Apple Possibly Planning to Launch iPhone 6 Battery Exchange Program [Updated]

[Paul Dawkins]

Well as Apple no longer sell the iPhone 6, any 'new' iPhone 6 that you buy will be a refurb, used, or unsold stock.

If it's a refurb, you don't know if it's done by Apple, an AASP, or a third-party. In the event of the latter, that in itself can cause faults if the battery is unofficial or the phone was poorly serviced. And unsold/unopened stock would be very, very unlikely for an iPhone of that age.

I saw brand new non-refurb models on sale and many carriers have them still, so original warranty applies.

 

[RobQuads]

I've got exactly this problem - randomly dies at 20/30% - or it shoes 1% and you plug it in and then it instantly shows 40%

 

[OllyW]

Weird, just this past weekend my iPhone 6 battery started misbehaving; Granted it's over 2 years old now, but I kept my 4s for even longer and it never had such issues (it obviously lost capacity but stayed consistent).

My iPhone 6 has started playing up over the past week. Battery suddenly dropped to 2% on one day and shot back up to 38% when I plugged in the charger and it has also shut down at around 20% a couple of times since.

 

[Mac Rules]

As I've commented on a few threads now, getting exactly the same behaviour on my TWO iPhone 6s - dying at around 20-30% then jumping to 30% as soon as they are plugged in.

I thought it was tied to the 10.2 release but the possibility of a manufacturing default is interesting...

 

[Sappyhead]

Apple may be preparing to launch an iPhone 6 battery exchange program for undisclosed reasons, according to Japanese website Mac Otakara.

It is unclear if the iPhone 6 program would be related to Apple's existing iPhone 6s battery replacement program. Apple launched that program in November after it determined that a "very small number of iPhone 6s devices may unexpectedly shut down" due to a manufacturing issue.

A number of iPhone 6s users said their devices typically shut down with around 30% battery life remaining. Apple noted the shutdowns are not a safety issue, but rather a feature designed to protect the iPhone's internal components from low voltage. However, affected batteries still need to be replaced.

Apple also has an iPhone 5 Battery Replacement Program, which it launched in August 2014 after it determined that a "very small percentage of iPhone 5 devices may suddenly experience shorter battery life or need to be charged more frequently," so an iPhone 6 program would not be unprecedented.

Mac Otakara accurately leaked several iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus features, including the removal of the headphone jack, but some of its rumors, such as a new Jet White color, have yet to materialize or proven incorrect.

Article Link: Apple Possibly Planning to Launch iPhone 6 Battery Exchange Program

I have an appointment to have mine switched out tonight.. for $80. I'm going to bring this up and see what they say.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Figured something was up. Had this issue for a month and just got it replaced by an Apple Certified Repair Location. It still happens with the new Battery sometimes.

 

[thespacekid]

In my family, I've had 2 iPhones (pre-6) that would have 50 to 80% power and abruptly shut down with a low power indication. When they were turned on, they would be a normal charge. Both were under Apple Care. The first one was exchanged with no problem.

For the 2nd one (iPhone 5 I think), when I wanted to exchange it the Apple Genius guy and his supervisor said they found an app had crashed and that could be the problem, that I should erase the phone and not do a restore but manually recreate everything. I complained that that wasn't likely and was able to get a replacement. I did a restore on it and haven't had the problem since.

I suspect this problem has been around a while and might be a manufacturing problem. Perhaps it's happening more often with the 6.

 

[avanpelt]

My iPhone 6 is the only iPhone I've ever had since the 3G that can have a 10 to 15 percent battery drop within about three minutes when browsing the web with Safari. It doesn't happen constantly, though -- probably once or twice a week. When it does happen, if I proceed to plug it in, the battery percentage jumps up 10 to 12 percent immediately. As I recall, the issue started with iOS 9.

 

[RoboCop001]

This would be awesome! My iPhone 6 has always had a wonky battery. When I first got it, it would drain just as fast as my iPhone 4 did at the time. Today it often instantly dies when it's not even close to 10%. It's died when it was in the 40s, and all I did was open Maps. It seems location services makes it die faster, but the battery isn't even close to 0. The most common time it'll die is when it's in the 20s.

It has to be a hardware issue.

 

[dantracht]

Purchased a 6 for my GF in 10/14. This past August the battery started doing the same thing I am reading many people reporting, the random shut-downs, the inability to hold a charge. This 6 was handed down to my son, and we just upgraded him to a 6S+. Too little, too late. Meanwhile, a 5S I purchased on release day in 2013 is still going strong, in service to my son's GF's mother.

 

[RowellE]

I have this problem with my 5S. Always shutting down between 20-30%. It's annoying. Too bad the exchange program is not for the 5S. And my phone is out of warranty.

 

[terasankka]

I have the "iPhone 6S shuts down at 30% of battery"-issue and it is not part of the exchange program, so the number of affected iPhones might not be that small. Really annoying.

 

[Vertigo50]

I do think there is something flawed about the iPhone 6 batteries. I had issues, replaced mine several months ago with an OEM battery, and now I'm still having some issues crop up.

Having said that, those of you having issues like shutting down at 30%, etc. can try re-calibrating the battery.

1. Let your phone run down until it completely shuts itself off. Easiest way to do it is to run a long Youtube video at full brightness.
2. Plug the phone in to charge it until the Apple logo shows up and it starts up.
3. Unplug it immediately! Then continue running the Youtube video until it shuts off again.
4. Repeat this another 1 or 2 times.
5. Plug it in and charge it to 100%.

A day or so later you might want to repeat this again. The issue is that if you charge your battery a lot when it's in the "middle" somewhere, the software can sort of lose track of where 1% and 100% are. As you do this process you are re-training the phone where the absolute bottom and top of the battery charge are.

If you have a hardware battery issue, this may not help in the slightest, but it's worth a shot, as it can at least make your battery percentage a little more accurate.

Good luck!

P.S. As I said above, I'm not saying this is a fix for all battery issues, and I do think there is something weird with the iPhone 6 batteries. Don't post replies calling me an Apple apologist. They probably need to resolve this issue. I'm just adding a helpful tip that might fix some problems for SOME users.

 

[darcyf]

You know what iPhone there's never been a program for? The 5s. I'm writing this comment from it right now. Because the idea of spending $1000 every year for a spec bump in half baked device to line Apple's pockets is ludicrous.

 

[MagicBoy]

Mine went on the fritz a couple of months ago. Randomly turns off around 30%, or crashes to 3% then powers down. Plug it into a charger and the battery reading instantly jumps to somewhere in the 40-47% range.

Original battery life was at least two days, currently I'm fortunate if it's still powered up when I get home from work.

 

[mantan]

The battery on my 6 was terrible. It would lose power in less than 2 hours, it would randomly shut off with over 40% of the power left. I made multiple trips to the Apple Store where they insisted the battery tested fine. They had me reload the phone as new claiming it was a software issue. It didn't help. I practically begged them to let me buy a new battery and they wouldn't....saying my battery was 'fine.'

I foolishly broke down and bought a 6s....which essentially reinforces their behavior. I'm sure a lot of people upgraded phones solely because the battery wasn't working correctly.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

My iPhone 6 Plus battery started bulging back in April - pushing the screen out in the process, I had no time to wait for any program. Had that replaced, the "new" battery was completely messed up - would have erratic % numbers and finally stuck at 19%, the screen faded to green then black and kept rebooting after 5 days, had that replaced and again that one was replaced after 1 month. I still don't think I have a great charge to this battery.

If I would enter my serial number into this possible upcoming iphone 6 replacement program, I doubt my phone will qualify since I already spent the $ for a replacement.

Same thing with my iPhone 5 in July 2014 (again, bulging overheating problem), then the iPhone 5 battery replacement program started a few weeks later, my iPhone 5 was "not qualified"

 

[brandscill]

Had my 6 replaced twice now for this issue. Once under the 2 year EU warranty and the second time under UK Consumer Law. The second replacement was much harder to get.

 

[mstur]

My personal experience:
iPhone 6 (used by daughter) started suddenly to have battery problems AFTER upgrading to iOS 10. Coconutbattery showed a reduced capacity to 40%. After a complete reset the battery had a capacity of 73 % (with 498 charging cycles).

iPhone 6S (used by wife) has serial number which qualifies for battery exchange. But - staying with iOS 9 - there are no problems, and so my wife decided to postpone the cumbersome battery replacement procedure ...

IMHO there is no battery problem. There is a GIANT bug in all versions of iOS 10 when using a iPhone 6/6S !!

 

[EEMAN13]

I hope this goes through. My 6 was purchased shortly after launch (late September) and for the past several months the battery charge has been fluctuating wildly. It'll drop 20, maybe 30%, after a couple minutes use. As soon as I plug it in the charge jump an insane amount and if I unplug it, the charge will drop to another large random number also immediately. It's getting quite annoying to say the least since I never know what the charge actually is. I will say that I have rarely gotten the shut down at a higher percentage. It's happened maybe twice.

 

[iamPro]

Any replacement plans for the plus versions? My wife's 6s plus has been shutting off at around 20-30% for quite a while now. And it is really annoying.

 

[PlainviewX]

When I had my 6 this was also what I experienced. I would have about 50% then it would shut off. I tried to start it up but it would tell me to charge it as it was dead. If I waited a few minutes and try to do a force reboot it would boot up, show that I had more % battery than before but then turn back off after a minute or 2. Plug it in and it would drop 10% from earlier reporting then jump back up. Very strange. Apple said nothing wrong from their diagnostics.

Exactly what I was experiencing.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Mine would go from 50-something percent to 20-something percent in minutes. Plugging it in would boost it back up quicker than is physically possible. Probably bad cells in the battery.

Fortunately, AT&T was happy to take it off my hands for $650 when I purchased my iPhone 7. It was perfect timing!

 

[PlainviewX]

Same happens with my 5S - dies around 40%. However the wear level is very high on it, which in turn could be compounded by the capacity falling naturally over time and more cycles hit the battery as a result.

That's part of the trouble with lithium technology. Due to how issues exhibit themselves when they naturally degrade, it's difficult to isolate if it's an actual hardware problem caused by a manufacturing defect, or if it's just failing of its own accord (as batteries do).

No other OEM cover batteries beyond 1-year anyway as they're deemed to be consumable items, even if there's an extended warranty on the machine. This applies to all phones and laptops AFAIK. The recent exception to this rule is Apple, when they changed the AppleCare agreement in mid 2015 to also cover batteries. Not sure if any other manufacturer does this too, so please give me a heads up if there's one I don't know about!

Mine happened in under a year. Luckily, for me, the phone completely died. Unfortunately, for me, it nearly two years after I got it. I had to argue with Apple to get a free replacement. In the end they did what they were supposed to do, but they should have done it more than a year earlier.

 

[namenotfound]

My 6 was still covered under AppleCare when the battery went all screwy. AppleCare online told me it to reset the phone, then do a complete wipe and reload. Did not fix it, then they wanted a copy of my receipt even though I purchased the phone at our local Apple Store. Really? Anyhow, I finally got to the local Apple Store whereupon I was told there was no problem with my phone. Diagnostics were worthless. I came into the store at 40% and before i sat down the phone shutdown on it's own and would not come back up without an exterior power source. I was offered a replacement phone for $80 since my Applecare was up at that point. They did not have a replacement 6 in stock. I wound up with a 6s for $80 after making yet another trip back to the Apple Store the next day. After doing a restore to the new phone, I have had no further problems.

I vote it's a battery problem, not software. If it were the software, why are iPads (like my Air) not having the same kind of issue?