Maybe "non-replaceable" batteries in phones isn't a big deal after all. By the time the battery has degraded, the glass back cover is broken for certain. It's no big deal replacing both at the same time.

Wat? My s7edge has survived 2 batt replacements and its both covers are in pristine shape

Just don't drop your phone or get a case
And it's significantly harder to replace the broken glass

I haven't broken a single rear glass so far, but it's not like it doesn't happen. On the positive side, such phones are good deals on the used market.

@devRancid "you're using it wrong"

Back then I've been using an extra battery when I wanted to survive a whole day of heavy phone usage without having to worry about having to charge it. It's faster to replace a battery than to wait for it to charge. And also is more convenient than carrying a powerbank+cable.

@jestdotty If you have adb enabled you could use scrcpy to manage the phone remotely

I've used a glass slab once without a case, it lasted a whopping 10 minutes before it was dead. I learned something that day..

@jestdotty oof that's bad. Recovery mode or fastboot might be an option, but that depends a lot how those are set up.

@jestdotty you can connect a mouse to the phone's usb port to enter the pin (with a bit of trial and error)

@devRancid That's actually quite a good idea for the one I have with a screwed digitizer but somewhat functioning display. Thanks!

without planned obsolescence they would sell even less before christmans

Glass back is so premium and a design flaw... Just like the in screen fingerprint readers. Piling up design flaws does not cancel them out. It's perfectly possible to make s phone that can be opened up without compromising space.

Thev Samsung galaxy S came with a high tech plastic cover. (And replaceable battery) I got it second hand and lasted me a long time. Still works probably but just got outdated at a certain point (used Cyanogen for speed and security long after Samsung abandoned it).