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

[gnipgnop]

My 6S Plus is definitely getting throttled at certain battery charge levels while running geekbench and presumably other more usual tasks.

Geekbench triggers the throttling. That's already known. There was also a developer on this thread yesterday that gave a detailed description of why it does vs. a standard app, so you probably shouldn't be assuming much about anything other than benchmarking software.

MHO1 knows what I'm talking about because it was a direct response to one of his own questions about WHY benchmark software would trigger it.

 

[r.harris1]

Geekbench triggers the throttling. That's already known. There was also a developer on this thread yesterday that gave a detailed description of why it does vs. a standard app, so you probably shouldn't be assuming much about anything other than benchmarking software.

MHO1 knows what I'm talking about because it was a direct response to one of his own questions about WHY benchmark software would trigger it.

Yep, thanks. I definitely figured geekbench was triggering. I'm assuming there are other scenarios that might do it too. My own point was that I'm not seeing a particular change in my experience, which remains as expected, and which at the end of the day is what is important to me. In other words, can I do the same things with the same positive experience, regardless of charge level and potentially any throttling or other power management strategies, and for me, the answer is yes.

 

[gnipgnop]

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.

Geekbench triggers the throttling. Apple has already stated that. I'm going to post the text from a previous post by MacRumors member firewood that has some specific info about why Geekbench would trigger it...

----

"I’m an app developer. Benchmarks are very different from normal apps. The iPhone display runs at 60 Hz. So does the GPU pipeline. Most games and smoothly animating apps update once per frame (every 16.67 mS), and have some margin left over (a few milliseconds) so they don’t drop frames on older models of device in the worst case. Benchmarks usually leave no margin, so the processors don’t have time to cool down between display frames. That idle cool down time between frames of a normal app allows the power management controller time to boost back up for the next peak load.

Most apps other than games and animated eye candy idle even longer between updates, waiting on the network, or for storage data, or the GPS, etc.

Don’t trust those benchmark apps to measure true clock frequency or normal app performance. There are too many variables not under their control."

 

[laz232]

And: No, iPhones are NOT throttled if the battery already shows significant signs of wear, but still is within the specifications of "healthy".

Wrong: have iPhone SE, battery at 84% according to Coconut battery stats. Throttles to 40% of a new phone when the charge is <60%
And I believe this has been going on for months as te phone feels sluggish.

Methinks Apple is using high ESR cells (due to OEM manufacturing issues, just as we experienced terrible image retention on RMBP screens from one of the two suppliers)

Senior member IEEE

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Geekbench triggers the throttling. That's already known. There was also a developer on this thread yesterday that gave a detailed description of why it does vs. a standard app, so you probably shouldn't be assuming much about anything other than benchmarking software.

MHO1 knows what I'm talking about because it was a direct response to one of his own questions about WHY benchmark software would trigger it.

So when that benchmarking software tells yourself you have something better than what came before, you're happy and believe it. When the same software is telling yourself you are a sucker and are getting ripped off then that benchmarking software is bogus. hmm....

 

[gnipgnop]

So when that benchmarking software tells yourself you have something better than what came before, you're happy and believe it. When the same software is telling yourself you are a sucker and are getting ripped off then that benchmarking software is bogus. hmm....

Geekbench is showing that iOS will throttle if the CPU is loaded in a way that creates big peaks/valleys in power draw relative to the remaining voltage in the battery. As noted above by another member of this forum, benchmarking software does not have the standard "cool down" or idle time that standard apps make use of for power management control. Geekbench is intentionally designed to be different from standard apps in order to load up the CPU to measure the theoretical max performance, so it creates exactly the type of power draw scenario that iOS is monitoring the system for.

 

[Techartist]

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

[doublepost=1514814963][/doublepost]

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

I replaced my wife’s iPhone 6 battery about 3 weeks ago and now the price is $29. I wonder if I can money back??

 

[macsforever]

Coconut tells me my phone is at 91%... my iphone 6 is slow as hell.

Can you gauge “slow”??? If your phone isn’t opening up a “net” app, then what exactly are you doing.... doing an autodesk render??? Lol!

So having read a fair chunk of the 800+ posts now I have come to a conclusion, since I am shopping for a new phone right now. Right on cue my android phone, 23 months old - lease plan about to expire, when upgraded to 7.1 Oreo suddenly lost half its battery endurance, from about 24-30h to 12-18h and charges at half the usual speed - nothing else changed except the OS. This is materially no different to the Apple story. I could revert to the older OS with a factory reset etc, and replace the battery, and thus temporarily overcome the planned obsolescence, but it will only buy me a year or so until a "critical vulnerability" that requires an OS upgrade will make me chicken out and upgrade the phone. This happened last time. The opposition are no better, if not worse, than Apple, but I unfortunately do not believe that Apple is about to come good on all this.

I am sick of giving them so much money for such short lived devices. So my plan is buy a mid-range android phone and treat it like a proper computer that it is: root it, remove the bloatware, install a firewall, etc, and replace the battery every two years. If the OS is properly locked down then nearly all the exploits don't apply, I guess.

“ROOT IT” ha ha... yeah, what a great user experience that is while you’re being exploited ha ha!!!!! Listen, it sounds like you’re intentions aren’t about using the device as designed...
“But you want freedoms”... how free are you when you’re Security is breached by Rooting” your device? Sounds pretty counter intuitive to me!

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Geekbench is showing that iOS will throttle if the CPU is loaded in a way that creates big peaks/valleys in power draw relative to the remaining voltage in the battery. As noted above by another member of this forum, benchmarking software does not have the standard "cool down" or idle time that standard apps make use of for power management control. Geekbench is intentionally designed to be different from standard apps in order to load up the CPU to measure the theoretical max performance, so it creates exactly the type of power draw scenario that iOS is monitoring the system for.

Then if it's so unreliable why not quote it when it turns out good results? Why take pleasure in them? Who is shouting "oh these geekbench result about the iPhone 4 must be incorrect" No One, they were great when they were on-bored.

 

[Mac-lover3]

Coconut tells me my phone is at 91%... my iphone 6 is slow as hell.

But have you tried resetting it and setting it up as new?

 

[MacBebe]

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.

Come on now. How do you know that Steve Jobs would have not approved the removal of the headphone jack? Nobody knows. Let's stop this "Steve Jobs would have not done this" meme.

 

[MH01]

I’m an app developer. Benchmarks are very different from normal apps. The iPhone display runs at 60 Hz. So does the GPU pipeline. Most games and smoothly animating apps update once per frame (every 16.67 mS), and have some margin left over (a few milliseconds) so they don’t drop frames on older models of device in the worst case. Benchmarks usually leave no margin, so the processors don’t have time to cool down between display frames. That idle cool down time between frames of a normal app allows the power management controller time to boost back up for the next peak load.

Most apps other than games and animated eye candy idle even longer between display frame updates, waiting on the network, or for storage data, or the GPS, etc.

Don’t trust those benchmark apps to measure true clock frequency or normal app performance. There are too many variables not under their control.

You are an app developer , that is nice. You know that does not qualify you to explain how benchmarking tools work? As in disqualify thier value here .

Benchmarking tools are not designed to measure normal app performance..... you are missing the point of what benchmarking is.... it's designed to measure your maximum performance , it's in the name . It's designed to push your system to the limit.

 

[trifid]

So.. will you lose the IP67 waterproofing rating of your iPhone 7/8/X when Apple replaces the battery?

Because paying $1000-1200 and then being prone to throttling in 1-2 years and risk losing waterproofing when changing the battery would surely suck.

 

[r.harris1]

Then if it's so unreliable why not quote it when it turns out good results? Why take pleasure in them? Who is shouting "oh these geekbench result about the iPhone 4 must be incorrect" No One, they were great when they were on-bored.

I don't think anyone is saying geekbench is publishing unreliable results. They clearly show throttling at different charge levels. My phone definitely does. I think the point is that it drives your phone or other device (laptop, etc) at a level that's not typical use and that it may not be a reliable way to show what your user experience will be. For my own use cases, my experience doesn't change at different charge levels on my 6S Plus (for example, watching movies or listening to music or editing photos), at least so far as I can tell. Others may have different experiences.

If people want to feel ripped off or otherwise outraged, awesome, just use data (geekbench) for what it is: a point on the line.

 

[MH01]

Geekbench triggers the throttling. That's already known. There was also a developer on this thread yesterday that gave a detailed description of why it does vs. a standard app, so you probably shouldn't be assuming much about anything other than benchmarking software.

MHO1 knows what I'm talking about because it was a direct response to one of his own questions about WHY benchmark software would trigger it.

An app developer .... who explained that a benchmarking tool does not represent normal usage..... no disrespect , how is an app developer qualified ? Find someone who benches for a hobby ....

It's in the name , benchmarking measures your max performance, not your normal performance, apple's throttling just lowers the max the benching software can run at, it's Apple softwRe that is causing the huge throttling .

Benchmarking ----- prior to 10.2.1 gave score A , say 100, post 10.2.1 it returned 60. It's just a tool to measure ..... apple's 10.2.1 is causing the throttling

The throttling (e.g. Thermal )the benching softwares causes remains consistent before and after . Though less likely post as Apple is throttling the cpu = less heat. So Infact benching is less likely to throttle under due to Apple slowing the CPU

 

[WatchFromAfar]

I don't think anyone is saying geekbench is publishing unreliable results. They clearly show throttling at different charge levels. My phone definitely does. I think the point is that it drives your phone or other device (laptop, etc) at a level that's not typical use and that it may not be a reliable way to show what your user experience will be. For my own use cases, my experience doesn't change at different charge levels on my 6S Plus (for example, watching movies or listening to music or editing photos), at least so far as I can tell. Others may have different experiences.

If people want to feel ripped off or otherwise outraged, awesome, just use data (geekbench) for what it is: a point on the line.

My point is when software says "this is great" everybody is happy but when software says "this isn't right" people blame the software in question; they didn't question it before.

 

[RickInHouston]

Can you gauge “slow”??? If your phone isn’t opening up a “net” app, then what exactly are you doing.... doing an autodesk render??? Lol!

Do you get a new phone every year, by any chance?

 

[opfreak]

Geekbench triggers the throttling. That's already known. There was also a developer on this thread yesterday that gave a detailed description of why it does vs. a standard app, so you probably shouldn't be assuming much about anything other than benchmarking software.

MHO1 knows what I'm talking about because it was a direct response to one of his own questions about WHY benchmark software would trigger it.

Apple slows downs phones to prevent random shuts downs, shuts downs that happened when people were using the phones normally, not when running benchmarks. So that developer is a bit full of it.

 

[r.harris1]

An app developer .... who explained that a benchmarking tool does not represent normal usage..... no disrespect , how is an app developer qualified ? Find someone who benches for a hobby

Most app developers have to bench for a living, not a hobby (no offense to hobbyists). You have to understand at least where your own app falls over under variety of loads and situations. Typically not as exhaustive as what a tool like geekbench does, but certainly enough to make an informed, experience-based decision on what benchmarking does and doesn't do. Any input to a system is going to change its state and drive behavior, certainly on a mobile device where battery is paramount. The state will typically change more frequently than say a large linux box in a data center somewhere that can run a CPU at half speed when it isn't being used and ramp it up once it is. Same idea though, you are looking to save on ways to save power in your data centers and working to maximize that power savings but ramp up power as needed.

 

[MH01]

Most app developers have to bench for a living, not a hobby (no offense to hobbyists). You have to understand at least where your own app falls over under variety of loads and situations. Typically not as exhaustive as what a tool like geekbench does, but certainly enough to make an informed, experience-based decision on what benchmarking does and doesn't do. Any input to a system is going to change its state and drive behavior, certainly on a mobile device where battery is paramount. The state will typically change more frequently than say a large linux box in a data center somewhere that can run a CPU at half speed when it isn't being used and ramp it up once it is. Same idea though, you are looking to save on ways to save power in your data centers and working to maximize that power savings but ramp up power as needed.

Hardware benching / stress testing is very different to app testing , no disrespect to you app developers, the we are testing different things .... you care about your app not crashing , not the hardware crashing , big difference .

App developers don't understand benching, no disrespect , you are in a walled garden where the hardware cannot be be overclocked - spend some time overclocking and benching PC systems, you learn great fundamental about hardware .

 

[ChrisChaval]

Geekbench triggers the throttling. Apple has already stated that. I'm going to post the text from a previous post by MacRumors member firewood that has some specific info about why Geekbench would trigger it...

----

"I’m an app developer. Benchmarks are very different from normal apps. The iPhone display runs at 60 Hz. So does the GPU pipeline. Most games and smoothly animating apps update once per frame (every 16.67 mS), and have some margin left over (a few milliseconds) so they don’t drop frames on older models of device in the worst case. Benchmarks usually leave no margin, so the processors don’t have time to cool down between display frames. That idle cool down time between frames of a normal app allows the power management controller time to boost back up for the next peak load.

Most apps other than games and animated eye candy idle even longer between updates, waiting on the network, or for storage data, or the GPS, etc.

Don’t trust those benchmark apps to measure true clock frequency or normal app performance. There are too many variables not under their control."

Don’t kill the messenger

 

[FrozenDarkness]

An app developer .... who explained that a benchmarking tool does not represent normal usage..... no disrespect , how is an app developer qualified ? Find someone who benches for a hobby ....

It's in the name , benchmarking measures your max performance, not your normal performance, apple's throttling just lowers the max the benching software can run at, it's Apple softwRe that is causing the huge throttling .

Benchmarking ----- prior to 10.2.1 gave score A , say 100, post 10.2.1 it returned 60. It's just a tool to measure ..... apple's 10.2.1 is causing the throttling

The throttling (e.g. Thermal )the benching softwares causes remains consistent before and after . Though less likely post as Apple is throttling the cpu = less heat. So Infact benching is less likely to throttle under due to Apple slowing the CPU

Nobody is denying the throttling even the app developer. I see where you are coming from but no need to be a donkeys rear end about it.

 

[Marc2018]

Okay, I contacted Apple Support through Chat. I asked them to run their diagnostic the person told me it has around 90% if it’s original charge. When I check it with Coconut Battery I get 81% original charge, same with a generic battery test app on my iPhone.

Using CoconutBattery and iMazing Mac OS apps, both provide the same battery health information for all my iOS devices, so what is Apple using to determine battery health? I find it hard to believe that both these apps are wrong.

Apple needs to step up and let their consumers know if they used inferior batteries and do the right thing. We Apple consumers pay more for the ‘Apple’ experience, because Apple knows what their consumers want, remember?

 

[MH01]

Nobody is denying the throttling even the app developer. I see where you are coming from but no need to be a donkeys rear end about it.

Read the thread mate. People are saying geekbench is not valid. Did you jump straight to the donkey? Amazing how many don't bother to read the conversation and jump in guns blazing

 

[r.harris1]

Hardware benching / stress testing is very different to app testing , no disrespect to you app developers, the we are testing different things .... you care about your app not crashing , not the hardware crashing , big difference .

App developers don't understand benching, no disrespect , you are in a walled garden where the hardware cannot be be overclocked - spend some time overclocking and benching PC systems, you learn great fundamental about hardware .

And I mean no disrespect - the iPhone isn't meant or designed to be an overclocked water-cooled monster. I haven't built water-cooled beast systems in a long, long time, but I think I can dust off the cobwebs enough to follow you though