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

[jamezr]

I personally think it’s both. Rubbish battery tech, stop phones shutting off and the added benefit of forcing upgrades.

This would have gone on for a lot longer if they weren’t outed.

agreed.....I also suspect this sane thing is happening with the iPads as well.

I have an iPad Air that was almost unusable on IOS 11....but rolled it back to 10.33 and it is now back to normal.
I suspect....after hearing all of this about the iPhone if Apple isn't doing the same thing to iPads.

 

[BigDO]

I would have still preferred a toggle to enable/disable this kind of throttling (but I realise that this is not always possible), and I would have also liked the battery replacement at users’ discretion, not only if Apple deems that battery needs replacing.

Having said that, I wonder if throttling happens even in cases where the battery is not failing Apple diagnostics? This would not be ideal.

All in all, good move from Apple. Transparency is always good, and so is a really cheap battery replacement.

 

[gnipgnop]

But the one year old iPhone 7 will be throttled......why? It is only a year old.

Why? Because throttling is the only alternative to the phone doing an auto shutdown in very specific situations relative to processor load and remaining charge. The phone is not throttled otherwise. High load + very low charge = throttling to prevent auto shutdown. That's it.

 

[MH01]

My one year iphone 7 definitely is not throttled. It can be subject to power management in the future, I'm guessing. But it isn't now.

How did you test it ? Or is this just from usage ?

 

[dialogos]

I would have still preferred a toggle to enable/disable this kind of throttling (but I realise that this is not always possible), and I would have also liked the battery replacement at users’ discretion, not only if Apple deems that battery needs replacing.

Having said that, I wonder if throttling happens even in cases where the battery is not failing Apple diagnostics? This would not be ideal.

All in all, good move from Apple. Transparency is always good, and so is a really cheap battery replacement.

Yes throttling happens even if battery is not failing Apple diagnostics!

 

[JForestZ34]

They didn't lie.

The mess isn't theirs, it's a physical consequence of lithium ion batteries.

The only reason why this is news now is because they got caught covering something up. Just like a rechargeable flashlight, charge it enough and the battery will lose capacity, but that doesn't mean it's only gonna get half as bright and then work longer.. But according to apple it should.

Most people have used batteries long enough to be conditioned to expect shorter fun times as batteries age. I think most people would not expect devices to run slower as batteries degrade.

The real problem here is apple chose to use/design batteries that can't apply enough current/voltage as they age. Who knows why they did this.

I know the reason, they did it as cheap as they could like every other company to raise their profit margin.

That's correct. My expensive TV is only good for one year without expensive refurb and service. My expensive car only has a 3 year warranty and then if a power window motors break, I have to lay out the money to fix it.

Samsung phones are water resistant, yet Samsung won't fix water damaged phones.

What's your point? Apple should have a magical warranty period in place? Well they do, it's called applecare.

If I remember correctly Apple wasn't fixing or replacing iPhone that had contact with water either..


James

 

[notspock]

You're in for a big surprise then, the UK will loose, batteries degrade, it's physics against the UK, physics will win.

That's a weird redefinition of what I said.
I've already had a battery replacement from apple under consumer law. I'm fairly comfortable with the law and what it means.


If Apple don't make goods that conform to the sale of goods act, (and much as I love apple, this doesn't in a big way) it's actually their problem and they'll need to solve it.

 

[Radon87000]

Android is affected. I was just reading on the alternatives forum a poster was complaining about random shutdowns on their older Galaxy.

There is no widespread issue otherwise it would have made news. I am sure I can find a post about iPhone X or Note 8 shutting down I tried to.

 

[I7guy]

How did you test it ? Or is this just from usage ?

My observation is from using the phone for a year. e.g. camera app opens nearly instantly, apps open quickly etc. If I felt the phone was "dragging" I would definitely bring it into apple.

 

[jamezr]

Because if the battery becomes degraded due to time or just being a bad battery (components aren't invincible), then it will be throttled so that it doesn't shut down on people. Put on your tin hat I suppose. I think you're better off switching platforms then. It seems like you have a bunch of positives on the Android side so it makes sense. I value different things so I will stay with Apple.

No...I don't buy that...I have both platforms.......I have had every iphone since the first one and will continue to buy them. But i also have a Note 8 and Pixel 2 XL and iPhone 8 plus....I had a iPhone X but it was just too small for me so I returned it.
There is no tin hat involved...that is too easy a way out instead of holding Apple accountable.

Why does the phone have to shut down? Why not function as normal but just have to charge it more often?

 

[JForestZ34]

How wrong you are. Car engines will degrade too. And over the years they WILL lose horsepower and torque. Does your car dealer tell you that when you’re making the purchase? No. And when you do feel like your car is getting slow and you go back to your dealer, does he or she tell you “oh well your engine is getting old and degraded so performance is dropping” No. So what do you do? Do you rebuilt the engine? Not many people do. Most will just replace their car.

The mechanic SHOULD AT LEAST give you the option of what you wanna do. Apple thought they knew what was best for us and took that option away..


James

 

[samcraig]

The logical litmus test for this is:

If Samsung had the same issue and responded the same - what would the response be?

If you can honestly say that the issue isn't a big deal and that the response from Samsung is great, then the same should apply to Apple. Conversely, if you would slam Samsung for it and think they deserved x y or z in response - then it's likely that you are giving Apple a free pass.

I'm not saying which side you should be on. Personally, I think that increasing transparency is a good thing. However, that doesn't change the past and people who may have spend money on new batteries and/or new phones when they didn't have to.

 

[I7guy]

A poster on a forum does not mean Android is affected .

Please provide proof that android has this throttling ..... you have claimed this a few times on this thread, please provide proofs

An electronic device having random shutdowns .... my nokia 6100 also affected

It means there could be a smoking gun.

IOW, the phones might be shutting down for a similar reason to why apple implemented this power management.

 

[jamezr]

Why? Because throttling is the only alternative to the phone doing an auto shutdown in very specific situations relative to processor load and remaining charge. The phone is not throttled otherwise. High load + very low charge = throttling to prevent auto shutdown. That's it.

Why? Why not function as normal when the battery degrades? Why not just have to charge the phone more often as the battery degrades? Why shut the phone down?

 

[MH01]

My observation is from using the phone for a year. e.g. camera app opens nearly instantly, apps open quickly etc. If I felt the phone was "dragging" I would definitely bring it into apple.

That is not scientific proof that it does not throttle. You could test it if you wanted . Might be that even throttled you are happy with its performance?

 

[akash.nu]

Because Apple is using inferrior battery technology if their only recourse to to throttle the phone to keep it from shutting down. Other phone makers don't have this issue as battery life degrades the time between battery charges increases. Apple took the route of throttling the phone instead to make up for inferior battery ans chipset technology.

Other phones have the same issue. The difference is that Apple proactively tried to do something about it.

 

[JForestZ34]

Oh by the way, did anybody ever think this was happening before this all came to light with iPhone 4 iPhone 5 and others because a lot of us weren't getting anywhere near the battery life they said we would out of our devices.. I bet this goes back further than they are telling...


James

 

[justperry]

That's a weird redefinition of what I said.
I've already had a battery replacement from apple under consumer law. I'm fairly comfortable with the law and what it means.


If Apple don't make goods that conform to the sale of goods act, (and much as I love apple, this doesn't in a big way) it's actually their problem and they'll need to solve it.

We'll see then.

 

[deanthedev]

Apple needs to know they must be held to the same standards as their competitors.

So Apple should start selling new iPhones with iOS 9 and 10? Stop providing updates after 2 years (or less)? Make users of brand-new flagship $800+ phones wait 6 months for the latest OS? Artificially increase performance when benchmark Apps are detected to make their phones appear faster than they are? Sell new flagships (Note 8) that need to be replaced if the battery hits 0% and won’t charge?

 

[MH01]

It means there could be a smoking gun.

IOW, the phones might be shutting down for a similar reason to why apple implemented this power management.

You don't have proof android is affected ?

 

[I7guy]

There is no widespread issue otherwise it would have made news. I am sure I can find a post about iPhone X or Note 8 shutting down I tried to.

That's an assumption that there is no widespread issue with older android devices. Could be the news media is apathetic to that type of headliner.

 

[Radon87000]

That's an assumption that there is no widespread issue with older android devices. Could be the news media is apathetic to that type of headliner.

There is also no such issue on Reddit or any of the notable Android forums I frequent which have users with older phones. This battery issue exploded on Reddit in the iOS subreddit within a day.

 

[I7guy]

You don't have proof android is affected ?

The only reason we know about iphones, is apple said they implemented a fix in IOS. With respect to android, you cannot say or not, if this is a dirty secret, only people are reporting shutdowns.

 

[RemE]

$29 battery replacement is a very reasonable fee for devices that consumers can't open themselves. But offering this price for only one year? Why? Because you've been embarrassed in the media? Then the price goes back up when the noise level goes down?

 

[jamezr]

Other phones have the same issue. The difference is that Apple proactively tried to do something about it.

Really? Which phones? are there concrete proof the phone manufacturer throttles the phones to make up for bad batteries and chipset technology? Are there class action lawsuits? Please show me your data.