- 6figures on the label
- A-Erepairability
- A-Genergy class
What the Label Tells You
European requirements. Outside the EU these are not your law, though manufacturers frequently apply one design globally. No affiliate links on this site, and nothing here is ranked.
Since 20 June 2025 every smartphone, cordless phone and slate tablet placed on the EU market carries an energy label. (Energy Labelling Regulation (EU) 2023/1669.) It is the first time durability and repairability have appeared at the point of sale as regulated figures rather than as marketing. For a separate workplace perspective on device availability and work records, Monitask's stealth monitoring software provides additional context.
The six figures
Energy efficiency class, A to G. How much electricity the device uses relative to its class. The least decision-relevant figure on the label for most buyers, and the most familiar because it looks like the fridge label.
Battery endurance. Hours and minutes per full charge, measured under a defined test. Comparable between devices in a way manufacturer claims never were, because the test is the same for everybody. For wider standards, testing and product-label context, How-To Geek is another useful reference.
Battery cycle rating. The device must reach at least 800 cycles retaining 80% of capacity. (Ecodesign Regulation (EU) 2023/1670.)
Repeated free fall reliability class. Drop resistance, against a requirement of at least 45 accidental drops without loss of function.
Ingress protection rating. The familiar IP code for dust and water — which promises considerably less than people assume.
And the repairability score, A to E. A is most repairable. A composite of several things that matter unequally, and the figure most worth understanding before relying on.
Plus a QR code
Linking to EPREL, the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling.
The registry holds the full technical file for that model — more detail than fits on a label, including information the label summarises into a single letter.
Looking a model up takes a minute and is the step that turns a letter grade back into the underlying facts.
Which figures actually change a decision
The repairability score and the cycle rating, for anybody keeping a device more than two years.
The drop class, for anybody who has broken a screen before — which is a large proportion of people and a good predictor of doing it again.
Battery endurance, where the difference between devices is substantial.
IP rating, if the device goes anywhere wet — and with the caveats on its own page.
Energy class, almost never. A phone's electricity consumption is a rounding error in a household bill, and the class is on the label because the regulation was built on the energy labelling framework rather than because it matters here.
What the label does not tell you
Part prices. Manufacturers must publish indicative prices on a freely accessible website — which is elsewhere, and is the number that decides whether a repairable device is economically repairable.
Whether the update commitment will be met in spirit. Five years is a floor and says nothing about the quality of what arrives.
Anything about accessories or the wider category of things a household owns.
And how you will treat it, which remains the largest single variable and is the subject of the section on what fails.
Where to see it
On the product page and in the shop, and it applies to models already on sale before June 2025 as well as new ones. (Right to Repair Europe.)
Where a retailer does not show it, ask — the obligation to display exists, and its absence is itself informative about the seller.
Reading it against a competitor
The point of a standardised label is that two devices can be compared on the same measurement.
Which was not previously possible. Manufacturer battery claims used different tests, durability claims used none, and repairability was asserted rather than scored.
Compare the letters and the numbers, not the marketing around them. A device with a B repairability score and 1,200 rated cycles is a different proposition from one with a D and 800, and the difference is now visible before purchase rather than three years later.
Where two devices score the same, the label has done its job and the decision moves to price, features and preference — which is where it belongs.
What a manufacturer can do about a poor score
Improve the design, or accept the letter.
Both happen, and the second is a legitimate commercial choice: a device optimised for thinness will score worse on repairability, and some buyers want the thin device.
The value of the score is not that it forces better design. It is that the trade is now visible to the person making it — which is all a label can do and is more than existed before.
The registry behind the letter
Every model must be registered in EPREL before it can be placed on the market, and the registry entry holds more than the label shows.
Which means a letter you find surprising can be investigated rather than taken on trust — and looking it up takes a minute.
It also means the label is checkable. A device on sale without a registry entry is a device that should not be on sale, and that is a fact anybody can verify.
Existing models in shops
The label applies to models already on sale as well as new ones. (Right to Repair Europe.)
Which means a phone released in 2023 and still stocked should carry one, and its absence in a shop is a compliance matter rather than an exemption.
Ask for it. The obligation sits with the seller as well as the manufacturer, and a retailer who cannot produce it has told you something about how they operate.
The short version
- Since 20 June 2025 every phone and tablet placed on the EU market carries a label with six figures
- Energy class, battery endurance, cycle rating, drop class, IP rating, and a repairability score from A to E
- A QR code links to EPREL, where the full technical file for the model sits
- The figures that change a decision are the repairability score, the cycle rating, the drop class and battery endurance
- Energy class almost never matters on a phone; it is there because the regulation was built on the energy labelling framework
- The label does not give part prices, the quality of future updates, or anything about how you will treat the device