Right to repair and the long-life smartphone: what the rules require

Since 20 June 2025, any new smartphone sold in the European Union has had to survive 45 drops onto a hard surface without a case and keep working. That rule is in an annex to Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1670. The same regulation requires spare parts for seven years, operating system updates for at least five years after a model stops being sold, and an energy label that gives every phone…