Smartphones now easier to repair thanks to EU regulation according to consumer study

Smartphones have become easier to repair thanks to EU regulation, according to a new market check carried out by consumer groups across Europe. By the same token, vacuum cleaners, which are not subject to the same regulation, remain more difficult to repair.

These are the results of a market repairability check done by BEUC and six national consumer organisations across Europe.[1] Almost six in ten people are willing to pay more for sustainable products that are easier to repair, recyclable and/or produced in a sustainable way. EU policy has responded to this, but access to repair remains low and consumers still face barriers (e.g. high costs and lack of spare parts).

To assess the current state of play, we carried out a market check looking at how easy it is for consumers to repair a smartphone (for which repairability requirements exist), compared to vacuum cleaners (for which there is no regulation). We found that:

1. Smartphones enjoy better access to both spare parts and repair instructions than battery vacuum cleaners.

2. For smartphones, repair instructions are generally comprehensive and enable consumers and professionals to carry out most repairs. For battery vacuum cleaners, however, the information is typically limited to maintenance and basic troubleshooting, offering little repair support.

3. But the cost of repair remains high for both products, reducing the attractiveness of repair. For smartphones, the highest-priced component (a €400 display) was around 30% of the product’s original purchase price. For battery vacuum cleaners, the most expensive spare part identified (a €281 battery) was 50% higher than the product’s original price.

BEUC Director General Agustín Reyna commented: “Consumers want products that last longer. Being able to repair a product makes sense from an environmental perspective, but also for consumers’ wallets, to not have to keep forking out for expensive replacements each time a product has a fault. Our research shows that European laws are making the repair of smartphones easier for consumers. Battery vacuum cleaners, for which similar regulation does not exist, remain more challenging. These rules clearly work, so should be extended to vacuum cleaners and other consumer goods, such as computers, printers, and electric bikes together with measures to reduce the cost of repair.”

Background:
The new Ecodesign and energy labelling rules for smartphones, which include repairability obligations, have been in place since 20 June 2025. The Ecodesign Regulation introduces requirements to make spare parts and repair manuals available to consumers, and to increase transparency on the price of spare parts. New smartphones also must display an EU-wide repairability score, as part of the energy label. Battery vacuum cleaners were included in this study as a comparable battery-powered product that is not subject to reparability rules yet.

[1]  Austria, Denmark, France, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands