Logitech will pull a Nintendo — only European mice will come with replaceable batteries

In June, Nintendo announced a caller type of the Switch 2 that should fto you easy switch its artillery battalion — but only for Europe. Logitech will do overmuch the same. User-replaceable batteries will beryllium the rule successful Europe successful February 2027, but alternatively of bringing them to the remainder of the world, Logitech plans to vessel 1 type of its wireless mice to Europe and a different type everyplace else.

Why? Logitech believes that less-repairable peripherals mightiness really beryllium superior, erstwhile you see the tradeoffs.

“It’s not conscionable the cost, you’re besides adding weight,” Piispanen tells The Verge. He says that Logitech typically ships devices pinch a lightweight soft-sided lithium-ion artillery inside, pinch a very bladed cable, because the institution knows astir group won’t return them apart. “But that is not safe for you to run on, we can’t springiness that to you successful bully conscience and say, hey, spell switch a soft-pack battery.”

Instead, Logitech’s wireless products successful Europe will vessel pinch a hard-pack battery, a much rigid creation that’s harder to puncture accidentally. (Not to overstate the risk, but punctured lithium-ion batteries tin quickly commencement fires.) For other safety, Piispanen says Logitech will connection certified replacement batteries successful Europe, too.

But he says he won’t vessel them to the United States, for example. He says Logitech ran the numbers, and its forecasts propose fewer group will fuss replacing those batteries.

“How galore group are going to unfastened up their ain mouse, return retired the battery, put successful a caller 1 because the artillery ran old?” he asks. Piispanen says replaceable batteries make much consciousness for costly products for illustration laptops aliases phones, but that group thin to switch Logitech’s $50 to $100 wireless mice arsenic they deterioration down.

While I work together that Logitech’s mice are presently disposable products, I powerfully disagree that they should continue to beryllium that way. Isn’t the right-to-repair activity astir changing that outlook connected the world? Would consumers alteration that behaviour if the devices were easier to fix?

So I inquire Piispanen, who says he believes successful right-to-repair: Why doesn’t Logitech really waste the wear-and-tear parts for its mice, contempt claiming it does? Why doesn’t it waste the rubber grip pads connected the broadside of my Logitech G502 Lightspeed, which I’ve now worn a spread through, aliases the rodent move that’s opening to double-click connected the broadside of my mouse?

It sounds for illustration the reply is: Logitech isn’t really fresh to spot consumers pinch repairs themselves.

“Mouse switches intends you person to unfastened up the full mouse, and you’re astir apt going to break something,” he says. Replacing the grips intends cleaning up aged adhesive and replacing it pinch caller adhesive — “that’s a process for you to do it well.”

“I don’t want to like, waste you a portion conscionable for you to screw it up and past beryllium sad astir it,” Piispanen says later.

That said, he says he sees the passion successful the community, really immoderate group are consenting to void their warranty to modify their Logitech gear, and he seems to return my constituent that Logitech isn’t fulfilling its “wear and tear” right-to-repair promise yet.

He says that “the bigger question” is really Logitech tin creation caller products that don’t deterioration retired arsenic quickly. “The rodent you’re talking about, that was 7 years old, and I salute you for really wanting to support connected utilizing it,” he says.

But he besides tells maine he’ll return a look astatine those rodent grips: “I want to spot what spare parts we’re lacking that is deterioration and tear, because if we’re talking astir things that we really could do, I want to look into that.”