The EU’s new right-to-repair rules for smartphones

New EU rules on smartphones and tablets came into force on 20 June 2025, aiming to make devices last longer and easier to repair. Manufacturers must now make 15 types of spare parts available to professional repairers within five to ten working days, for at least seven years after a model is discontinued.

Five key parts, including batteries, displays and back covers, must also be made available directly to consumers, not just to professional repair shops, giving ordinary users a real chance to fix their own devices instead of replacing them.

Batteries are at the heart of the reform. New devices must keep at least 80% of their original capacity after 800 full charge cycles. An even bigger change is coming in February 2027, when every phone sold in the EU will need a battery that an ordinary person can remove and replace without special tools.

The rules do not stop at hardware. Manufacturers must also roll out operating system updates for a minimum of five years after the last unit of a model is sold, addressing a long-standing consumer protection complaint that older phones are often abandoned by software updates long before they actually stop working.

Campaigners have welcomed the changes as a step in the right direction, though some argue the rules do not go far enough, since many popular models are redesigned and discontinued well within the seven-year spare parts window, meaning the promise of a longer product lifespan will only be fully tested in the years to come.

Adapted from Right to Repair Europe and Reviews.org, June 2025