Blackberry made smart phones in the late 00's/early 10's with SD Cards and exchangeable batteries - no one bought them. They started out the 00's as the king of the hill. They ended up becoming insignificant.
Which has nothing to do with replacable batteries or expansion slots, and you know it.
It's not like all the phone companies banded together and said "We are going to do this to screw over consumers - come on guys!".
Nobody said that they did that.
They all said "Hold crap Apple is selling a sh*tload of phones and they did this, so we're going to copy it so we can continue to try to sell phones"
Apple was selling the phones
in spite of it, not
because of it. Huge difference. The rest saw that apple could get away with pissing on customers and telling them it is raining, so they joined in on the fun. Apple took a risk and it worked out in their favor, this is the free market at its worst.
It all revolved around what people were buying. Yeah, the average consumer is an idiot - but they have cash and are putting it where they want it, so the market evolved to meet their demands.
People bought it because they were told this is the price of new features like making it water resistant or slim. Which was a lie. It would be ideal to prevent them from lying, but I take the next best thing which is forcing them to do the right thing. Of course apple will come up with many new lies to weasel out of it, but if at least they are squirming that makes me happy.
If everyone started actually screaming for replaceable batteries, phones would come back out with them. But every time one does, it doesn't sell - you could say because they are sucky phones that try it - and it may well be - but it's also because consumers just don't prioritize a replaceable battery as a must-have feature.
That's exactly the point, it is not a product seller feature, but everyone who ever had their phone battery die wish they had it. People don't think ahead, you could sell them anything if it is presented in an appealing way, I mean the countless kickstarter scams that keep raking in millions are proof enough of that.
Face it, folks like us are in the minority and our niche market isn't big enough to cater to.
Just because users aren't screaming for something doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. There are plenty of things that people outright scream against yet it is mandated in their interest.
Pushing regulation to require it - it's going to be a mistake. If you want better battery life in a phone with a sealed battery because you are afraid your battery is going to die while you need to use it, get a power bank
A power bank is not an alternative to an easily replaceable battery.
- that's the same size and capacity as that spare battery you were going to carry around anyway.
Why would I carry around a second battery? No, this is not why we need it. You replace the battery when the original one has lost too much capacity.
If you are wanting a replaceable battery because you are afraid the company is out to make you buy a new phone rather than replace an older battery -- well, you can already do that on every phone I know of (although it isn't necessarily easy and may require third parties),
I'm not afraid they are out to make me buy a new phone, it is fact that they are. Of course they offer to replace the battery in an old phone at a precisely set price that is just high enough to make you consider buying the new model instead. Plus if you buy the new model you get it instantly, if you want the battery replaced in your old phone? That will take anywhere between days and weeks and they don't guarantee any data on it. I can't believe you think this little game is fair on their part. We used to just walk in to a store and buy a $20-30 battery for phones then pop it in right then and there. Now it costs $300 and you have to leave your phone at the shop.
and you should be looking at supporting right-to-repair legistlation instead of this.
I do, but if they can make phones as hard to open and repair as humanly possible at the same time then right to repair is worthless.
