Smartphones soon all more eco-sustainable, but prices are increasing

News for smartphones and also for their prices: the new European directives provide for more eco-sustainable products, but the rise in prices is inevitable.

Smartphones have now become indispensable for our daily life and, often, we change them even without a real need. This consumerist attitude, however, seems to have a short life: here are the important decisions of the European Union.

The general cost increase of the raw material and their scarce availability has already caused the prices of many technological products to rise. Now they will be added new requirements that smartphone manufacturers will have to respect to see their phones and which, inevitably, will cause a further increase in price.

The European Union has decided to act on the electronics industry for reduce its environmental impact. The rampant consumerism on technology in recent years causes non-negligible damage to our ecosystem, despite the fact that there are correct ways to dispose of old phones. The continuous replacement of smartphones, however, requires an increasingly large production that could, however, be limited to help the environment. Here are the directives the EU has now launched for smartphone manufacturers: how much will prices rise?

Smartphone, no more waste but the new rules raise prices

Smartphone companies wishing to sell their products in the European Union will have to adhere to certain requirements mandatory. First of all they will have to ensure the survival of the phone batteries. These will have to resist to at least 500 full charges without them discharging below 83% capacity. Ruined batteries, in fact, are among the first causes of continuous replacement of phones, even if there are ways to preserve them.

Smartphones must also raise their “average life” which from the current 2-3 years must be at least 5 years old. Rather than switching models, consumers will need to be helped to fix their phones. Producers, in fact, will have to keep spare parts in stock for their devices for at least 5 years since they have been placed on the market. On the labels of the phones, then, there must also be clear indications on their resistance to possible falls.

Companies will also have to ensure updates security for smartphones for five years and system updates for three. These new directives are very important because they will save the emission of at least 10 tons of CO2: an incredible help to the environment.

However, all these new rules will inevitably cause an increase in prices of devices. Adapting to the new directives will have costs that will inevitably fall on consumers. Analysts estimate that for a period the average cost of a smartphone cannot fall below 300 euros.