Nintendo Releasing New Switch 2 With Replaceable Battery in Europe - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 04 June 2026 / 4,346 Views
Nintendo announced it will be releasing a revised version of the Nintendo Switch 2 console in Europe that will come with a removable battery.
This is being done due to new European Union legislation that will start on February 18, 2027 that will require consumer products with built-in batteries to make them relatively easy to remove and replace.
"Like the WEEE Directive, the Batteries Regulation aims to reduce the environmental impact of the manufacture, distribution, use, disposal and recycling of batteries and rechargeable batteries," said Nintendo.
"In doing so, it forbids the supply of batteries and rechargeable batteries with certain hazardous metal content and sets out requirements for batteries' labelling, safe removal from appliances, collection and recycling. Nintendo products are fully compliant with these requirements, and Nintendo cooperates fully with authorised regional institutions to facilitate the proper collection and environmentally sound recovery or disposal of its batteries.
"In addition, the Regulation requires that from February 18th, 2027, batteries integrated into certain appliances and sold in the EU must be easily replaceable by end-users at any time during the lifetime of the product. Nintendo is implementing measures to comply with these requirements by preparing versions of products to meet the Regulation.
"For current products with model numbers starting with 'BEE', future compliant versions will have unique model numbers and the additional code 'OSM' visible on the packaging, designating them as separate products for regulatory purposes."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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This just makes me angry to be honest. They should have done this right from the start!
Yeah but atleast they adapt...
They adapt because they are being forced by law, not out of own free will because they suddenly saw the light.
Yeah it is what I mean; they could have done it worse. Adapt but make the console more expensive; or other kind of changes etc..
That's pretty much every corporation under the sun. Corporations are not your friend; they won't do anything unless the law tells them to and makes it clear that there will be serious consequences for not doing so. The U.S. allows all kinds of corporate abuse, and they indulge themselves beyond the limits of the law, because they can also afford to buy off the courts and bury the plaintiffs.
Its not hard to replace as is... much much easier to replace than a cell phone or tablet
Idk, we still need to see what changes they are making, there may be compromises to accommodate a replaceable battery.
They should do this globally and more corporations should do this even when not required by law. Right to repair is important.
Another EU win
lmao
Should do the same in other markets as well.
yet people still claim the EU is doing nothing :P
It still needs to fit inside the dock. I'm afraid this could result into a smaller battery.
Replaceable batteries are probably doable with the same battery capacity. Let's see what happens.
So I guess from February 2027 onward first gen Switch will be discontinued in Europe.
Good news, to be fair on Nintendo the 3DS did have a removable battery which prolongs the life of the console which is great! The original Switch should have had this feature too, probably most likely down to design but glad they are doing this finally
