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Apple Says $29 Battery Replacements Are One-Per-iPhone When Device Passes Diagnostic Test

Seems fair to me. Why would anyone NEED to replace their battery twice in a single year anyway? They're already replacing the battery at a discounted price even if it passes diagnostic.

People could abuse it if they come replacing the battery every 6 months just because they're paranoid that their device has slowed down.
 
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Relentless Power said:
False. They were never "forced" to do anything beforehand, But they were in a position where they had to acknowledge the issue given the lawsuits pending, given the amount of animosity directed towards them from various media outlets.
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Which forced them to do this. :confused:
 
Onexy said:
From anecdotes I don't know another company which builds such bad batteries into their products (sans Samsung jokes) and punishes their customers double time afterwards.

Right now I can't name another company which sells such expensive devices which work that bad after 3.5 years.
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How about any PC or windows machine? Ever use one after 3.5 years?

Google Android battery issues. I owned a Note that shut itself down constantly with 50% charge. Now I know why...but guess what? Didn't know why then because Samsung told me I was out of my 1 year warranty.

Apple will get you fixed up for $29 on a 3.5 year old device, replacing something that by definition degrades over time. Pretty good if you ask me.
 
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Raptura said:
Why would anyone NEED to replace their battery twice in a single year anyway?
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Could be the same reason they are having to replace it so soon (now) anyhow..

I'm fine w/ restrictions on this $30 program, but not on the $80/full price paid by customer replacements.
 
So maybe they should run a diagnostic test before they slowed down my phone. I was a loyal customer. They lost my trust. And they are not handling this with ANY grace.
 
Baymowe335 said:
LOL, companies get hit with frivolous lawsuits all the time. What do you think the outcome will be from those 30? You really think Apple will be refunding the cost of phones for people who bought new ones or refunding the total cost of the throttled phone?

The right/wrong is gray here, despite how black and white you think it is.

Apple is legally covered to implement software to manage power on their phones and you agree to it in terms and conditions. Trying to understand what Apple knew, their intent, etc is a lot more difficult than you think.

Personally, I believe Apple tried to deal with an issue on a limited amount of phones and potentially miscalculated how much of an effect it would have on a larger scale. Perhaps some of the batteries were bad from the factory or the software was too aggressive in its management. I don't think trying to avoid shutdowns is a bad thing and I know Apple isn't the only company with degraded lithium batteries causing unexpected shutdowns. Just Google Android boot loop or Android shut downs.

Apple doesn't guarantee any level of performance. They are offering you a $29 fix on up to a 3.5 year old device. Pretty cool.
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Meanwhile other companies are investing and researching (indeed offering!) into 95% retention rate after 2 years rather than patching up the software to compensate for degradation...
 
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Relentless Power said:
I don't. I have had zero issues with the batteries in the 6/6s, etc. Others have differing experiences. You asserted a $4.00 battery versus a $79.00 cost , I'm saying I have zero interest in purchasing some third party battery installed with producing results that I would not trust in the sense of safety and durability. Period. I will take my chances with Apples OEM battery. But continue on with advocating a $4.00 battery. (As if Apple should charge at cost by the way is unsensical by the way.)
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You purchase what you want and you put the money on the table. If it makes you more comfortable at the end of the day:

All power to you, Relentless Power.
 
Baymowe335 said:
How about any PC or windows machine? Ever use one after 3.5 years?
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Yes. I've had computers last over a decade. Most of the time it's just the drive that needs to be replaced as those are generally the first components to go.


Apple will get you fixed up for $29 on a 3.5 year old device, replacing something that by definition degrades over time. Pretty good if you ask me.
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It normally $79 + $7 shipping for out of warranty devices. It's temporarily $29 due to this debacle.
 
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Relentless Power said:
False. They were never "forced" to do anything beforehand. They did however respond with a statement explaining the situation, however they were in a position where they had to acknowledge the issue given the lawsuits pending, given the amount of animosity directed towards them from various media outlets asking for additional information.
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Exactly. This is just the way things work, even when as a company, you feel you did nothing wrong and are legally "right." You have to play to your customers.

If this were anything close to a massive hardware issue or scandal affecting every iPhone sold, you'd have 800M upset people because that's about how many 6, 6s, 7, and 8s are out there.

Did you notice Apple flat out said they would be implementing power management in future phones? They are not going to stop, so it's not like they are ashamed they did it.

Perhaps a small % of 800M, say 1% or 8M had issues. That's still a lot of upset people, but it's not 800M.
 
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They should just **** off slowing down phones. I'd rather my phone turn off because of a **** battery (which has never happened) then I choose what to do about it rather than apple slowing down my phone then charge me to fix it.
 
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macs4nw said:
I'm also for 'choice' and the 'toggle'. Having said that, I suspect most people would rather opt for somewhat diminished performance, than unexpected shutdowns.
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The toggle is a logical no brainer IMO ... Apple should just have it on by default if they are really that concerned about the consumer. It's like the Parallax effect in iOS. Every new iOS I have to Google how to turn it off again. It's on by default because Apple think it should be, but they give us the option to turn if off, even if it's not the easiest setting to find.

A toggle with a brief explanation is all you need, along with a notification that throttling has started due to degraded battery. "To avoid throttling we recommend a battery replacement, and you can turn off throttling in Setting, but it might result in unexpected shutdowns during peak usage."
 
TonyC28 said:
Oh come on, they are running the test on the battery to see if it’s defective. Name another product that requires you to jump through hoops to just to put a new battery in it. (Non-Apple product).
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Right but if they change the battery regardless of the test results, who cares if they run the test? It takes 5 minutes at most. If the battery is defective and under warranty it is replaced for free. I don’t see the problem here. There was a problem before when they only replaced failing batteries, now they change it regardless of test results.
 
Falhófnir said:
Meanwhile other companies are investing and researching (indeed offering!) into 95% retention rate after 2 years rather than patching up the software to compensate for degradation...
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Samsung basically had to develop an entire battery marketing campaign after their debacle and have not officially commented on if they throttle phones. I can tell you my Note shut down with 50% battery constantly.

Where is your data that shows more than a small number of iPhones don't have 95% retention rates on batteries and are therefore not throttled?
 
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I knew if I looked at this thread, that I'd read a bunch of comments from people suggesting Apple has been using / spec'ing / buying cheap batteries, but the vitriol about this is just a bit over the top. I'm not sure whether it's people who are actually mad at Apple, or simply are trying to get a rise out of others, but it does make me wonder whether these people have ever purchased and owned devices with batteries in them.

I think back to the days of cell phones that had "replaceable" batteries where neither the replacement nor the original battery lasted a day of use - and that was at a time when a day of use might have been 10-12 calls. Today, many of us are using our iPhones (or Android counterparts) for double digit hours per day, checking email, Facebook, etc. what amounts to every few minutes throughout our waking hours. And we wonder why batteries don't last?

Add to this now normal heavy usage pattern apps and devices that also do and show / tell us more and the power demands only go up. Then there are things outside of the control of any device or battery manufacturer that can also have a significant impact on battery life, like your location and signal strength - be that when connected to wifi or cellular.

Until improvements to battery tech (solid state) or wireless power delivery happen, we're all going to have to deal with battery life challenges with the handheld computers known as iPhones and Android smartphones. People should be happy that most tech companies shifted to L-ion batteries from lead acid, or we'd be dealing with devices that last minutes.
 
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Baymowe335 said:
You have to start trying to think critically instead of pitchforking. Apple isn't out to get their customers and doing what many are alleging they did would be insanely stupid. Apple, if you haven't noticed, is not stupid.
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Pretending Apple is free of flaws would be insanely stupid. Been using Apple products for as long as I can remember. I'm not anti-Apple, but I'm also capable of recognizing when something is wrong.
 
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k1121j said:
I still don't get why apple gets to choose who can get a battery replaced and who can't. even when it was at full price they would turn people away..... shoot if I'm paying for it just replace it Apple some people don't want to wait for a crap battery to replace it and have the means to do so before then........
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Specifically trying to save you money. A lot of people think they need a new battery, but they are misinformed.
 
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Fuma419 said:
Went to the Apple store for my scheduled battery replacement. My 6S shuts down at about 40% battery consistently. They ran diagnostics and said my battery was still in good shape! Interesting. I kindly asked them to replace it anyways, so I am waiting for them to get more batteries in stock then I will make another appointment and trip to the Apple store. Not sure why they scheduled me for a battery replacement when they didn’t have replacements. Apple sure is going down hill
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Everyone and there mother is going to the Apple Store for the replacements, hard to see how they could accommodate everyone the first week of the program.
 
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UL2RA said:
Pretending Apple is free of flaws would be insanely stupid. Been using Apple products for as long as I can remember. I'm not anti-Apple, but I'm also capable of recognizing when something is wrong.
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Apple has flaws, but this is not what pitchforkers are making it out to be. There is no hard data on how many people were impacted. These are just some of the conclusions people have jumped to:

1) Apple knew xyz
2) Apple did this because they wanted people to upgrade
3) Every iPhone 6, 6s, 7, and 8 is impacted
4) Apple should refund every customer's money with a throttled phone
5) Apple should refund every customer who bought a new phone.
 
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Baymowe335 said:
Apple has flaws, but this is not what pitchforkers are making it out to be. There is no hard data on how many people were impacted. These are just some of the conclusions people have jumped to:

1) Apple knew xyz
2) Apple did this because they wanted people to upgrade
3) Every iPhone 6, 6s, 7, and 8 is impacted
4) Apple should refund every customer's money with a throttled phone
5) Apple should refund every customer who bought a new phone.
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Maybe stop using "pitchforkers" to describe anyone that disagrees with you.
 
SchmeeX said:
Everyone and there mother is going to the Apple Store for the replacements, hard to see how they could accommodate everyone the first week of the program.
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Fair point, but they could tell you the parts are out of stock and book the appointment for a later date when they receive them so you only need to make one trip.
 
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