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

[FrozenDarkness]

My read on this situation depends on

1) how often was the crashing happening compared to competitors
2) is apple doin something different with heir batteries compared to their competitors like killing batteries faster or drawing more electricity

 

[Eldiablojoe]

Just contact them. They are very good at making things right when they change policies.

What if I got it replaced many months ago? Like mid-2016. Same reason, same issues.

 

[simonmet]

So they’ve introduced throttling on 1 year-old devices. Even if bought on launch day and fully drained and recharged twice per day the battery would only reach 730 cycles, which should still be within a working health.

Yet the Geekbench figures show a significant number of devices experiencing the throttling, and not just by a little but by a lot. Enough to be clearly identifiable in his charts as three separate peaks for the iPhone 7 at approximately 75%, 67% and 50% of maximum performance respectively. As a proportion of total iPhone 7 sales, those peaks could represent millions of devices, far more I’m guessing than the number of people who managed to drain their battery at least twice a day - every day - for a year. For a 6s on 11.2 it looks like well over half of all devices have some sort of throttling, potentially by a lot.

Imagine what those poor folks experiencing a 50% reduction in peak performance must be feeling. On which planet could someone deem this to be an acceptable solution?

 

[bkaus]

What if I got it replaced many months ago? Like mid-2016. Same reason, same issues.

They didn't throttle performance many months ago. Of course, with all the news, they may be nice and credit you.

 

[bedsidetrash]

Current Apple executive team should stop pretending they are Steve Jobs. They should accept that they are no Steve Jobs, and act more like a normal company. They should stop pretending to "know what the consumer wants but yet doesn't know that s/he wants" and stop doing things like getting rid of the headphone jack without market survey, or slowing down the phones without asking. Such only works when a true visionary or a genius is in control of the company. It's likely to be a big mistake if done by someone who is not a true visionary.

 

[Miss_Mac]

Battery health tests are not accurate and won’t be updated. They need to run cpu throttling tests which they fail to acknowledge is the problem. I’m sure they would say if I just upgrade to an iPhone X then I would have no issues. There is no honesty and transparency from Apple. Only a smoke screen to cover up their most recent transgressions.

Good points, I'd be surprised if they do that. Of course, I upgraded to a 7+ when shutdowns, throttling were happening with me on an 11-month old phone, had this been a known issue I would have simply replaced the battery instead of doing exactly what Apple wanted.

 

[bkaus]

Current Apple executive team should stop pretending they are Steve Jobs. They don't have the insight to know what the consumer wants.

They should accept that they are no Steve Jobs, and act more like a normal company. They should do away with all the secrecy, and actions like getting rid of features like headphone jack without consultation or market survey etc. which only works when a true visionary is in control of the company.

I do wish the phone was a touch thicker and had more battery, but I do have the option of a battery case (or two).

If I was in the market survey, I would have answered- “no, I do not use the headphone jack. Ever. “

Visionary or not, from my perspective they got that one right.

 

[firewood]

I would not be surprised if some folks at apple are terminated or resign over this.

If this worked like the all conspiracy trolls claim, and caused everybody to upgrade to new iPhones, then why won’t they instead get big bonuses for massively increasing sales and profits?

 

[Gjr17]

Apple today announced it is making its reduced $29 battery replacements available immediately for iPhone 6 and all newer models.

Apple previously said it would offer the cheaper battery replacements in late January, but it has removed that timeframe from its letter to customers, and has confirmed immediate availability in a statement to TechCrunch.Apple normally charges $79 for out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacements, but it reduced the price by $50 following a wave of controversy over its process of dynamically managing the peak performance of some older iPhone models with degraded batteries to prevent unexpected shutdowns.

Given a lack of nuance in some mainstream coverage, many headlines have fueled speculation that Apple artificially slows down older iPhones to drive customers to upgrade to newer models, but the actual issue was Apple's lack of transparency about the power management changes it made starting in iOS 10.2.1.

When it released iOS 10.2.1 in February, Apple only vaguely said it made "improvements" to reduce occurrences of unexpected shutdowns. It only chose to explain that the changes it made may result in temporary slowdowns on some older iPhone models with degraded batteries after controversy recently reignited.

The issue came into the spotlight in early December after a Reddit user claimed that his iPhone's performance significantly increased after replacing the device's battery. Soon after, analysis of iPhone 6s benchmarks visualized an apparent link between lower performance and degraded battery health.

Apple responded by noting the power management process is a "feature" rolled out to iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPhone SE, but since it didn't fully communicate this change, some iPhone users may not have realized all they needed was a new battery.

Apple said it will release an iOS update in early 2018 with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone's battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance. It's unclear if Apple will ever let customers opt out of the power management process.

Apple said the cheaper iPhone battery replacements will be available worldwide through December 2018. The $29 fee applies to the United States, with prices varying in other countries based on exchange rates.

To initiate the battery replacement process, we recommend contacting Apple Support by phone, online chat, email, or Twitter, or scheduling a Genius Bar appointment at an Apple Store with the Apple Support app. You can also inquire about a battery replacement with select Apple Authorized Service Providers.

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

 

[Baymowe335]

The speculation comment was related to my prior post. This one:

"They did the "right thing" after they got caught sneaking in throttling algorithms in point updates to iOS that only effected previous generation phones; which at a minimum certainly caused some users to upgrade to new phones due to performance issues, instead of getting replacement batteries, because apple conveniently failed to disclose all of this to customers in a way that average consumers could reasonably understand. This is not an example of a company looking out for the best interests of their customers. That's fine, Apple is just another corporation, but stop the self rightious moral posturing from here forward, Apple!"

That post generally sets out the timing of events and is no more speculative than your conclusion that apple has somehow done the "right thing," in an attempt to help customers, which certainly speculates as to the motives of apple...


btw, I never argued apple implementing the throttling to slow phones was an issue per se (that is a different discussion), I am arguing that the failure to properly disclose that a new battery could restore performance is a big issue.

They gave us a solution and it WILL fix the issue for $29. Seems fair.

 

[TheHorrorNerd]

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.)

I used to be an Apple employee
That is a whole unit replacement.
We did that to “hold” a phone out of stock in the event we botched removing the battery.
You wouldn’t be charged for that. (The whole unit cost would be adjusted to the cost of the battery in the event the repair was botched)
It’s changed in the US now though, if the battery removal is botched it goes out to a repair depot to fix.

 

[Gjr17]

Why not a battery for my 5C? It was working fine up to a month or so ago. It is my position that materialism is the driver goading consumers into new products that we don't really need. Congrats to Apple for their efforts but I believe the battery offer is more of a public relations maneuver than an effort to make things right with the customer base. But something is better than nothing....I guess. Anyway, what about my 5C if you are out there listening Apple.

 

[Tor Eckman]

They gave us a solution and it WILL fix the issue for $29. Seems fair.

Read post 857 in this thread, is the $29 solution going to fix her problem? What if Apple had been forthright to begin with?

 

[Delgibbons]

Read post 857 in this thread, is the $29 solution going to fix his problem? What if Apple had been forthright to begin with?

Exactly. Rossman hits the nail directly on the head

 

[Da Hurdler]

I'm glad they started this right now. I'm a rep at one of the major wireless carrier. It was so annoying to "troubleshoot" a device to only get a "no issues" result.

 

[Da Hurdler]

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

Shouldn't be a problem if the 3rd party vendor was a authorize dealer for apple. Hope this is helpful

 

[Baymowe335]

Read post 857 in this thread, is the $29 solution going to fix her problem? What if Apple had been forthright to begin with?

Gotta think bigger than post 857. This doesn’t solve world hunger, but it’s a solid overall solution.
[doublepost=1514777477][/doublepost]

Good points, I'd be surprised if they do that. Of course, I upgraded to a 7+ when shutdowns, throttling were happening with me on an 11-month old phone, had this been a known issue I would have simply replaced the battery instead of doing exactly what Apple wanted.

No one twisted your arm. You did it.

 

[macsforever]

No, no, no, Apple. You profited massively from the sales of new phones by conveniently failing to tell your customers that you were slowing their current phones, thereby making them falsely believe they needed to upgrade. Yet you think we should go out of our way and take time from our day to travel to your stores, and *still* pay you more money to fix it? Had you been upfront and given customers the option to decide how their phones perform from within the OS, a replacement battery fee would be perfectly acceptable. I got a kit from Amazon that included tools and replaced my own for $24.95.

TOTAL BS he he....
Did Apple stick a gun in their mouth to make them go buy one? That’s like saying “because I live in the hood I smoke crack”! People buy new phones because of choice, it’s not because their phone got slow...
9/10 of the people out there don’t even know that their phones are slow only the people that are sitting there putting benchmarking applications on their phone tripping out over nothing! In all reality, all they want is the latest and greatest, so they can boast to their friends... that’s what’s going on!
It’s called keeping up with the Joneses man!!!! Bragging rights!
I have never ever ever bought a new iPhone because my phone was getting slow... ever!

 

[Tor Eckman]

Gotta think bigger than post 857.

There is no way that is the only example of someone buying a new phone because of throttling, when a new battery would have solved the problem. Apple should not be given a pass for their behavior and some example needs to be made of them to prevent this sort of activity in the future by them or others.
[doublepost=1514777889][/doublepost]

TOTAL BS he he....
Did Apple stick a gun in their mouth to make them go buy one? That’s like saying “because I live in the hood I smoke crack”! People buy new phones because of choice, it’s not because their phone got slow...
9/10 of the people out there don’t even know that their phones are slow only the people that are sitting there putting benchmarking applications on their phone tripping out over nothing! In all reality, all they want is the latest and greatest, so they can boast to their friends... that’s what’s going on!
It’s called keeping up with the Joneses man!!!! Bragging rights!
I have never ever ever bought a new iPhone because my phone was getting slow... ever!

@Baymowe335 -- for reference, this is a post full of speculation .

 

[deferredAnon]

TOTAL BS he he....
Did Apple stick a gun in their mouth to make them go buy one? That’s like saying “because I live in the hood I smoke crack”! People buy new phones because of choice, it’s not because their phone got slow...
9/10 of the people out there don’t even know that their phones are slow only the people that are sitting there putting benchmarking applications on their phone tripping out over nothing! In all reality, all they want is the latest and greatest, so they can boast to their friends... that’s what’s going on!
It’s called keeping up with the Joneses man!!!! Bragging rights!
I have never ever ever bought a new iPhone because my phone was getting slow... ever!

This is flawed logic. If Apple introduced a new iPhone with reduced CPU than current model but looks better and is more expensive, would everyone be flocking to buy it? I don't think so. Performance is key and vital, but not the only factor behind iPhones, and certainly not the least.

Here is Warren Buffett's reason for investing billions in Apple:

• The latter creates a loyal community of users with high switching cost, where even if they might prefer some individual non-Apple device better, the ecosystem (iTunes, apps, etc.) keeps them with Apple.

 

[Baymowe335]

There is no way that is the only example of someone buying a new phone because of throttling, when a new battery would have solved the problem. Apple should not be given a pass for their behavior and some example needs to be made of them to prevent this sort of activity in the future by them or others.
[doublepost=1514777889][/doublepost]


@Baymowe335 -- for reference, this is a post full of speculation .

The chain of responsibility has to end somewhere and personal responsibility takes over. Should I have bought a new BMW because I got a safety recall that took almost THREE years to fix despite the letter saying the airbag could kill me if deployed? Or the second recall I just received that says my blower motor wiring in the same BMW can start a fire and also kill me? This currently has NO fix, so I again have to drive a potentially fire starting car.

I could go buy a new car and then expect BMW to reimburse me? If you’re not happy with your iPhone, you should have either raised hell until they fixed it, lived with it, or switch to Android. Buying a new iPhone is literally the dumbest thing you could do if you’re truly unhappy with the product. My guess is there were other undisclosed factors.

 

[deferredAnon]

The chain of responsibility has to end somewhere and personal responsibility takes over. Should I have bought a new BMW because I got a safety recall that took almost THREE years to fix despite the letter saying the airbag could kill me if deployed? Or the second recall I just received that says my blower motor wiring in the same BMW can start a fire and also kill me? This currently has NO fix, so I again have to drive a potentially fire starting car.

I could go buy a new car and then expect BMW to reimburse me? If you’re not happy with your iPhone, you should have either raised hell until they fixed it, lived with it, or switch to Android. Buying a new iPhone is literally the dumbest thing you could do if you’re truly unhappy with the product. My guess is there were other undisclosed factors.

So, you are driving around with a vehicle that can kill you with its airbags? Why?! Even after BMW told you?!

I wish Apple told us about alleged battery issues. At least BMW informed you. What if BMW throttled your car speed to 50mph to reduce your potential accident rate? I guess you would be okay with that. Sigh.

 

[Tor Eckman]

The chain of responsibility has to end somewhere and personal responsibility takes over. Should I have bought a new BMW because I got a safety recall that took almost THREE years to fix despite the letter saying the airbag could kill me if deployed? Or the second recall I just received that says my blower motor wiring in the same BMW can start a fire and also kill me? This currently has NO fix, so I again have to drive a potentially fire starting car.

I could go buy a new car and then expect BMW to reimburse me? If you’re not happy with your iPhone, you should have either raised hell until they fixed it, lived with it, or switch to Android. Buying a new iPhone is literally the dumbest thing you could do if you’re truly unhappy with the product. My guess is there were other undisclosed factors.

Other undisclosed factors? Is that speculation? In your example, about the BMW, there was no solution that was readily available, apparently, as it took three years to resolve. What if there had been a cheap solution immediately available, but BMW failed to disclose the solution to you?

 

[Act3]

They gave us a solution and it WILL fix the issue for $29. Seems fair.

lol as long as they didn't cause the issue with poor design

 

[simonmet]

I used to be an Apple employee
That is a whole unit replacement.
We did that to “hold” a phone out of stock in the event we botched removing the battery.
You wouldn’t be charged for that. (The whole unit cost would be adjusted to the cost of the battery in the event the repair was botched)
It’s changed in the US now though, if the battery removal is botched it goes out to a repair depot to fix.

Thanks for explaining. Evidently you’ve done a better job than the “genius” staff at Eaton Centre.

The situation looks like it could’ve been managed a whole lot better. They shouldn’t have called this holding charge a labour cost and shouldn’t have let the customer see it at all. It should’ve been part of their back-end system. I’d be alarmed if I saw a bill like that, even if they explained it as you have.