Apple Makes $29 Battery Replacements Available Immediately for iPhone 6 and Newer

[Altis]

Any non-battery related slowdowns is likely due to the older hardware not being able to support the newer software, not Apple deliberately going out of their way to screw over with your devices. Take the iPhone 4 for example. It barely ran iOS 7, and that's just because it's specs simply couldn't keep up, and software optimisation can only go so far.

How interesting it was that Apple thought every iPhone 4 user should use iOS 7 with no option to revert back.

 

[Rob_2811]

https://www.geekbench.com/blog/2017/12/iphone-performance-and-battery-age/

"The distribution of iPhone 7 scores under iOS 10.2.0, iOS 10.2.1, and iOS 11.1.2 appears identical. However, the distribution changes with iOS 11.2.0 and starts to look like the iPhone 6s distribution from 10.2.1."

Thanks for posting.

Apple needs some answers for that.

 

[RiemannSpace]

My 6S Plus is covered through AppleCare through February 2018 so I scheduled an appointment at my local Apple Store to have my battery replaced. Through the software coconut, I noticed that the current capacity of the battery is at ~73% when, per Apple, should be at 80% since it has 507 cycle counts.

At the Apple Store they ran the diagnostics and told me the battery was "in an excellent condition", close to 87%.

Could this coconut software be so off/inaccurate or Apple BS-ing me to avoid replacing the battery for free?

I don't know if I should try again or just let it be.

TLDR: Good luck getting Apple to replace the 'degraded' battery!!

I have an iPhone 6+, bought directly from Apple at release, noticed super slow-downs with iOS 10.2+ (and also iOS 11) Did the requisite Geekbench tests for sanity, noticed the throttling at lower battery levels (50%), charged it up 100%, results miraculously back up to par for the phone. Used a few battery test apps, which indicate degraded performance. Gave Apple a call today after seeing this news, they wanted to do a remote diagnostics, so humored them and did it - here is the exact wording from that effort - "That is normal behavior for the device to slow performance when the battery gets a lot lower. We can do some steps to try and help with the performance, but the battery does appear to be working fine." and then later "Alright, but I’m just letting you know it’s not battery related or related to needing a battery replacement. Your battery passed the diagnostic with flying colors!" Then they wanted me to do a complete wipe/reset, etc. Which I didn't have time for today, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt (however slim that is), and try that tomorrow. But... I don't expect much from them anymore.

 

[LovingTeddy]

How interesting it was that Apple thought every iPhone 4 user should use iOS 7 with no option to revert back.

Apple fan will tell you that is because You rather want security than unusable iPhone. Because security is more important.

Apple fan will also tell you that You rahter want slow iPhone than phone randomly shutdown.

Apple always right. Apple throttle your phone becuase your battery is old. You have new battery but still slow？ Then you have old hardwate cannot cope with new software.Just get new iPhone！

 

[Abazigal]

Apple fan will tell you that is because You rather want security than unusable iPhone. Because security is more important.

Apple fan will also tell you that You rahter want slow iPhone than phone randomly shutdown.

Apple always right. Apple throttle your phone becuase your battery is old. You have new battery but still slow？ Then you have old hardwate cannot cope with new software.Just get new iPhone！

It's not so much that Apple is always right, but that since you have chosen to throw in your lot with the Apple ecosystem, it's one of the idiosyncrasies of Apple that you will have to get used to, perhaps even embrace. That Apple will, more often than not, decide that they know what's best for their users and isn't above ramming their decisions down our throats, whether we want it or not.

And Apple is vested in keeping its users on the latest software, from security and bug fixes, to making it easier for app developers.

 

[plantemichel]

I’m confused. Is that supposed to be $29 (Canada; $35) all-in, or is there a separate cost for labour? Before Apple decided to reduce their battery cost, I went to the Apple Genius Bar in Toronto and was quoted $99 for the battery replacement plus $429 labour. So tell me about that labour cost: does it still exist or is Apple now waiving it? Because let me tell you, that small reduction in battery cost means next to nothing if that labour cost is still there. Here’s a copy of my work order from Apple (p.s. I cancelled after seeing this bill, and purchased a battery replacement elsewhere.)

WELL THEY in fact rob you big time for a battery replacement.

 

[jdsingle]

Again, most users would rather have a phone that shuts down randomly as that signals there is a problem that needs attention. I know my 6+ would get wonky at about 30% battery life, especially when cold. A phone that takes a very long time to accomplish tasks (like 10 seconds to bring up a page in Safari over WiFi) is pretty darn useless anyway.

I'd rather have the phone that's speedy but dies randomly when the battery is low vs the phone that takes forever to do tasks and makes me want to throw it against the wall. With the random shutdowns I know something needs fixed. With the slowdown I have no idea.

Data or is this anecdote? I did a quick poll (nowhere near representative of the population) and not one person would prefer their phone just randomly shut down over it running slower and lasting longer. I had the phone shutdown problem at 30% and man it pissed me off. If my battery needs replacing throw me a notification and I can choose to handle it.

 

[sparkie7]

Shame on you Apple. < wagging finger > < with disappointed look >

 

[weup togo]

Just curious weup togo: If this defect was only on the 6/6s and was fixed in the iPhone 7... why is Apple putting out this throttling virus "feature" onto the iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2 (plus soon to be 8 and X models with a future iOS update)???

Because any battery can eventually get to voltage levels below what any hardware needs. The difference is simply the margin of error. The 6's had virtually none. The rest have a great deal more, so the number of affected units will be orders of magnitude smaller.

 

[deltafactor]

Take the iPhone 4 for example. It barely ran iOS 7, and that's just because it's specs simply couldn't keep up, and software optimisation can only go so far.

That's questionable too. Exactly what do you think the operating system was doing that the hardware couldn't keep up?

Its not like there are thousands of arbitrary configurations that needed to be thought out in the iOS ecosystem like in the other OS worlds - there are just a handful (even if you start with the very first iPhone).

As long as most users feel that "specs cant keep up" with the OS in a couple of years apple can continue doing things like the battery fiasco.

 

[lordofthereef]

Not gonna lie, this makes getting rid of my 6s plus a little more painful. It needed a new battery pretty badly. For $29 I’d have kept I’d as a bcusnul phone.

Oh well.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Data or is this anecdote? I did a quick poll (nowhere near representative of the population) and not one person would prefer their phone just randomly shut down over it running slower and lasting longer. I had the phone shutdown problem at 30% and man it pissed me off. If my battery needs replacing throw me a notification and I can choose to handle it.

Exactly.

And here's what I don't understand... there are literally billions of smartphones on Earth... iPhones and Android phones.

At any given moment there are hundreds of millions of them with old worn out batteries.

So why are we just hearing about this phenomenon now?

With so many smartphones that have the same basic battery technology... why did it take until December 2017 for this to become news? There should have been forums full of battery complaints for years.

I've never heard "my Motorola phone shuts down at 30% battery..."

Is it because Motorola users don't get the attention that iPhone users get?

Shouldn't ALL phones exhibit this shutdown behavior when the batteries get old and weak?

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

The battery issue is a bit of a hoax. While it might one of the techniques Apple uses to slow down older iPhones, it's not the only one. They're also doing it by model too. Apple just sent me a brand new 5s for free, but they forced IOS 11 on it and it still runs like an old dog. It was fast and efficient under IOS 10.3.3.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I cant believe people are defending apple on this. Smh

Status quo. There's always about 10+ guys that will take Apple's side no matter what.

I think God himself could come down to Earth, heal the sick, raise the dead, prove Himself with miracle after miracle after miracle such that not one person could have any doubt left. Then, someone asks that God a question about if He were human would He have been more likely to use Windows or macOS... or Android vs. iOS. In the (completely impossible) scenario where God chooses Windows/Android, the 10 or so guys immediately proclaim him "False God" and reject all of the beyond-a-doubt miracles as "false miracles" and so on. Then, they'll work overtime with post after post challenging everyone who tries to point out that God is God... the miracles... the raised dead... the healed sick... and so on.

In short, Apple IS God for some of these guys: always, always, always right... whether they are affected by whatever the topic or not. Even when Apple admits to something (like this) or is found guilty of something (like the book pricing deals a few years ago), the ADF steps in and works overtime to spin it as positively as it can be spun, redirecting where possible and making every effort to change the subject in the face of any irrefutable proof or Apple (themselves) admission.

Again, God cannot be wrong. So even if God admits to a wrong, the wrong must not be so wrong. In fact, it's not wrong at all. It's actually generous/genius/etc.

Besides Samsung/Microsoft/Google/Amazon makes that same wrong all day every day.

But who makes the most profitable ____________?

$2XX Billion in the bank can't be wrong.

And then just call any persistent challengers (to God) trolls or Samesung shills.

All (barely)

 

[rootee]

They are not making any happy customers by forcing our phones to slow down.

It should be a choice, Apple. Give us the option of when to replace our batteries without you forcing our phones to slow down! Otherwise, it seems like a money grab to me to be honest. "Replace your battery or we will keep slowing down your phone."

so true -- or pay us for a new phone, either way pay up

 

[Mal Blackadder]

Here's the timeline of what happened:

• AppleCare's escalation team approaches Engineering and says, "We're seeing a ton of in and out of warranty returns and repairs due to degraded batteries. This is costing us millions of dollars. Can you figure out why the iPhone 6/s failure rate is so much higher than normal?
• Engineering gets ahold of some Failure Analysis captures from the field to reproduce the issue. They find that when the battery voltage drops due to age or cold weather, the sudden shutdowns occur.
• They look at the peak voltage demands from the iPhone 6/s relative to the battery output curve.
• They realize the fundamental design defect in the iPhone 6/s: the device's peak voltage demand was way, way too high relative to the battery's capabilities. This defect was not present in previous devices, and was fixed in the iPhone 7.
• Engineering, AppleCare, Marketing and sundry Management discuss next steps. They're not going to do a recall, admitting the design defect, because the PR and financial hit would be in the tens of billions. They don't want to keep replacing phones or batteries, because that's costing millions. They're not going to put in UI letting users know their battery needs serviced, because Marketing forbids any public discussion of anything being wrong with Apple products.
• Engineering says, "This is just a voltage problem. If we drop the clocks, we can ensure the devices never go over the peak battery voltage." Thanks to the power management hw & sw, they have good data on the battery voltage potential. The CPU already runs at lots of different clock speeds, depending on load. So it was a very simple change to detect the battery voltage max, and set the max clock speed below that threshold. Problem solved.
• Engineering Management tells senior Execs "Okay, we have a fix for the sudden shutdown failures, but devices are going to be slower as a result. We really need to surface this to users, to mitigate the bad experience." Marketing says absolutely not we never say anything is wrong with Apple products. AppleCare says please just ship it, we have a huge pile of defective phones building up.
• Apple rolls the dice and ships the silent software change, hoping the expensive returns will go down, customers will at least be able to use their devices, if in a degraded state, and prays no one will ever figure out the hack.
• People slowly start figuring out their devices are slower. Finally the GeekBench guys query their database, and the CPU clock/voltage throttling sticks out like a sore thumb.
• All hell breaks loose, and here we are.

It's critical to keep in mind this is not just about "worn out" batteries. Battery voltage drops with cold weather. My iPhone 6 was exhibiting this design defect when it was only a year old, as soon as I exposed it for the first time to cold weather. It would shut off instantly when I stepped outside. After a few months, the shutdowns became frequent as the battery did begin to "wear out" but in my case, this battery was marginal from the factory. Apple Engineering completly screwed up by allowing so little margin between max voltage requirement and worst case battery performance. No other models have had this problem before or since.

This is a coverup for what should be the biggest product recall in history. As long as Apple has people yelling at each other over battery chemistry, they win.

You hit the nail on the head, the battery either had manufacturing defect or was totally under specced by Apple. The fact they had to recall some of the 6s phones for battery issue makes me think the IOS tweak was to reduce the amount of phones needing recall, with any manufacturing process there will always be a slight variation, some batteries will perform better than others, Apple identified which would be worst performers and included them in recall, the others were handled by Apple introducing the throttling, Apple knew there would be a huge failure rate of the batteries within the 2 year warranty period so introduced throttling to hide it, they were hoping to hide the problem until the bulk of the phones were outside of warranty period. Look when the 6s was released, when the battery recall happened and when IOS was changed to bring in throttling. Apple hoped that people would not realise the phones had been slowed down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_6S#Unexpected_battery_shutdowns

 

[kstotlani]

Anyone know if apple will replace your battery if you’ve already had it replaced by a 3rd party?

They won’t touch it if they see some evidence of it from outside. I read on this forum that one person was refused service after opening the phone as it was a 3rd party battery.

 

[waughm]

I got my replaced two weeks ago upon hearing the battery issue. Full price

So did I. Couldn’t stand it any longer. Any compensation for people in this situation?

 

[BuddyRich]

Data or is this anecdote? I did a quick poll (nowhere near representative of the population) and not one person would prefer their phone just randomly shut down over it running slower and lasting longer. I had the phone shutdown problem at 30% and man it pissed me off. If my battery needs replacing throw me a notification and I can choose to handle it.

This software fix is essentially in lieu of them replacing your battery if it was shutting down and still under warranty/apple care. The trade off being its now throttled back to half speed in some cases. You no longer shutdown which is good but given the performance tradeoff to me thats an unacceptable fix. Which is why in the release notes and on tech crunch for the 10.2.1 fix they were vague about what it was doing because people would be upset.

This problem was specifically reported for 6s models in the 2nd half of 2016... right around the 1 year mark for the 6s. A one year old phone should not shutdown and a software fix should not be a compromise. Apple is responsible to give you a 100working device for its warranty

A side effect is now that iphones (including the barely year old iphone 7) throttle and prevent the shutdown you are less apt to take it in under warranty/apple care to get it truly fixed for free. a repeatable shutdown is noticeable to users so warrants attention. degraded performance can he overlooked or blamed on something else.

im ok in theory with throttling, provided its transparent, but it shouldnt be implemented on phones until 2 years after they are last sold.

 

[HallStevenson]

Apple just sent me a brand new 5s for free, but they forced IOS 11 on it and it still runs like an old dog. It was fast and efficient under IOS 10.3.3.

You can download iOS 10.x.x and force-install it. I don't know which version of 10 they still allow to be installed though and eventually, they'll even stop allowing anything from iOS 10.

 

[rootee]

So did I. Couldn’t stand it any longer. Any compensation for people in this situation?

me too, and i called apple for a refund on the price difference, and their answer was NOPE

 

[FelixDerKater]

Is this more or less impactful than the flaming Note 7?

 

[Altis]

It's not so much that Apple is always right, but that since you have chosen to throw in your lot with the Apple ecosystem, it's one of the idiosyncrasies of Apple that you will have to get used to, perhaps even embrace. That Apple will, more often than not, decide that they know what's best for their users and isn't above ramming their decisions down our throats, whether we want it or not.

Makes it sound pretty cult-ish.

It's funny... after years of Apple's mantra being "Just use it and we'll take care of all the technical stuff, don't even think about it."

Now it's "the consumer doesn't know enough to make informed decisions so we'll do it for them". I guess it's to their advantage that people know as little as possible -- that certainly seems to be Apple's target market of late.

And Apple is vested in keeping its users on the latest software, from security and bug fixes, to making it easier for app developers.

Of course, we wouldn't want them having to do any extra work. Funny how many of the people who tell everyone to update iOS and go along with everything Apple are either developers or shareholders.

Screw the end user, just open your wallets!

 

[Geert76]

Apple doesn't need any lawyers for this battery case, they have got Macrumors members who will defend Apple in every single possible way.
And the good thing is, they do it for free!

people, please stop defending a company ( = Apple) like it's one of your family members!

 

[doelcm82]

Exactly.

And here's what I don't understand... there are literally billions of smartphones on Earth... iPhones and Android phones.

At any given moment there are hundreds of millions of them with old worn out batteries.

So why are we just hearing about this phenomenon now?

With so many smartphones that have the same basic battery technology... why did it take until December 2017 for this to become news? There should have been forums full of battery complaints for years.

I've never heard "my Motorola phone shuts down at 30% battery..."

Is it because Motorola users don't get the attention that iPhone users get?

Shouldn't ALL phones exhibit this shutdown behavior when the batteries get old and weak?

It's a good question, with an easy answer: Try googling "my phone shuts down at 30% battery" and see what comes up. The answers I saw suggested the problem IS widespread, not new, and not limited to Apple.

I've only had iPhones since the smartphone era, and I've never kept my phone over two years until now. So for me, it's not surprising that my 6+ exhibited the issue (shutting down when the battery wasn't close to zero), when I had never experienced that before. Then it stopped doing that, but ran noticeably more slowly. It was so slow, in fact that I missed phone calls. The phone would ring while I was using an app, but the phone app screen came up so slowly that I couldn't actually answer the call. At least twice I was tapping the screen trying to get it to respond, and I actually managed to tap the refuse call button the instant it appeared.

I'm not happy with Apple's decision to slow down the phone, but I'm happy to know there is a reasonable explanation for what was happening, and that they have lowered the price on the battery replacement. I have an iPhone X now (I was always planning to upgrade this year, even before my 6+ began acting up, so I don't feel that Apple tricked me into upgrading).

My sister dropped her iPhone and broke the screen. I've given her my 6+, and for $29 she can get a fresh battery installed. Life is good. At least this small part of it.