Since 20 June 2025, smartphones and tablets sold in the European Union must carry a standardised energy label built on a single testing protocol applied identically to every brand. Six measured values — energy class, endurance per charge, drop resistance, battery cycle life, repairability and ingress protection — now appear on the box, in shops and beside the price in online listings, under Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1669 and its companion ecodesign regulation (EU) 2023/1670.
- Six comparable metrics: the label swaps marketing claims for values measured the same way across manufacturers.
- The QR code is the real payload: it links to the model’s EPREL entry, where the full breakdown lives.
- Minimums hide behind the icons: a separate ecodesign rule sets durability, update and spare-part floors.
Who gets a label and who does not
Articles 1 and 2 draw the boundary tightly: touchscreen smartphones from 4 inches to just under 7 inches, and slate tablets from 7 inches to under 17.4 inches, with no fixed keyboard and a mobile operating system. Rollable-display devices and handsets built for high-security communications are excluded, and Commission guidance adds that tablets running a desktop-class system such as Windows with a detachable keyboard do not qualify. Duties split in two: manufacturers supply a printed label with every unit plus an electronic copy for retailers, while distributors must display it next to the product in store and close to the price online.
Decoding the six icons
Annex III fixes the contents: QR code, brand, model, an A-to-G scale and six indicators.
- Energy class (A–G). An index relating measured endurance to battery capacity and voltage; for phones, class A needs an index above 2.70, while class G sits at 1.20 or below.
- Endurance per charge. Hours and minutes from full to shutdown along a fixed routine of calls, browsing, video, gaming and idle, tested at 200 cd/m² with dark mode and power saving switched off.
- Free-fall reliability (A–E). Drops from one metre survived without losing function; a non-folding phone needs 270 for class A.
- Cycle endurance. Full cycles before capacity falls to 80%, rounded to hundreds and shown as bands such as ≥800, ≥1,000 or ≥1,400.
- Repairability (A–E). The first repairability score required of a product sold in Europe, built from disassembly depth (25%), fastener type, tools needed, spare-part availability, years of software updates and repair information (15% each).
- IP rating. Dust (0–6) and water (0–8) protection, tested without a case; the Commission’s example is that IP68 means dust-tight and immersible to one metre.
The headline letter says relatively little about longevity. Cycle life, repairability and drop class are what predict whether a device reaches year five.
EPREL: what the QR code unlocks
The code resolves to the model’s page in EPREL, the European product database for energy labelling, where manufacturers must register the product information sheet and technical documentation. Granularity is the point: the Commission notes that all six repairability parameters are published per model, so two handsets sharing a letter can be told apart. The registry also surfaces data before launch — a listing under model number A3720, widely linked to Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, showed a rated battery of 4,883 mAh before the company confirmed anything. Meanwhile the Samsung Galaxy S25 illustrates a real-world profile: energy class B, 37 hours 16 minutes of rated endurance, a 2,000-cycle battery, free-fall class A and repairability class C.
The ecodesign floor behind the icons
The label informs; Regulation 2023/1670 compels. Any phone sold in the EU must now survive 800 cycles at 80% capacity and 45 drops without a case, use a screen harder than level 4 on the Mohs scale, offer an optional 80% charge limit and report battery manufacture date, completed cycles and health status in settings. Software updates must be free for all units for at least five years after the model’s last sale, security patches within four months of source publication, and key spare parts must stay available for seven years after commercialisation ends.
The Commission projects the package will lift average mid-range phone lifespan from 3.0 to 4.1 years — a forecast, not a measurement. A review due before 20 September 2027 will weigh an environmental footprint metric and a revised repairability index that finally includes part prices, the missing variable: knowing a display stays available for seven years is cold comfort without knowing its cost. Until then, the smartest buying habit is to scroll past the green letter and read the cycles, the drops and the repairability breakdown — the numbers no marketing deck volunteers.