Apple replaced my 8+ a few years ago because of an unsuccessful battery swap. Funny thing is that it also made me eligible for a free year of TV+, which kinda offset the cost of replacing it.
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Apple Increasing the Price of Out-of Warranty iPhone, Mac, and iPad Battery Replacements Starting in March
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Apple replaced my 8+ a few years ago because of an unsuccessful battery swap. Funny thing is that it also made me eligible for a free year of TV+, which kinda offset the cost of replacing it.
Because at a certain point it’s a wiser investment to put that $100 towards a brand new phone with a brand new battery. Or even a used phone with a good battery.
Especially for people who are still using an iPhone 7 or iPhone 8. Battery replacement might have made sense before, but not with a giant price hike. It’s just a waste of money.
Aha! Now something is starting to make a lot of sense. On every iOS device I own, the "battery health" reported in settings declines gradually until it reaches 81 or 82%. Then it stabilises, even though subjectively the battery seems to continue to decline and has lost significantly more than 20% of it's original capacity.
Now I know why.
There is nothing wrong with the iPhone 7 or 8. There has not been a single compelling reason to buy a new iPhone to take the odd photo, text or watch a YouTube video. People being duped into the yearly upgrade cycle is what apple is banking on to keep the record profits coming in. Instead of actually creating new products and software they are riding a wave created 10+ years ago by the real brains behind products and innovation (jobs).
I am not dumping $1500-$2000 on a new phone to do the same thing. The camera is not some pro-grade lens. you are being sold marketing for upgrade cycles. Anyone with a brain that does pro photography is going to put that $2000 into a nice Sony lens.
Apple is starting to finally feel the crunch of a tightening economy. Regulations to ban custom lightning cable revenues, slow adoption rates of lack lustre iPhone upgrades, stalling PC market. People aren't going to be blindly buying new of much soon. Old product refurbishing and retention is in the near future, and they are going to cash in on it. hypothetical numbers... 20,000 phones a day being serviced for batteries.. with an added $25 charge to battery replacement costs... that's and extra 1/2 million a day for the already huge price gouging... This is a company on the verge of realizing they are about to hit a wall hard for being lazy for the last 12 years.
With iPhone 5 battery fiasco, I sent mine in for a "free" battery swap. My phone was 2-3 years old in pristine condition. I got it back and tried to charge it and the entire phone shorted out. toasted. dead. they sent a refurb and that thing didn't even last a year. it shorted out too. and it was not the "certified apple" cables. my wife charged her phone with the same cables... the phone was in a life proof case the entire time. was forced to buy a new phone. I have an iPhone 8+ and it works... battery is at 53% life but I dont care. I get a few hours out of it and I plug it in when not in use. I fear sending it to apple to have the battery replaced. It's not going to some magical Apple Land to be serviced. It's going to joe's certified apple fix it shop where some kid is prying it open and trying to meet quotas...Apple replaced my 8+ a few years ago because of an unsuccessful battery swap. Funny thing is that it also made me eligible for a free year of TV+, which kinda offset the cost of replacing it.
And you know this price how EXACTLY? you know all about the actual cost Apple pays for a custom battery with integrated circuits?
Hopefully Apple does not increase price of Apple Care in the immediate future.
I have already decided to leave Apple. I planning to go back to Windows after 7 year of using Mac.
I also have an iPhone 12 Pro Max with 89% battery health. When the battery goes down bellow 80% I will buy a Android phone.
With all due respect, you are way out in left field here. Brand new iPhone SE (2022) is $429, not $2,000. Used iPhone XR can probably be found for less than the battery replacement.
Again... it makes positively no sense at all to spend $100 on a new battery for an iPhone 7 when you can get an iPhone XR in pristine condition for $125. LOL
Speak for your own country. In Japan (where I live), there is a well-established system and infrastructure in place for recycling all types of different garbage.
If Apple were interested in living up to the image they like to create for themselves as environmentally-conscious and caring about their consumers, they could easily set up a system for battery replacement. Think different, remember? If they implemented a design that allowed users to easily replace batteries and bring their own batteries in-store for recycling, that would be a start. They could also do a mail-in program, like when you trade-in your phone. Put a charge on your credit card that gets refunded when the old battery arrives, thus giving people an incentive to dispose of their old batteries responsibly? $100 charge to your card that gets knocked down to $10-20, for example. I'm just spitballing, but there are already third-party companies that handle phone trade-ins via mail, so it's not financially or logistically impossible. It boils more down to Apple wanting people to buy more new phones than it does to being a problem which is impossible to solve.
I'm in the same boat as you. I started getting out of Apple products after about 12 years of using them and a year working for Apple. Last thing I bought was an iPhone 12. The higher prices used to be worth it when compared to Apple's competitors, but not anymore. I jumped ship and bought a Pixel 6, liked it so much that I upgraded to a 7 and bought my wife a 6a. The experience has been great. I have to use a MBP for work, but at home I now use a simple Chromebook that cost me $200, used. It's a perfect fit for my home needs.
True, and it just comes down to this: Same old human behaviour. If the thing they have to do isn't easy (as in quickly) and there's no serious enforcement, people generally try to take the easy way out. Even in my region I see people dump all kinds of electronic waste in the general waste containers, because it is the only bin near. A recycling center is available but not always within a few minutes walk or drive. Most people only drive to these centers if they got big stuff that takes up space in their house and doesn't fit in the waste bin.
And then there's the question if recycling companies actually do recycle the stuff or just dump it elsewhere (article link from 2019). That knowledge also makes people care less. I personally don't think that not much has changed in 2022.
No, they will replace it with a refurbished 10.5” iPad Pro (or nearest equivalent). And only if the battery percentage is below 80% on their diagnostic equipment (which may report different results to what you get yourself).
I agree 100%.
Design the internals for easy exchangable battery. Doesn’t mean I’ll do it myself but the time needed in the shop should be minimized. This would also reduce risk for damage when opening the phone.
My question has always been, how do you leave a company like Apple without buying from an even more ethically bankrupt company like Google?
The only viable choice when leaving iOS is android, which is even worse.
I considered replacing the battery myself on my almost two year old 12 Mini with an 50 Euro ifixit kit. But for 60 Euros the local shop at the mall offered a replacement. Finally I let the official Apple Store do it for 75 Euros and that was the best decision I made in a while. The screen snapped while they tried to open it and they just gave me a new replacement phone! So I got a new iPhone for just 75 Euros. Imagine this happening if I tried it myself or with the cheap mall store. Would have ended buying a new phone...
Which I believe is what Apple has been working towards since the iPhone 12, I think.
It's not. I'm serious.
1. As people always note whenever we have a "should I get AppleCare" thread, insurance is a numbers game. Many people will pay for insurance for peace of mind, a small to moderate percentage will use it for something incidental (<= to the price of the plan), while a very small number will need repairs that actually cost more than the plan itself. Apple knows this. It's not a charity. AppleCare(+) exists to generate profits for Apple. If you pay for AppleCare the least you can do is try and get your money's worth.
2. Furthermore, (in my experience) AppleCare(+) has gotten increasingly stingy in recent years, particularly outside of the US, while the quality of the service has declined worldwide. In the aughts and early to mid 2010s AppleCare wasn't cheap but generally speaking if you had it and had an issue Apple would go out of their way to take care of you. In recent years however, phone/email support has markedly declined, you're required to go through a dog and pony show just to speak to someone somewhat competent, there's a ton of asinine rules and arbitrary, non transparent thresholds for denying service, and while you can still sometimes get lucky by getting a manager at a physical Apple Store, the whole thing is often just a really poor experience. Oh, and I've also found replacement quality to be sub par (went through several pairs of replacement AirPod Pros when mine had issues, each one had QC issues, had a replacement Apple Watch fail just outside of the repair warranty, etc)
3. Apple's out of warranty repair services and parts are exorbitantly priced and designed to push people toward AppleCare+. The upcoming price increase on batteries is just the latest gouge. If repairing an iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, etc was reasonably priced, people would be a lot more willing to eat the cost, but as it stands the usual "just take the money you save not buying an extended warranty and use it for repairs" logic ends up being a real gamble. It's like US healthcare, you might save money for a while but all it takes is one issue/accident and you could be out almost as much or more than the device is worth.
Anyway, I'll end my rant here but to be clear I don't actually mean to suggest people go out of their way break a perfectly working machine over a small issue, but sometimes the Apple of 2022/23 just decides to be super unreasonable about what I would consider serious problems on what are supposed to be premium devices. If you've paid for AppleCare+, don't tolerate that BS, do what you gotta do to get what you need.
