Not half as bad is potted in RTC batteries. As in: The RTC chip and battery are inside the same epoxy-filled package. The bane of vintage SUN hardware (and some PC clone manufacturers in the 386-486 era) collectors.

Two words: future proofing. In many places, 2G and 3G networks are either turned off already, or will shutdown in a year or two. Especially with the dumb phone target audience, a phone that will become a brick in a couple of years, is most definitely not something they’re looking for.