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Apple Now Charging More for Out-of-Warranty Battery Replacements on iPhones, iPads and Macs
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Where I live in California, the repair personal will usually offered to just replace the whole phone, because it’s faster. If you insist they will replace the battery in your phone and give it back to you.
Replacement is nice obviously because it gets rid of the scratches and whatever you had on your old screen, dents etc.
Depends on their supply of replacements I think.
I went in last Friday to have the one in my 12 PM replaced. The Genius said battery health was at 83% and at peak performance. Yep, and it’s been sitting at 83% for over a year. $73 (including tax) and 2 1/2 hours later, I walked out with a new 12 PM. Serial # check says it was manufactured in January 2023. No complaints I guess!
Yeah stop giving the only shop in town your money! It’s not like Apple has prevented others from repairing their devices. 😏
I've been having issues with my MBP 2016 keyboard. A lot of the times the keys just won't press, and when they do they can double or triple press. "I wsss gttingg snttencees ikke thiisss". I saw that they had a free replacement program, but that it was only valid for four years since the date of purchase. Being a 2016 purchase, I was out of the window.
I have a small, local company that are authorised Apple repairers or whatever so I went to them last week (great timing, apparently). They basically asked if they could do a diagnostic, because if they found issues with the battery they could authorise a cheaper replacement, even when it was out of warranty (which would solve my keyboard issue because it would require an entire top replacement). I knew the battery was having problems, so they did the diagnostics and found errors. Ended up getting the whole top replaced for around $300, including the full clean (which I hadn't done since purchase, so there was quite a build up lol), labour, and the "$120 diagnostic", which is ridiculous and they waived because I basically walked out of the store when they told me that lol.
I say all this to say two things - I think it depends on the model and how much of the model they need to 'replace' to repair something, and also to check authorised resellers. They often try and find ways to cheapen Apple's process. Apple don't care about fixing your product, but local places want your business.
Call me the odd one out, but I’ve used devices on the earliest possible iOS versions for years (some original, some not because Apple forced me out), and I’ve never had any serious battery life issues with any iOS device, ever, barring iOS updates’ degradation on my 9.7-inch iPad Pro (which runs iOS 12 and gets me about 10-11 hours, down from 14 on iOS 9. I would not call that a serious issue, it’s completely usable).
I understand replacements help with severely degraded batteries coupled with updated iOS versions, but luckily I haven’t used that combo yet (and I hope I never do).
I understand replacements help with severely degraded batteries coupled with updated iOS versions, but luckily I haven’t used that combo yet (and I hope I never do).
They all bulge sooner or later, even the original ones installed from the factory. The cheaper ones may be worse, but I think the manufacture date most determines how long a battery is going to last. If you happen to get a relatively fresh battery, then it will last longer.
Spoken as if this isn’t inevitable. Batteries do degrade, they’ll need to be replaced, so there’s no choice on the part of the consumer - especially not, when Apple is shouting environment environment environment.
"If you have AppleCare+, battery replacements are free if your battery has degraded below a certain level."
This is a lie.
My iPhone 12 Pro that I got at launch went to 85% health VERY quickly and has never budged. Apple says my battery is "fine". It is not. I'm charging 3x a day now. Apple will never give me the battery replacement that Apple Care says I should get, because they fake the metric.
This is a lie.
My iPhone 12 Pro that I got at launch went to 85% health VERY quickly and has never budged. Apple says my battery is "fine". It is not. I'm charging 3x a day now. Apple will never give me the battery replacement that Apple Care says I should get, because they fake the metric.
I believe this is correct, it's hardly dented their profits though and it.. still with remembering this when Apple goes on it's utterly hypocritical speech of how 'Green' they are, they'd rather you binned that phone or computer in a landfill and buy a new one form them.
Given how much better Android integration has become both within its own eco system and with Windows computers as well, plus how some of the Android phones are as good and even better than iPhones(subjective, of course, to each their own), I feel quite confident to say theres another path - migrating to Android phones.
I mean, I personally bought iPhone because of Mini 12 size, everything else was just a bonus.
Now that I'm using iPhone 11(my gf's work phone swapped with my Mini 12 since 11 was too big for her) and Mini series discontinued AND Apple prices shooting through the roof in EU, I'm quite certain that Pixel or Galaxy phone will be the right one for me, much, much better bang for the buck.
I'll mitigate the size issue with folding phone, which, I'm quite sure won't cost as much as 14" MacBook Pro.
I had a 10.5 inch iPad Pro a while back. Repairs were always just a device replacement. They send the original device back to repair centers to replace the battery to probably sell it as a refurb later. It was nice to get everything in new condition just for the cost of a battery replacement, but probably a bit wasteful on Apple’s part.
Depends on the model, but when I replaced the battery on my 2015 model the whole top case was new.
Back when I bought my 6S, an Apple Store employee quietly told me that they all bulge but that OEMs do it less and after a longer period of time. Nonetheless, out of the 10 iPhones I've owned, only my 5C had its original or Apple replacement expand. YMMV
No, I have replaced batteries and waterproofing seal before by myself. I ordered a kit from China. The replacement battery was even better and has higher capacity than the original in iPhone 8.
Just curious - do 3rd party battery apps show contrary data, or is it pulling details from the same place?