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.
Aesthetics are a huge deal for the vast majority of ppl? Personally, im all for repairable phones, and therefore repairable batteries. As in theres no artificial hurdles to replace a battery like limited access to the components needed or silly proprietary tools or loss of functionality.
Hot swappable batteries are a feature, a niche one id say, that will necessarily require tradeoffs. Be it less or worse water/dust resistance, increased thickness, marginally easier to steal as anyone can pull the battery, or aesthetics.
I find hot swap batteries adds no value to me. I don’t want it. Id also wager thats the case for plenty of people. My phone is 2yo and battery still lasts the whole day and then some. External batteries are cheap and universal. Its fine that a repair takes a bit of know how and finesse as long as companies aren’t adding unnecessary hurdles.