries.

    Style and increased waste over usablilty and re-usability isn't a good argument. And is the lazy way to design for style.

    That most new phones can last a heavy day is the beginning of an argument.

    A sealed phone is easier to make water and dust resistant is an argument though weak as other methods work as well or better and support replaceable parts.

    That a fixed battery makes the whole product disposable creating needless toxic e-waste compared to a more readily recyclable battery pack is a much stronger argument against fixed batteries.

    People need extra power is demonstrated by the sale and ubiquity of charger packs, even with good modern battery tech. But the wear cycle on battery is still poor. I recently replaced a 20 month old phone (MOTO X Pure Edition) because the battery wasn't good for half a day. I'm a heavy phone user. This phone had plenty of life left in the rest of the parts and would have been fine to use for at least another 18 months if I could have replaced the battery easily and safely. It's even getting updates for a while longer. What a waste.

    The LG argument fails because the LG phone in question was of weak design and implementation particularly compared to the many successful phones that had removable batteries. Replaceable battery is something people want, but it's rarely all we want. The LG phone had many other problems.

    The battery, the digitizer and screen failure beyond breakage are the common wear points in a phone. Ports rate in there too as they're often poorly physically supported by modern glue and tape construction. But the battery certainly has the highest failure cycle. An older phone can be made like new with a battery swap and useful for kids or other market segments.

    How is wasteful design good design again? Maybe you should ask Apple.

  • Extra removable batteries take up MUCH less space than external battery packs. I would like to be able to keep my phone beyond the point where the battery starts to fail. The only reason I seriously consider upgrading (barring a broken phone) is to continue getting security updates. Design is less important to me; I'm happy to use a case, just for the protection.

  • Mark
    • Admin
    Jun 20, 2017 Link to comment

    Non removable is nothing but planed obsolescence. It is just another way for phone manufactures to make more money. Why should they decide how long I use my phone. Plus removable batteries have many advantage over non removable batteries. This article is just wrong. I did not even get past the title line it is so wrong I will not read it.

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