Apple Makes iPhone Battery Replacements Cheaper in the UK

[subjonas]

Apple really love bombing the UK at the moment

This might be a case where "love bombing" should have been in quotes or something.

Hahah yeah I read “love” as the verb and was confused. Alternatively could have used an “is” after “Apple.”

 

[subjonas]

EU trying to make replaceable batteries a feature on all phones is so dumb. It will decrease water and dust resistance, make devices thicker, worse battery life, and more expensive for nothing. Governments should not do design.

The government isn’t getting involved because they think they’re better at design. It’s for bigger reasons. Not for nothing. In general I would agree the government should be hands off, except when the environment or consumer rights are being too compromised. This seems like one of those scenarios, so I’m in favor of the interference, even if it means not as cool phones.

 

[svish]

Very surprised to see a reduction in prices

 

[polyphenol]

Agreed although I think #1 and #2 are sort of the same since more batteries = more lithium.

Hopefully not too many people will unnecessarily swap out batteries. That was probably the reason behind Apple’s below 80% capacity rule. Straight up refusal to replace the battery seems too strict, but they should definitely disincentivize unnecessary battery replacements somehow. Maybe charge more if the battery isn’t below 80%, maybe some kind of tiered system.
But hopefully as intended, the lower cost will incentivize people to replace their bad batteries instead of buying whole new phones.
Also hopefully, there will be incentives for people to recycle their old batteries.

One non-incentive is that we have kerbside battery recycling. Just put a bag of batteries out with the rest of our recycling/rubbish and it gets put into a separate compartment on the lorry.

Hence, it is almost as easy to recycle as any other option!

 

[francoismatronis]

Battery replacements are unnecessary for most of us who upgrade every year.

 

[subjonas]

If they were serious about their environmental activism they'd adopt some real policies like user replaceable batteries and drop the prices for existing phones to either below cost or at cost. After all cross subsidising profits from one of the richest companies to have ever existed to reduce waste seems like an obvious thing to do.

I assume by “drop the prices for existing phones to either below cost or at cost” you mean drop prices for replacing batteries in those phones (because Apple would eventually go out of business if they sold their phones at or below cost).

That’d be nice if Apple did that, but who knows if that would be a realistic business decision, since we don’t have the numbers and analytics. Obviously, Apple isn’t so serious about environmental activism that every decision they make prioritizes the environment. That would necessarily run them into the ground or make them a non-profit organization. They’ll be environmental when it’s not too detrimental to them financially (and of course they’ll advertise their efforts like any smart company would). I’m pretty sure if we want more environmental sacrifice, we can’t count on Apple (or any company) to volunteer it. It’ll have to be by force, either through market pressure or legislation. Probably legislation.

 

[subjonas]

One non-incentive is that we have kerbside battery recycling. Just put a bag of batteries out with the rest of our recycling/rubbish and it gets put into a separate compartment on the lorry.

Hence, it is almost as easy to recycle as any other option!

Wish we had that where I live!

 

[polyphenol]

Wish we had that where I live!

Our council is probably at the top of the league for handling rubbish/recycling within the nation (Wales), and Wales is top within the UK.

Of course, at the time it can feel like a nuisance separating things out, but it seems to work OK and doesn't actually take more than minimal effort.

 

[Reverend Benny]

Any recommendations apart from Apple for battery replacement in the UK

I had three iPhones apple refused to replace the battery pre battery-gate lawsuits. They said they would not replace it because the charge met their thresholds. I said who cares I’m paying they still refused. Two diffrent Apple Stores across three iPhones hardly isolated incidents

Very odd behaviour, how long ago are we talking about?

 

[k1121j]

Very odd behaviour, how long ago are we talking about?

iPhone 8, 10, Xs Al I tried to pay for battery replacement every time Apple Store refused I even went to two stores hoping for different results. At that time a new battery would have given me 2-3 hours more battery life per charge. In the end I opted for a new phone to avoid the headache. Just what they wanted in my opinion. Now that I can get a battery replaced I’ll happily go three years on a single phone.

 

[Reverend Benny]

iPhone 8, 10, Xs Al I tried to pay for battery replacement every time Apple Store refused I even went to two stores hoping for different results. At that time a new battery would have given me 2-3 hours more battery life per charge. In the end I opted for a new phone to avoid the headache. Just what they wanted in my opinion. Now that I can get a battery replaced I’ll happily go three years on a single phone.

Very odd, have been able to replace battery since my 6S, maybe its a local or country specific thing. Both times they said the battery wasn't behaving as it should tho, so haven't really come across a batteryswap with a battery that is working as it should.

I can imagine that they don't make much money swapping battery, its more a service they provide.I wonder what their threashold is for swapping or not swapping the battery is?