According to a proposal from the German government in the European Union, smartphone manufacturers, including Apple, should provide patches and spare parts for iPhones and other devices for seven years, in order to improve the product category for smartphones. natural environment.
The German federal government has entered into negotiations with the European Commission to amend proposals affecting the repair and maintenance of smartphones and tablets. While the European Commission is working to encourage device vendors to offer spare parts and assistance for five years, Germany wants to do more.
The EU expects the five-year updates to apply to smartphones and tablets, but while smartphone parts could be offered for five years, tablets could have parts available from manufacturers for six years. years. Heise.de reports the Federal Ministry of Economy that the periods extend up to seven years.
In addition to the extra service life, Germany wants manufacturers to offer spare parts at a “reasonable price”. This includes forcing sellers to post spare parts prices and not increase the cost over time.
As for how long these parts should take to reach their destination, the Commission has a maximum limit of 5 working days, although Germany wants a faster delivery.
Germany also supports the Commission’s plans to introduce an energy label and a repairability index, to show how easily repaired devices can be for consumers.
While Germany wants the Commission to be tougher, sellers want the opposite. DigitalEurope, which includes Apple as a member alongside Google and Samsung, is betting on three years of security updates and two years on functional updates.
DigitalEurope believes parts such as batteries and screens should be offered, as other components such as cameras and microphones will rarely fail.
The debate between the various parties on how long an iPhone and similar hardware should last will take quite some time, with the EU expected to present its proposal in 2023.
The European Parliament voted in favor of the concept of the right to redress in November 2020, a resolution advocating a report calling on the European Commission to examine mandatory labeling and issues related to the life of devices.
Meanwhile, in April 2021, Spanish ministers approved a national consumer protection standard, which obliges companies to sell products with a three-year warranty, in addition to increasing the availability of spare parts from five to ten.