Smartphone and tablet energy label explained

What is on the label

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1669 prescribes eleven items: a QR code, the trade mark, the model identifier, the A to G scale, the regulation number and the six ratings below.

Item	Shown as	What it tells you
Energy class	A to G	Battery life per watt-hour of battery capacity.
Battery endurance per cycle	hours and minutes	How long a full charge lasts in a standard test.
Battery endurance in cycles	≥ 800 to ≥ 1,400	Charge cycles until capacity falls to 80 % of rated.
Repeated free fall class	A to E	1-metre drops survived without a defect.
Repairability class	A to E	From a repairability index of 1 to 5.
Ingress protection	IP code, e.g. IP68	Protection against dust (first digit) and water (second digit).

How battery life and the energy class are tested

A test app repeats a fixed mix of calls, browsing, video, gaming, data transfer and idle time from full charge until the device shuts down; that run time is the endurance figure.

Brightness is fixed at 200 cd/m², with automatic brightness, dark mode and power saving off. On phones, a few minutes of each activity alternate with half-hour idle periods; tablets run their own sequence.

The energy class divides that endurance by the battery’s energy in watt-hours, so a phone with a large battery can last longer yet get a lower class than a frugal one with a small battery. Class A needs more than 2.70 hours per watt-hour for phones, 7.90 for tablets.

Energy classes of all registered models

A 19% B 20% C 7% D 12% E 12% F 11% G 19%

A: 19% · B: 20% · C: 7% · D: 12% · E: 12% · F: 11% · G: 19%

For the cycle count, the battery is charged and discharged until it holds only 80 % of its rated capacity; the result is rounded down to the hundred.

How the drop class is tested

Five units fall repeatedly from 1 metre without a case, and the result is the number of falls that at least four of them survive without a defect.

Phones are checked after 45, 90, 180 and 270 falls, the thresholds for classes D to A; tablets after 52, 104, 156 and 208. A defect means a failed function, such as touch, cameras, charging or connectivity. Cracks in the screen glass, frame or back do not count as long as the device still works and is safe to use.

How the repairability class is derived

The repairability index is a weighted score from 1 to 5 over six criteria, turned into classes A (4.00 and above) to E (1.00 to under 1.75).

Disassembly depth (25 %): steps needed to remove each priority part, with battery and display weighted most; remote pairing of a part’s serial number adds five steps.
Fasteners, tools, spare parts, software updates and repair information (15 % each): for example, 5 years of operating system updates earn 1 point, 6 years 3 and 7 or more 5.

The most repairable phones and tablets are ranked by this index.

What the IP rating says

The first digit rates dust protection (5 dust-protected, 6 dust-tight), the second water protection (7 temporary immersion at 1 metre, 8 continuous immersion at 1 metre or more), tested without a case.

What the label leaves out

The label says nothing about charging speed, performance, cameras or spare part prices, and shows update years only inside the repairability index.

Ecodesign Regulation (EU) 2023/1670 requires operating system updates for at least 5 years and spare parts for 7 years after a model leaves the market.

On our phone and tablet pages we combine five values from the label and EPREL into a durability score, our own summary rather than an EU rating, and rank the most durable devices by it. More in the buying guide and the general label guide.

Questions

What does the energy class on a phone label mean?

It rates how long the device runs per unit of battery capacity in the standard test. It says little about running cost, since charging a phone costs very little; the endurance in hours shows how long a charge lasts.

Does a cracked screen count as a failure in the drop test?

No. Cracks in the display glass, frame or back do not count as long as the device works fully and is safe to use. Only a failed function, such as touch or charging, ends the test.

Which devices must carry the label?

Smartphones with a main screen from 4 to under 7 inches and slate tablets from 7 to under 17.4 inches without an attached keyboard. Phones with a roll-up display and smartphones for high-security communication are excluded.

How to read the EU label on smartphones and tablets