I think phone batteries are included, but I don't think that there is an appetite for aggressive behaviour in that manner.
This is an ewaste policy, look at the objectives. Collection of waste, recovery of lithium, new batteries need to be made from recycled batteries.
Home replacement of batteries won't accomplish any of those goals. I would say that it would encourage more batteries to go in the bin. Apple and Samsung already provide fairly cheap services to replace those batteries and once removed the batteries can be recycled, this is going to impact other phone providers who don't offer anything, EV manufacturers who don't recycle or provide simple replacement programs, electric bikes that have batteries built into the frame so cant be replaced at all.
Compared to all that Apple is a fairly good citizen.
eWaste also includes all the stuff not including the battery. Making batteries replaceable increases the lifespan of all that other stuff.
Of course they may not be supported by software in the case of phones and tablets, but (a) that's a separate issue and (b) not all tech with non-replaceable batteries are phones and tablets. It's an increasingly common pattern in wireless headphones, powered toothbrushes, hair clippers, etc.
That was really my point, there are clauses but the main point of the entire thing appears to be to stop things having non-replaceable batteries.
Phones are a bit annoying, but they can have their batteries replaced. There are much lower hanging fruit, such as all the phones that can't have the batteries replaced at all, or the toothbrushes, etc.
But EU mandates that toothbrushes need to have replaceable batteries isn't click-bate enough compared to Apple conspiracies.
The cyber resilience act which is worked on in parallel would require software updates (not necessarily new features) for a "reasonable" amount of time (I recall about 5 years for phones).
Are you suggesting that Apple & Samsung might sell phones in Europe that are technically in violation of this law? Or are you just saying that it was unnecessary for them to be included, but acknowledging that they will design their devices to be compliant?
This is an ewaste policy, look at the objectives. Collection of waste, recovery of lithium, new batteries need to be made from recycled batteries.
Home replacement of batteries won't accomplish any of those goals. I would say that it would encourage more batteries to go in the bin. Apple and Samsung already provide fairly cheap services to replace those batteries and once removed the batteries can be recycled, this is going to impact other phone providers who don't offer anything, EV manufacturers who don't recycle or provide simple replacement programs, electric bikes that have batteries built into the frame so cant be replaced at all.
Compared to all that Apple is a fairly good citizen.