The best phones with a removable battery and alternative solutions

Phones with a removable battery are a dying breed these days. Manufacturers have moved to unibody, sealed designs for affordable and flagship phones. It’s a pity, because a removable battery allows you to swap out batteries easily — that means no time lost charging, and you can quickly ditch degraded batteries. There is a sign of good things to come for removable battery lovers, though. The European Council has ruled that all smartphones released in Europe have to have a user-replaceable battery by 2027. This list is soon to get much better! Until then, here are the best phones with a removable battery right now.

The best phones with a removable battery

Editor’s note: We’ll regularly update this list of the best phones with removable batteries when new devices launch.

Samsung Galaxy XCover 7

Most phones with removable batteries fall at the lower end of the specs and price spectrum, and finding good options in this category is getting harder and harder. That’s why the Samsung Galaxy XCover 7 is such a pleasant surprise.

It’s no flagship by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s pretty capable. It has a Full HD+ display, a mid-range MediaTek octa-core processor, decent cameras, and a removable 4,050mAh battery, making it a very compelling phone.

The rugged XCover 7 is also built to survive the elements. It has an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance and a MIL-STD 810H certification for impact resistance.

The Samsung Galaxy XCover 7 is more expensive than other similarly-built mid-rangers. This phone targets a particular segment of the market. So anyone lamenting that there aren’t many decent phones with removable batteries out there has something to look forward to with this rugged option.

Galaxy XCover 7 specs:

Kyocera Duraforce Pro 3

This is definitely one of the best phones with a removable battery, released right in the middle of 2023. It is also pretty expensive at $900, but it could be the very best option if you want to be able to hot-swap the battery.

For starters, the Kyocera Duraforce Pro 3 is rugged, featuring an IP68 rating, as well as MIL-STD-810H certification. And the specs are pretty good, too. The phone has a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage.

The screen isn’t huge at 5.38 inches, but you get a Full HD resolution. The battery is nicely sized at 4,270 mAh. You get a triple-camera system, as well as an 8MP selfie shooter. The only main downside is that it is only available on Verizon.

Duraforce Pro 3 specs:

Fairphone 5

The Fairphone 5 impressed us at IFA 2023. This is not only one of the best phones with a removable battery, it is actually modular. You can replace things like the display, cameras, earpiece, speaker, USB-C port, and more.

Modularity aside, the Fairphone 5 is a pretty neat phone. You get a Qualcomm QCM6490 with 8GB of RAM. The OLED screen measures in at 6.46 inches, and it has a 90Hz refresh rate. The 4,200mAh battery isn’t massive, but it is removable, and it charges at 30W.

You even get 5G, and Fairphone has promised a mighty update promise of eight years, along with five major Android upgrades. And get this: despite the removable back and modular design, you still get an IP55 rating. All for a €700.

Fairphone 5 specs:

Nokia C21

The Nokia C21 is far from the most powerful phone with a removable battery, but it’s a reasonably new budget alternative. It comes with Android 11 (Go Edition), which means it also comes with a near-stock Android experience.

HMD’s phone packs a Unisoc SC9863A chipset, which should handle messaging, browsing, and other lightweight tasks just fine. Don’t hold your breath for anything spectacular when looking at the rest of the spec sheet, either. There’s 2-4GB of RAM, 32-64GB of storage, and a 3,000mAh battery. And yes, the removable nature of the latter means you can swap batteries when your phone is low on juice.

Nokia C21 specs:

Nokia C12 series

If you’re looking for an ultra-budget device, you will want to look into the Nokia C12 series. These are super affordable and have removable batteries. The series is comprised of the Nokia C12 and Nokia C12 Pro.

Both phones come with 6.3-inch 720p screens, a Unisoc SC9863A1 processor, 2-3GB of RAM, an 8MP primary camera, a 5MP selfie camera, and an identical design. The Nokia C12 has the smallest battery at 3,000mAh, but you can upgrade to 4,000mAh if you opt for the Pro iteration.

The pricing sits comfortably low for all three, but they are a bit hard to find outside of India. You can also find them in some parts of Europe and the UK.

C12 specs:

C12 Pro specs:

TCL Ion X

Those looking for an ultra-affordable handset with a removable battery can consider getting a TCL Ion X. You may not have heard of it, but it costs just $120 and is available from Metro by T-Mobile. As if that wasn’t cheap enough, the carrier will often offer discounts, and you can usually get it for free if you sign up for a new line!

Of course, the 3,000mAh battery can be removed. Other specs include a MediaTek Helio G25 processor, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. The screen measures six inches, which is a good size, but it only has a 720p resolution.

Ion X specs:

Is it time to move on from removable batteries?

We mentioned in the intro that there are changes coming, thanks to the European Council ruling that all phones sold in Europe should come with a user-replaceable battery by 2027. The ruling clarifies the battery should be able to be easily replaced without the need for tools. This is all done in an effort to reduce waste. And while this only applies to Europe, manufacturers are unlikely to create significantly different models for specific markets. For example, Europe forced Apple to move to USB-C, so the company just moved to USB-C altogether. Similarly, there is a high chance manufacturers will just take the punch and simply create phones with removable batteries for all markets.

Again, this is all some years away, and we are forced to live in the present. For now, you have to find temporary solutions, as you will have a hard time finding a good phone with a removable battery right now. You could just accept defeat and get a phone with a non-removable battery, and also look for other ways to keep your phone from running out of juice.

For starters, some phones have stunning battery life out of the box, so you might want to consider one of those before finding any other solutions.

Luckily, there are plenty of options to consider. The most obvious solution is to buy a portable battery pack to top off your phone’s battery. Waiting for your device to charge won’t be as fast as swapping out the battery. However, many phones have fast charging capabilities, so charging times aren’t nearly as bad as they used to be.

Similarly, you could also get a phone with wireless charging. You can dock the phone or lay it on a mat while at your desk, and it will charge as if it were plugged in. This will give your phone little bursts of juice throughout the day and hopefully prevent you from running dry.

Finally, we have a guide on maximizing battery life, which includes a bevy of tips and tricks that should help any device last at least a full day. Many of these suggestions require making some sacrifices. Unfortunately, these are the things you’ll have to do going forward as removable batteries fade into the rear view of phone history.

FAQs

Do you need more help with your battery issues? You might first want to find out what’s happening with your phone if your battery is dying too soon.