How easy it should be to understand if one smartphones And really repairable? In theory, in the European Union today we have one more tool to do this: from 20 June 2025 smartphones and tablets must comply with new eco-design requirements, including a repairability score and accessible information on spare parts and repair procedures.
It’s a shame that, one year after the introduction of the rules, something isn’t adding up. An analysis conducted by iFixit and Right to Repair Europe out of thousands of records in the European database EPREL found that, in the vast majority of cases, the information that should help consumers understand how simple and convenient it will be to repair their phone is absent, incomplete or difficult to use.
European legislation has also introduced, together with the energy label a repairability index from A to E. The score is declared directly by the manufacturer and takes into account various aspects related to the possibility of intervening on the device.
Right to repair, now in force throughout Europe: what changes for washing machines, smartphones and household appliances
However, it’s not just about knowing how easy it is to open or repair a phone. To be able to make a truly informed choice it would be It is also important to know how much spare parts cost and where to find the necessary instructions to carry out the repair. For this reason, the new rules require manufacturers and importers to make both the instructions and the prices of spare parts available free of charge online.
On paper, therefore, the consumer should have more tools to compare two smartphones not only based on the camera, memory or purchase price, but also considering what could happen when the battery deteriorates or when a component breaks.
What the investigation found
To understand to what extent the new provisions are actually respected, iFixit and Right to Repair Europe they examined 2,334 smartphone models registered in the last year in the European Energy Labeling Product Register, EPREL.
The result is quite surprising: only about 18% of the models analyzed presents a link that allows you to easily find information on spare parts prices or repair procedures. For almost half of the registrations, however, the field intended for the web address is simply empty.
In other cases the link takes you to a generic product or support page, but does not provide the requested information. And there are even those who indicate price ranges so wide that they are not very useful for the consumer: the analysis cites, for example, the case of an Acer battery indicated with a cost between 14 and 128 euros.
A further approximately 8% of the records analyzed are limited to generic indications such as “consult the manual”, while almost 5% refer to Temu or AliExpress to find spare parts or repair information.
This highlights a problem: having a field formally filled out does not necessarily mean making truly usable information available to the consumer.
And there is an even more striking paradox. According to the analysis, some devices that have missing information or useless connections still manage to be awarded the highest score, class A, precisely due to the availability of spare parts and repair information.
The problem raised by iFixit and Right to Repair Europe therefore does not just concern a few missing links but points the finger at the control mechanism. The repairability score it is indeed self-declared by the producers, while, according to the analysis, there is no obligation to make public the entire calculation used to arrive at the final result. This makes it difficult for consumers, associations and independent organizations to independently verify the correctness of the data.
And so a tool created to make the market more transparent risks becoming much less effective precisely at the moment in which the consumer should use it to compare products.
Then there is another less obvious question. Even in cases where the manufacturer actually provides the requested link, finding the information is not necessarily easy. For some big brands, like Apple and Samsungthe user has to go through several pages and select various options before arriving at the parts prices.
But if to understand how much it will cost to replace a battery you have to do a little online treasure hunt, how realistic is it to think that that information will really influence the purchasing decision?
This is precisely why Right to Repair Europe argues that including the costs of spare parts directly in the repairability score could make the index more useful and immediate for consumers.
More effective controls are needed
What emerges from the investigation does not mean that the new European rules are useless. On the contrary, the introduction of a repairability index and the obligation to provide information on spare parts represents an important step towards products designed to last longer.
But a rule only really works if it is respected and controlled.
According to the promoters of the analysis, more resources are therefore needed for market surveillance, together with simpler and more transparent systems through which consumers, associations and repairers can report non-compliant products.
Among the proposals there is also that of making it mandatory to publish the complete calculation that leads to the repairability score, so as to allow independent verifications.
Because knowing that a smartphone got an A is certainly better than having no information at all. But if we can’t easily understand why he got that A, what parts are available and how much they will cost us, that letter risks telling us much less than it should.
And above all, when faced with a phone that perhaps after a few years will need a new battery or a replacement component, the real question always remains the same: will we really be able to repair it, or will we be forced to buy a new one?
Source: Right to Repair Europe
