idleprocess
Flashaholic
Of course they want you to use original parts sold under their label - they typically make usury margins of 400% or more on them. When I was working for a small manufacturer, we typically charged 4-6x our cost on parts. The only reason that the parts business wasn't a big profit center for us was because we were small with no scale to build efficiency.Why would they want you using anything other than original parts?
One of the problems with custom li-ion/-poly cells and battery packs is the fact that they are highly proprietary. Even if they use semi-standard cells, the packaging, contact locations, and mechanical/aesthetic requirements of any housing are highly variable. In order for a 3rd party to replicate such batteries, they must exert no small amount of effort to duplicate what the OEM has done at appreciable expense via R&D effort and low-quantity custom parts. Since a 3rd-party replacement must be cheaper than OEM (or outperform it), a common means of cutting production costs is to use inferior components such as cheaper cells or other safety-critical components.
The proprietary issue is aggravated by numerous manufacturers using patented serial I/O communication between the device and the battery pack. The communication between device and battery is patented solely so the OEM can extract rent from the marketplace. 3rd-party manufacturers that do not license the patent (at significant cost) risk their products simply not working or the host device might misbehave - ie refuse to charge the battery, discharge it at an accelerated pace, not use the full capacity, etc.
Industry could easily standardize on a handful of battery sizes - ie 18650 packs in standard sizes for laptops (or RC-style minimalist li-poly packs), flat prismatic li-ion cells for cell phones, etc - if it chose, but it seems they believe making fat unit profits on low volumes is a more attractive proposition for their annual financial statements.
Anyway, back on topic.
A common argument for integrated non-replaceable batteries is that it forces the manufacturer to use quality components because they need to meet the warranty period. While this can be true for some manufacturers sitting at the upper end of the market, it's hardly a universal rule - especially as one comes down from companies headquartered in Cupertino (witness cheap li-ion/-poly powered anything on amazon or fleabay). 3rd-party replacements for removable cells can certainly suffer from quality problems as I've mentioned above, however there are often good choices available from 3rd-party makes with brand reputations to defend.
Another is that it improves the structural integrity of the product. There is some truth to this, although actual execution in the market is highly varied and opinion on the subject often comes down to aesthetics rather than performance (witness tech news sites ascribing miraculous build quality to things that "don't flex", without any useful examination of what that has to do with utility or durability). Part of the problem with removable batteries is designers' common insistence on more packaging than is necessary and integrating them into the exterior of the product - this used to be common with cell phones and it still the rule with laptops. Environmental resistance is certainly improved with fewer seals and mating surfaces, but the average consumer product simply isn't designed for much more than a splash to say nothing of immersion.
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