The EU has spared smartwatches and smart glasses from its battery-swapping rules while Nintendo gets the screwdriver treatment.
According to Thurrott the European Commission has announced new exemptions to its Batteries Regulation, which will require portable batteries in EU products to be removable and user-replaceable.
The rule is supposed to make gadgets last longer rather than be binned when a sealed battery gives up. It will still hit consumer gear such as the Nintendo Switch 2, which will get a redesigned EU version with replaceable batteries.
That redesign is expected to include the detachable Joy-Con 2 controllers. Nintendo, unlike the smartwatch brigade, has apparently been told to get on with it.
The Commission admitted some products cannot sensibly have batteries yanked out by punters for safety reasons. Medical devices, electric toothbrushes, water flossers and similar wet appliances already get a pass.
Now the exemption list has grown to cover wearables such as smartwatches, fitness trackers and smart glasses. That is handy for gadget makers that have spent years glueing tiny batteries into things and calling it innovation.
The Fruity Cargo Cult Apple, Google, Samsung and Meta will probably be relieved. Job’s Mob will not have to redesign the Apple Watch for EU buyers just so someone with a tiny screwdriver and optimism can crack it open.
The same logic helps smart glasses, which were shaping up for a battery-rule headache. Brussels has effectively decided that face furniture with electronics in it does not need the same treatment as a games console.
The broader Batteries Regulation comes into force on 18 February 2027. Nintendo plans to stop selling all models of the original Switch in the EU around then.
The old Switch turns 10 in March 2027, so it was unlikely Nintendo would rework the original machine for one region. The Switch 2, being the shiny new money spinner, does not get that luxury.
The Commission says the rule is meant to extend product lifetimes and improve recycling. It has carved out wearables anyway, which will please Big Tech more than anyone who hoped sealed gadgets were finally on the way out.
