Ironically sealing away the battery has proven to be one of the most poorly aged phone developments. The Note 7 recall would have been so much cheaper and easier with just a battery recall. The top phone manufacturers have hit somewhat of a ceiling on their quick charging capabilities because they're terrified of ruining batteries early or overheating them to the point of danger; a battery swap is still the fastest charging method even after all these years.

And now the concerns about removable batteries being smaller are bumping up against the fact that flagship phone batteries are sticking to a certain limit on size for the sake of keeping phones thin, so battery life isn′t making drastic gains without more efficient SoC′s. And water resistance on normal phone slabs has pretty much hits its apex unless the USB port is removed.

At this point a flagship with a removable battery would be one thing that actually shook up the status quo and would drive the most innovation and become the most compatible with a world that's demanding less e-waste and more repairability.