If apple announces it but it is not available for purchase to the general public by close, that won't count.
Firstly, there is still a long way to go for the EU battery law. Thus, the related details of the law are still up for debate and need formal approval by the Council of the EU. On the other hand, a user-removable battery is just against the design concept for waterproofing. It will otherwise cause the iPhone to stop complying with IPXX or have to spend more money on product development. As a leader in the smartphone market, I don't think that the iPhone will sacrifice its performance this much. They will definitely try to negotiate with the EU so an iPhone with a user-removable battery design is unlikely released 3 years later.
Why is this so different to https://manifold.markets/Predictor/will-the-iphone-be-sold-in-the-eu-w?r=SGFsbGU ?
@Halle oh yeah you are right. One thing I learned on this platform is that "by" usually means "by the end of". So I suppose the closing date on the other one is a mistake.
@gigab0nus no it does not, this is a common thing that people say, yet it is simply not true. "by" can mean either before or at the end of the year. Both interpretations are used a lot.
@gigab0nus That's correct! This market is about whether Apple launches an iphone with user-replaceable battery as compliant with EU guidelines
@firstuserhere Okay so its just about if they do it 3 months early. And that the iPhone brand is still continued as we know it.
@firstuserhere I havent read too much about it, but what I heard is that it is pretty general, so also iPad