Apple to Offer $29 iPhone Battery Replacements, More Battery Health Info in iOS

[CWallace]

Haven't there been several reports of people that have experienced throttling, but were denied the opportunity to have their battery replaced?

According to Apple's information, the threshold to trigger it is 80%. So it could be the slowness people experienced were not due to a degraded battery and therefore not actually due to the throttling mechanism. I have seen people report that doing a full erase and restore of iOS 11 on older hardware improved performance, for example.

 

[tylerthomas28]

In other news, li-ion batteries degrade with usage and age. Glad your android batteries are immune from the laws of physics.

Batteries degrading doesn't justify Apple gimping devices. Maybe now that they were caught they will put info about servicing the battery instead of slowing down clock speeds to push standard phone users to upgrade.

 

[deany]

Are we talking “I updated and my phone got slower” or “I woke up one day and it was slower”?

I don't think it was either, more of a gradual slow down.

My iPads have suffered same problem. 2015 rMBP no problems.

 

[Count Blah]

You can go back to having the software that doesn’t limit performance and crashes cause your battery is old

The iPhone 5S and earlier did not prematurely turn off, because the battery was sufficiently matxhed to the CPU, so that even if the battery degraded 20-30-40%, the iPhone did not shutdown prematurely. Now that Apple is pushing the specs to the max, the batteries are insufficient to power at only 80% or less or original spec.

If you can’t grasp the difference now, compared to the prior models, the. I guess you would be upset with people being mad that the iPhone is changing, not for the better, with Apple hiding this fact as much as possible.

 

[cmaier]

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.

You admit the choice was deliberate. It was a hardware design choice - they chose the battery, the power chip, and the control algorithm. So it was a deliberate hardware (and software) design choice.

 

[naturalstar]

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.

 

[cmaier]

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.

Bigger will do nothing. You are confusing current and power.

 

[I7guy]

Batteries degrading doesn't justify Apple gimping devices. Maybe now that they were caught they will put info about servicing the battery instead of slowing down clock speeds to push standard phone users to upgrade.

Another variation of the “planned obsolescence “ meme. Seems like a reasonable action to take to prevent phones from shutting off.

 

[tylerthomas28]

Another variation of the “planned obsolescence “ meme. Seems like a reasonable action to take to prevent phones from shutting off.

A reasonable action would be to provide users with a warning to replace your battery. Letting the phone shut off is a much better indicator you need to replace the battery than deliberately slowing down the device. Indicators don't lead to quicker device upgrades though.

 

[Aussi3]

The iPhone 5S and earlier did not prematurely turn off, because the battery was sufficiently matxhed to the CPU, so that even if the battery degraded 20-30-40%, the iPhone did not shutdown prematurely. Now that Apple is pushing the specs to the max, the batteries are insufficient to power at only 80% or less or original spec.

If you can’t grasp the difference now, compared to the prior models, the. I guess you would be upset with people being mad that the iPhone is changing, not for the better, with Apple hiding this fact as much as possible.

Conclusion: Can’t wait for better battery tech which is holding everything back at the moment

 

[617660]

Bingo. Judges and shareholders will agree with this - which is why they WILL be issuing checks to every iPhone owner, and why Cook is out as CEO. Notice I say is, not will be. Apple knows they have lost these suits - they already know. Voting on Cook being out has probably already taken place internally.

People can laugh all they want. Quote my posts for posterity. A costly, PROPER, recall was avoided by an unmentioned and illegal software fix. The phones were defective and Apple undoubtedly profited immensely from it. They will lose. The case CANNOT be won.

How is this difficult for anyone to grasp? How?

I wanted to be the first to call Tim Cook's job on the line but you beat me to it.

If the lawsuits are pursued to its fullest, this is what's going to happen.

 

[Blaze4G]

Amazing news and uncalled for. I imagine all the trolls will have to find something else to whine about. Apple has stepped up and addressed something that was not a big deal.
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Android "Oh crap. Hope they don't find out how we make incompatible OS, Apps and everything else crappy"

My nexus 6p actually had early shut down issues because of the battery. Bought it from Google. Called support and they have me a pixel XL (the newer model) for free. That's customer service.

 

[617660]

Bigger will do nothing.

Stop defending your small .....battery.

 

[bunce66]

What annoys me about this and other things like it is that it sets the precedent that an uninformed public can develop an "outcry" over anything get a result out of Apple. Real shame. The public didn't deserve this level of compromise from Apple. Intelligent CPU management of a device powered by lithium-ion battery is expected and appropriate, and really no one's business besides the engineers.

Are you kidding? It's not my business because I'm not an engineer? I install iOS 11 on my $750 iPhone and suddenly it slows to a crawl and freezes and does not work as it did before the "upgrade". And I'm supposed to just be okay with this because the engineers know what's best? Obviously they don't know best and they made a huge mistake.

Let's not forget that they made this change in a completely non-transparent way.

Oh, but Apple can do no wrong, eh?

I've used Apple products for 25 years and this is without a doubt the sleaziest and worst decision they ever made.

I'm sorry, but your comment is the most brainwashed pro-Apple thing I've ever read.

 

[Michael Goff]

I don't think it was either, more of a gradual slow down.

My iPads have suffered same problem. 2015 rMBP no problems.

Alright. I only asked because it would have been so much easier if it was “every update made it slower” because then it’s just adding more features to hit an anemic CPU.

I have no idea.

 

[Count Blah]

Conclusion: Can’t wait for better battery tech which is holding everything back at the moment

Apple just out spec’d the Phone’s cpu, camera, screen, speakers, etc... compared to what the battery could power. They didn’t do this with the 5S or earlier, but they did it with the 6(or is it the 6s) or later.

Couple that with Apple’s lust for thinner and thinner phones, sacrificing battery volume to meet that goal.

Don’t believe me? Look at Apple’s actions as proof.

 

[c47v3770]

So if I got my battery replaced by a third party service, can I just reinstall the original battery before I take it in or am I SOL? This new battery I got is terrible... phone runs at 600-911 Mhz constantly. It's a lag fest.

 

[nStyle]

The lawsuit is ****ing stupid but Apple really should have been more transparent with the update and there also should have been a "battery health" section in settings since DAY ONE considering the battery has never been user replaceable. That said, some response is better than no response and good on them for responding. I've already replaced my battery but I would've definitely went for the $29 genuine option.

 

[happyprozak]

The original sin was installing batteries that were too small.

The deadly sin was keeping their customers in the dark on why their phone was performing poorly.

The cover up is worse than the crime.

 

[617660]

Who said blindly?

I said.

 

[nStyle]

Only solves part of the problem. For years Apple have sold phones to people who thought their old phone was dying and that they needed to get a new one, when really all they needed was a battery. I think they should address that issue.

Clearly they're going to do that by adding in more info about the battery under settings.

 

[Kmart9419]

So if I got my battery replaced by a third party service, can I just reinstall the original battery before I take it in or am I SOL? This new battery I got is terrible... phone runs at 600-911 Mhz constantly. It's a lag fest.

I'm curious if apple is willing to service a phone already with a third party battery. Got two 6 with ifixit batteries and would like to take advantage of the $29 official battery.

 

[trifid]

Apple's PR narrative: Batteries degrade, it's normal so get used to inferior quality and throttling

Samsung's PR narrative: We've innovated with higher quality batteries that don't degrade easily

Once again Samsung leads while and Apple is caught in another greedgate scheme.

 

[dampfnudel]

1 year is basically the absolute bare minimum in terms of warranties. It should really be two years at least.

I know in Europe it’s two years and it should be that in the US too. As for the battery replacement, that should be included with every purchase. One battery upgrade which people could do a year or two after purchase. They only cost about $10 and labor definitely didn’t cost an additional $70. Apple isn’t being generous by reducing the cost by $50, they’re just showing how overpriced everything associated with them is. Maybe Apple and others should consider a return to user-removable batteries until they can give us a 1,000 cycle battery.

 

[true god]

#fuglyaapl