Smartphones, slate tablets, cordless phones, and other mobile phones

Product design for reliability

Please note that these requirements only apply to smartphones, tablets, and other mobile phones.

Resistance to accidental drops

(only smartphones and other mobile phones)

The devices must pass 45 falls without any protective foil or separate protective cover without loss of functionality according to the test procedure set out in Annex III.
Foldable devices designed to be used with a protective foil on the foldable display shall pass 35 falls in the unextended state and 15 falls in the extended state.

Scratch resistance

The screen of the device must pass the hardness level 4 on the Mohs hardness scale, except for foldable devices designed to be used with a protective foil.

Protection from solid objects and water

Smartphones and other mobile phones must be protected against the ingress of solid foreign objects of size bigger than 1 millimeter and splashing of water.

Tablets must be protected against accidental spills of water.

Battery endurance in cycles

Smartphones and tablets must achieve at least 800 (500 for other mobile phones) charging cycles at 80 % remaining capacity, under conditions where the charging rate is limited by the battery management system (not by the power delivery capabilities of the power supply).

Battery management

The following features must be provided for the user

Optional charging
This feature terminates the charging process automatically when the battery is charged to 80 % of its full capacity.
As a supplier, you may enable the device to periodically fully charge the battery to maintain accurate battery state of charge estimates. The user shall be informed automatically when charging the device for the first time or during the installation process that the life span of the battery can be extended if the feature is selected and the battery is regularly charged only to 80 % of its full capacity.
Power management
By default, once the battery is fully charged, there is no further charging power supplied unless the charge level drops below 95 % of the maximum battery capacity.

Operating system updates

An update of the operating system may include a security update, a corrective update, and a feature update.

There are several requirements regarding operating system updates, including, for example, that updates must be provided free of charge for at least 5 years after the last unit of a product has been placed on the market.

You find all the requirements for the operating system in Annex II.

Note that there are specific requirements for smartphones and tablets on deterioration of performance by updates.

Marking of plastic components

Plastic components above 50 g shall be legibly marked: Type of polymer with appropriate standard symbols or abbreviated terms set between ‘>’ and ‘<’.

No marking required:

• If not possible due to shape or size.

• If it would impact performance or functionality (e.g. transparent parts).

• If technically not possible because of the molding method.

• For packaging, tape, labels and stretch wraps.

• For wiring, cables and connectors, rubber parts.

• For PCB assemblies, PMMA boards, optical components, electrostatic discharge components, electromagnetic interference components, speaker.

Please find more information about this in Annex II.

Recyclability requirements

The dismantling information needed to access the components referred to in Annex VII, point 1, of Directive 2012/19/EU must be available on a free access website, including information about the
sequence of dismantling steps, tools and/or technologies. This information shall be available until at least 15 years after the placing on the market of the last unit of a product model.