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Apple to Offer $29 iPhone Battery Replacements, More Battery Health Info in iOS
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How good is it for someone who already upgraded to keep up with faster speed?
It is what it is. Hiding defective phones, willingly, will be deemed illegal by every court these suits are tried in. Apple cannot win them. It will be one of the largest class-actions of all-time, covering every iPhone owner from 10.2 onward. Cook will absolutely be the "fall guy" and is out as CEO. I'd tell you that I believe that Angela woman will be named his successor, but then you'll really think I'm crazy. Time will prove all - I already predicted all of this quite long ago, when my 6S battery was deemed defective and shut off at all random times. I knew it was bigger than they claimed, and extended to more models.
And everyone laughed and laughed and laughed.
He who laughs last, laughs hardest.
So you are both a professional electrical engineer AND a lawyer? Impressive. (So am I)
I gave my iPhone 6 plus to my son, he is happy because his phone is going to be upgraded next year with an OEM battery. It's good for him.
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
I don't feel as if I understand what's going on any better after this announcement.
It seems they're acknowledging there's a problem with the iPhone 6 and forward but aren't saying what it is.
What is wrong with these phones in particular versus all others they've ever made? That's what they haven't said.
It seems they're acknowledging there's a problem with the iPhone 6 and forward but aren't saying what it is.
What is wrong with these phones in particular versus all others they've ever made? That's what they haven't said.
Haven't there been several reports of people that have experienced throttling, but were denied the opportunity to have their battery replaced?
Why shouldn’t it be an issue? This is for out of warranty phones. It’s not surprising that some phones will have battery degradation by the time the warranty expires.
Really goes to show how much Apple must be making on those batteries, no way would they reduce it to $29 for everyone and make a loss for a whole year.
In other words, Apple products has crappy quality. If you replaced your iPad Air twice within warranty period, then it has crappy quality.
I don't need go through this hassle, because my Android devices are good.
The fact that you default to "something something Android" means you've already lost the argument.
Try again.
1 year is basically the absolute bare minimum in terms of warranties. It should really be two years at least.
Let me break it down the best way I know how.
How it should've been handled from the beginning:
1. Transparent information about current device battery health available in iOS Settings -> Battery from the day you turn the thing on. Or put it next to Usage. Or bury it in a sub-menu cuz it's scary and makes you think, whatever, who cares.
2. Then eventually, after a bunch of cycles, you're notified that you will either have to replace your battery or suffer a reduction in performance until you do so, for very concrete and non-negotiable electrical engineering reasons. Kind of like the Low Power Mode choice we're offered at 20%, but assessing the comparative performance of the battery during the device's lifetime.
3. At this juncture, 99% of people will be too scared to go to a 3rd party or do it themselves, so boom, guaranteed $29 battery replacement fee paid to Apple, which still makes them some margin. (iFixit sells a wide range of iPhone batteries for around $20 a pop, and they're definitely making money.) Or, if a user declines, they will at least know for certain why their phone "feels slow."
4. End result: This approach would have had the outcome of a) making Apple a predictable and bankable service charge on virtually every iPhone ever sold, AND b) everyone whose device needs a battery replacement actually getting one, thus actually upholding public perceptions of performance and reliability rather than masking the problem and making slow feel normal. Apple makes heaps of money because everybody & their mother who bought an iPhone is eventually going to shell out $29 because their PHONE IS TELLING THEM TO (duh), and at the the end of the day, "it just works."
...and how it was actually handled:
1. No information about battery visible within default iOS, even when critical (and yet there's an OS X Service Battery warning on my Macbook right now...?) Info is only available by installing apps with ads and terrible user interfaces that look and sound sketchy to the average user, and when installed, present numbers that require some understanding. Unless you bring it to Apple, which, hey, why would you, your phone hasn't mentioned a problem!
2. Actual definition of a blown battery is nebulous and up for interpretation between these apps. Also, user I've met people with iPhones with absolutely screwed batteries who thought it was normal or simply forgot how well it was working initially. Also contributes to perception problem of the "iOS blah point blah blah made my phone slow."
3. The tiny subset users who, through self-guided online research, have EVEN MANAGED TO FIGURE OUT THEIR PHONE HAS A REAL PROBLEM, are at this juncture dissuaded by $79 replacement fee which ironically, in its exorbitance, reduced the number of people willing to replace their battery through official channels, if at all.
4. End result: In the end, very few batteries got replaced because a) the official replacement fee was (is?) ludicrous, and b) people's devices never clued them into what was happening under the hood in spite of all this data + more being available to the OS. What really tickles me is for a company that restricts device usage in order not to confuse customers, this ultimately gave millions of people (some of whom may have been potential iPhone converts) the takeaway that iOS is slow or gets irreversibly "bogged down" after a couple years of use after using their friend's device with a ruined battery.
I sincerely believe Apple could have made MORE MONEY replacing batteries if they had offered the service at a market-rate price with a very turn-key, integrated iOS support flow. Sticking closer to the market clearing price would have made Apple more money overall than opportunism. Sometimes honesty is the best policy, even for the biggest corporation ever to grace the face of the earth.
How it should've been handled from the beginning:
1. Transparent information about current device battery health available in iOS Settings -> Battery from the day you turn the thing on. Or put it next to Usage. Or bury it in a sub-menu cuz it's scary and makes you think, whatever, who cares.
2. Then eventually, after a bunch of cycles, you're notified that you will either have to replace your battery or suffer a reduction in performance until you do so, for very concrete and non-negotiable electrical engineering reasons. Kind of like the Low Power Mode choice we're offered at 20%, but assessing the comparative performance of the battery during the device's lifetime.
3. At this juncture, 99% of people will be too scared to go to a 3rd party or do it themselves, so boom, guaranteed $29 battery replacement fee paid to Apple, which still makes them some margin. (iFixit sells a wide range of iPhone batteries for around $20 a pop, and they're definitely making money.) Or, if a user declines, they will at least know for certain why their phone "feels slow."
4. End result: This approach would have had the outcome of a) making Apple a predictable and bankable service charge on virtually every iPhone ever sold, AND b) everyone whose device needs a battery replacement actually getting one, thus actually upholding public perceptions of performance and reliability rather than masking the problem and making slow feel normal. Apple makes heaps of money because everybody & their mother who bought an iPhone is eventually going to shell out $29 because their PHONE IS TELLING THEM TO (duh), and at the the end of the day, "it just works."
...and how it was actually handled:
1. No information about battery visible within default iOS, even when critical (and yet there's an OS X Service Battery warning on my Macbook right now...?) Info is only available by installing apps with ads and terrible user interfaces that look and sound sketchy to the average user, and when installed, present numbers that require some understanding. Unless you bring it to Apple, which, hey, why would you, your phone hasn't mentioned a problem!
2. Actual definition of a blown battery is nebulous and up for interpretation between these apps. Also, user I've met people with iPhones with absolutely screwed batteries who thought it was normal or simply forgot how well it was working initially. Also contributes to perception problem of the "iOS blah point blah blah made my phone slow."
3. The tiny subset users who, through self-guided online research, have EVEN MANAGED TO FIGURE OUT THEIR PHONE HAS A REAL PROBLEM, are at this juncture dissuaded by $79 replacement fee which ironically, in its exorbitance, reduced the number of people willing to replace their battery through official channels, if at all.
4. End result: In the end, very few batteries got replaced because a) the official replacement fee was (is?) ludicrous, and b) people's devices never clued them into what was happening under the hood in spite of all this data + more being available to the OS. What really tickles me is for a company that restricts device usage in order not to confuse customers, this ultimately gave millions of people (some of whom may have been potential iPhone converts) the takeaway that iOS is slow or gets irreversibly "bogged down" after a couple years of use after using their friend's device with a ruined battery.
I sincerely believe Apple could have made MORE MONEY replacing batteries if they had offered the service at a market-rate price with a very turn-key, integrated iOS support flow. Sticking closer to the market clearing price would have made Apple more money overall than opportunism. Sometimes honesty is the best policy, even for the biggest corporation ever to grace the face of the earth.
Sure, but Apple wasn’t exactly giving people a popup that says “your battery is failing. Take this phone to your nearest store to have it replaced.” Car batteries fail too. The car just happens to tell you what’s wrong with it.
Correct, but shouldn’t the public know about this so that it can make a choice of having a slower phone as battery drains out or just go and buy a new one.
You don't need a magical battery. Bigger one will do. Besides Apple processors have a different architecture. Maybe they have higher peak power consumption? We'll learn this eventually.
Not really, it's about customer satisfaction. My iPhone 2g, my iPhone 4, my iPhone 4s, my iPad Air, my iPad mini retina. All this devices are more than 4 years old, and they refuse to die, specially the iPhone 4 and the 4s and the iPad retina.
Those are products with a great quality.
In other news, li-ion batteries degrade with usage and age. Glad your android batteries are immune from the laws of physics.
It's a deliberate choice to try to hide the defect indeed but it was not a deliberate hardware design choice - too late for this. It was a design screw up.