It had been in the works for a while, but now it has formally been adopted. From the article:
The regulation provides that by 2027 portable batteries incorporated into appliances should be removable and replaceable by the end-user, leaving sufficient time for operators to adapt the design of their products to this requirement.
But Samsung releases just before a new Android version comes out, so phones launched in the same year get the same last update
I could apply that argument to Pixels. S23 has been available since February, and the Pixel 8 still hasn’t been released. Right now, both are running Android 13, yet the Samsung is getting an extra OS update