Quote Originally Posted by gbaji View Post
I think the last two Android phones I had did not have replaceable batteries. I'd assume you are correct that this is entirely about the manufacturer and model, and what they're going for. If I were to guess, the higher end phones are probably less likely to have replaceable batters. Probably for two main reaons:

1. The expected lifespan of the battery exceeds the likely useable lifespan of the phone. This is presuambly more likely to happen with higher end phones, both because the quality of the components are better *and* the customer is more likely to be inclined to replace the phone when newer/faster/better/sleeker/<insert some market dodad here> is availble.

2. They figure if you're already willing to pay top dollar for a phone, you probably fall into category 1b above, so... get those customers who can afford your top tier phones to buy new ones every few years, right? I mean, they're in business to make money, afterall.

I'll also make a side note that manufacturers also tend towards non-replaceable batteries because there may be regulatory pressures on them to do so. Lots of folks will toss a battery in the trash (which you are not supposed to do with Li-Ion batteries), while they might not toss a phone. They really want you to trade in or recycle your old phone for this (and other) reasons. So that can also account for some of that.
Manufacturers have been ditching user-replaceable batteries because it interferes with very marketable features. Providing a way to access the battery (which is typically quite large and thus requires a large access) makes it much harder to waterproof the phone. A waterproof phone is something the market highly values. Packaging the battery in a way that it can be easily swapped by a layman instead of requiring a trained technician with soldering gear requires you to make it in a very defined rigid shape instead of maximizing capacity while minimizing volume. This means that a replaceable battery creates a thicker phone, and usually a shorter battery life. Thin phones with long battery time are highly valued by the market. It is as simple as that.

If anything, regulators are moving toward prohibiting batteries that aren't easy to replace, not requiring them.