{"id":40992,"date":"2023-11-01T16:03:01","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T20:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=40992"},"modified":"2023-11-01T16:03:01","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T20:03:01","slug":"apples-blue-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2023\/11\/01\/apples-blue-ocean\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple’s Blue Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Siracusa<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

I just can’t shake the idea that a return to removable, user-accessible batteries has now become a blue-ocean opportunity just waiting for Apple to seize it.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

There’s more headroom than there has ever been to accommodate a tiny bit more size and weight in Apple’s portable products.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Second, people still crave the advantages<\/i> of removable batteries that were left behind: increasing battery life by swapping batteries instead of using a cumbersome external battery pack, inexpensively and conveniently extending the life of a product by replacing a worn-out battery with a new one—without paying for someone else to perform delicate surgery on the device.<\/p>

Finally, related to that last point, worn-out batteries are an extremely common reason that old tech products are traded in, recycled, or replaced. Removable batteries are an easy way to extend the useful life of a product. This leads to less e-waste<\/a>, which is perfectly aligned with Apple’s environmental goals<\/a> as 2030 approaches<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Aside from the cost in time and money, needing Apple or a repair shop to replace a battery is bad for privacy<\/a>. Most people will just give the technician their passcode. If you want to be more careful, you can wipe the phone beforehand, but restoring from backup has problems. It’s slow, it’s lossy<\/a>, and it requires a surprising number of manual steps, which don’t always succeed (e.g. credit cards and Apple Pay). Also, unless you back up to both iCloud and a Mac, you for a time only have one copy of your data.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n