The EU is putting repairability rating labels on phones and tablets in June

The EU will be mandating new labels on smartphones and tablets that indicate how repairable the device is. These labels will also include ratings for energy efficiency and durability. They will start showing up on devices on June 20 and will be similar to pre-existing ones for home appliances and TVs.

The labels display a product’s energy efficiency rating on a scale from A to G and will also display battery life and the number of available charge cycles. There will be letter grades for durability and repairability, in addition to an IP rating for dust and water-resistance.

European Commission

Covered products also include cordless landline phones, but smartphones with rollable displays are exempted. This is fairly odd because, well, there aren’t any rollable phones available for consumers just yet. Windows-based tablets will be covered by a separate mandate for computers.

This isn’t the only change the EU has announced regarding device sales. Hardware will now have to meet new "ecodesign requirements" to be sold in the region. This includes a requirement to make any applicable spare parts available for repair.

Other ecodesign requirements include batteries that retain at least 80 percent of their capacity after 800 charging cycles and scratch and drop protections that exceed minimum standards. Finally, manufacturers must provide OS updates within six months of the source code becoming available.

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