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To get you the lowest new price we can discover, we search 1,000s of prices at 1,000s of merchants. These offers could result in a commission for Trusted Reviews. Read more here. The lack of upgrades, according to MPs, frequently results in gadgets being replaced before they should be. The proposal claims that has a large environmental cost.
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If new EU proposals materialise, future Android smartphones and tablets might receive five years of system updates for free. The European Union wants manufacturers to promise operating system upgrades for at least three years and security patches for a further two years. That’s comparable to what Google, Samsung, and Apple presently go above and above for the majority of their products. The suggested proposals aim to reduce electrical waste by extending the lives of equipment.
The text of the statement reads: “The sharp rise in demand for smartphones and tablets, combined with their increased functionality, has led to an increase in the demand for energy and materials needed to manufacture these devices on the EU market, as well as an increase in their associated environmental impacts. Additionally, users frequently replace equipment before the end of their useful lives, and when this happens, they don’t recycle or reuse them enough, which wastes resources.
The legislation also calls for manufacturers to make repair parts available for a minimum of five years after they have launched. Those include batteries, cameras, charging ports and such. Many manufacturers are already embarking in self-repair programs, but this legislation would effectively write it into law.
The EU’s impact assessment claims that increasing the lifespan of a phone or tablet by just one year could reduce the climate by around 25% of the entire mobile phone market. Beyond that, the proposed regulation claims that upping the lifespan of a phone to five years would be the equivalent of removing five million cars from the road (via Ars Technica).
The overriding purpose behind the plans is to ensure phones and tablets are energy efficient and durable, that they are easy to repair, easy to upgrade and maintain and ensure it’s possible to reuse and recycle. The legislation will now enter a period of consultation.
