Right to Repair Europe reports that over 80% of smartphones and tablets sold in the EU lack required repair information. Despite EU regulations that took effect in June 2025, most manufacturers fail to provide repair guides or spare parts pricing to consumers.
Out of 2,334 smartphone models released over the past year, only about 18% provide a link to repair instructions or parts pricing. Approximately half of the entries in the European Energy Labeling Product Registry are empty, while 19% link to generic product or support pages that contain no repair data.
Some manufacturers assign themselves the highest repairability scores, such as Class A, while ignoring the actual data requirements. In cases where parts pricing is listed, it is often presented as an excessively wide range, such as €14 to €128 for a battery replacement.
Activists and iFixit EU policy representative Thomas Opsomer call for stricter oversight and the requirement for manufacturers to publish full documentation supporting their self-assigned scores. They argue that the current system lacks government verification of the reported data.
New EU regulations will introduce further changes in February of next year. These rules will require new mobile devices to have user-replaceable batteries, with some exceptions for specific wearables like smart rings.
