Apple Will Replace the Battery in Your iPhone 6 or Later Even if It Passes a Genius Bar Diagnostic Test

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Surprised to see so much hate and upvoting towards Apple on this. Perhaps you’ll see me as naive but I truly believe that Apple did this in it’s best effort to solve a user problem. Yes they could have made things a little more transparent, give users the option, or do something better, but I don’t for a minute buy the narrative that Apple did this intentionally to make people upgrade. I don’t think when they implemented it they realized how slow on iOS11 a throttled iPhone 6 would actually be.

Again I’m certainly not saying Apple is blameless, but the exaggerated claimed of Apple’s evil intentions are nonsense.

Not need to jump. The iPhone 6 passed Apple battery diagnosis test and he said that he won't do a replacement. When we asked about the sluggish performance the genius said that the iphone 6 is old hardware by now and that they have brand new iPhone 8 in the front of the store. I don't want any reparations or whatever from Apple, but the lack of information about the performance reduction is enough for a lawsuit.

I know when you look at it as a whole that looks really shady, but it’s actually very understandable when you look at all the pieces.

1) The battery s/w update was implemented to protect iPhones from unexpected shutdowns. Not to intentionally slow the device
2) If your battery passed the test it is unlikely that it was actually affected by this device slowdown (Maybe this isn’t true, if you have proof of otherwise please let me know)
3) The 80% battery degradation was a requirement from apple long before this s/w update. I agree it’s kinda weird, but it sounds to me like it was created to prevent customers from overworrying about the battery and to prevent unnecessary transactions. You’d think Apple would just want your money, but nope. Sounds opposite of money greedy to me
4) The apple employee likely had no knowledge of the battery thing, as they don’t have any more information than us. Yes the 3 year old iPhone 6 is definitely much slower than the iPhone 8. The employee may not know how slow the 6 is supposed to be or how slow your 6 is actually performing. If the employee was overly pushy about updating that’d be one thing, but simply stating that the iPhone 8 would be much faster is true regardless of any battery throttling.

 

[cmaier]

I love everyone complaining about this. And yesterday they were complaining that Apple wouldn’t change the battery if the test was passed (despite a hundred reports to the contrary of people who passed and still got promised a new battery within a week when they arrive). Everyone wants to be a martyr or to have something to be outraged about.

 

[doelcm82]

Nope. Contrary to the wishes of some here, this will simply fade away as an issue. By the sound of some here you would think this was an exploding Samsung. How many people really still talk about that, the greatest debacle in modern electronics history?

We still talk about "You're Holding It Wrong" more than half a decade after Steve Jobs died. This will mostly blow over (see praise for the Galaxy Note 8), but will still get brought up in comments for years, often on unrelated issues.

 

[Shinigami301]

We still talk about "You're Holding It Wrong" more than half a decade after Steve Jobs died. This will mostly blow over (see praise for the Galaxy Note 8), but will still get brought up in comments for years, often on unrelated issues.

Well, perhaps negative posters grasping for any tenuous finger hold to argue do. Normal people don’t.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Apple has already addressed the Geekbench issue. It doesn't really change anything about their approach, IMO. They've said that they didn't explain the shutdown prevention changes to iOS well enough and that people can get the $29 battery change for a year as part of their apology for that. And frankly, the facts are now all out there (Geekbench does trigger the slowdown by itself, the slowdown is only to prevent the big peaks/valleys in power draw that could trigger auto shutdown events) and people still don't want to accept it.

Short of providing the general public free courses in lithium ion battery engineering, Apple has given the relevant information here. The batteries are no different than before. Their ability to provide voltage is no different than before. All people need to do is pay attention when the low power warning pops up at 20% charge. It's there for a reason.

Again, great spin whether yours or you just regurgitating Apples.

And again, I'll point out that if that's true, the original Geekbench scores of the older iDevice when it's existing battery was new would have been affected in the very same way- exactly as you and/or Apple says it would because of how the iDevice reacts to the Geekbench test. So when the older iDevice was new and Geekbench tests were run- and proudly presented in reviews to show how fast the "latest & greatest" from Apple ran vs. prior Apple iDevices- that measure- (I'll call) X (to make it generically apply to any older iDevice)- was established.

Apple has said that the slowdown is tied to older batteries. OK, let's accept that for a moment. So, we take our older iDevice to Apple and take advantage of their generous apology price of $29. Then we can run Geekbench again and the measure should be back in the ballpark of X... IF INDEED only the older battery was the culprit in getting a result substantially less than X.

If this subsequent measure does NOT get a score back close to X, then it implies there is OTHER throttling code in iOS that makes older iDevices run slower... NOT connected to an aging battery since Apple would have just put in a brand new one. No matter whether us dumb lemmings are educated about the science of lithium ion or not, I believe the logic is sound here. If Geekbench testing slows an iDevice, the old Geekbench results when the iDevice was first launched were slowed down results too. That establishes X (slowed down or not). Put in a new battery and run the same test. Result needs to be around X again or the throttling code is not limited to just old battery throttling.

 

[vvs14]

In North America, Apple has retail stores, not service centres.



The iPhone 6s was only 1 year old when Apple introduced the cheat software that throttles. The iPhone 7 is only about 1 year old and Apple is throttling that now. Where do you get over 3 years from?

I wish people did not spread false information. Apple is not throttling performance if the battery is healthy. iPhone 6s or 7 or even a new iPhone 6 will remain unaffected if the battery is healthy. This is not planned obsolescence as you want people to believe. Educate yourself before you spread misinformation.

 

[magicschoolbus]

iPhone 6s on latest iOS 10 version is the last iPhone I will ever buy.

Headphone Jack, Stable OS, Fast, Fingerprint Sensor

Runs Great!

Fire Tim Cook. Make Apple Great Again.

 

[Jsameds]

I love everyone complaining about this. And yesterday they were complaining that Apple wouldn’t change the battery if the test was passed (despite a hundred reports to the contrary of people who passed and still got promised a new battery within a week when they arrive). Everyone wants to be a martyr or to have something to be outraged about.

We live in a world of outrage culture where it's cool, hip and trendy to be offended by something.

 

[loveios]

It sucks that I'm so balls deep in this ecosystem. Apple is slowly degenerating into a greedy, buggy, laggy mess.

New Year, New Resolution, I Hope Apple Will Focus On Its Ecosystem

 

[cmaier]

iPhone 6s on latest iOS 10 version is the last iPhone I will ever buy.

Headphone Jack, Stable OS, Fast, Fingerprint Sensor

Runs Great!

Fire Tim Cook. Make Apple Great Again.

iPhone X is better. FaceID is much better than touchID, no annoying headphone jack, better water proofing, infinitely better screen, much faster, no annoying bezels, feels better in hand thanks to non slippery glass and steel enclosure. Highly recommended.

 

[doelcm82]

Well, perhaps negative posters grasping for any tenuous finger hold to argue do. Normal people don’t.

Who are the "normal people"? I've never met one.

 

[magicschoolbus]

I wish people did not spread false information. Apple is not throttling performance if the battery is healthy. iPhone 6s or 7 or even a new iPhone 6 will remain unaffected if the battery is healthy. This is not planned obsolescence as you want people to believe. Educate yourself before you spread misinformation.

Misinformation is being told by a "genius" that if you want better performance to upgrade the hardware, instead of just put a new battery in it. Consumers were never educated that their processors were bring throttled and could see an increase in performance in THE SAME PHONE if they simply paid $80 to upgrade the battery.

Not only is it misinformation - its censored information NEVER given to the consumer, or released by the company. Which makes it even worse.

 

[RickInHouston]

So then before this it went like this:

Customer - Hi, my battery sucks. I know this because I use my phone every day so I am the most familiar person in the world with its operation. Can I have a new battery?

Genius - Your battery is fine says our diagnostic test. Put your wallet away. No battery for you.

Why were they so reluctant to “let” people buy a new battery before?

You make a very good point. One that should be addressed. These people would see the difference a new battery makes and word would have gotten out sooner.

 

[Ramchi]

A few weeks ago, as I had to upgrade from my aging 6+, I opted for a Galaxy Note 8 over the iPhone X. As a full-Apple ecosystem user (Macbook Pro, iPad Mini, iPad Pro, etc), I was VERY apprehensive to take this move...

Well, the Note 8 (and Android as a whole) turned out to be a productivity BEAST. Im very happy I switched. Believe me, there is indeed life beyond Apple.

Windows, in the other hand, it is a no-go for me (yet). I have a gaming PC and I find Windows far clumsier than MacOS.

Android gives Apple a run for its money. Windows, not so much.

Absolutely! I have Note 8 and planning to sell off my 7+ (secondary mobile) since I am not a committed member of any ecosystem. There aren't any paid App I associate with. I use cloud services of Office 365 for Pictures (any Mobile OS suits this), documents, worksheet editing etc...(One Drive, essentially).

I deliberately mitigated this years ago by keep changing my ecosystem and did not face any major issues.

Now iTune is available in both ecosystems, I do not think I need to worry even if I subscribe for it.

This ecosystem commitment probably NOT valid for majority of the common users IMO

 

[jauhari]

US only?

 

[thescotsman4]

Had the battery in my iPhone 6 replaced yesterday at the Mall at Millenia Apple store in Florida. The battery passed Apple's diagnostics test but I elected to have it replaced as I don't live near an Apple store. Noticed a slight difference in performance, but it could just be a placebo effect.

 

[vvs14]

They replaced my screen for free when I needed a battery. I can tell you they won’t remove the screen to get to the battery if it is cracked, they told me that themselves.

But since my 6S fell under the defective serial #’s batch, they essentially gave me an entire display and screen for $0.

Just fight with them and tell them you wanna join all the lawsuits against them - they’ll fix your screen, lol. They’re doing anything to save customers right now. They’re hemorrhaging customer loyalty.

That is a stupid advice to give to anyone.

 

[TonyC28]

Pretty much.

Then again, if the battery was not the cause of the perceived slowdown and "Customer" paid $79 for a battery replacement that didn't fix the problem, "Customer" would be fuming that greedy Apple "Genius" charged them for an ineffective and unnecessary repair! Even though "Customer" knew without a doubt that the battery repair what what they wanted.

Good point. But isn’t that caused by Apple treating a battery replacement like a repair and not just a simple battery swap? I can see why people might think that Apple didn’t want to replace batteries because they knew the battery wasn’t the problem and they’d have a lot of ticked off people like you described.

 

[loveios]

Lying corporate scumbags, look at how they cower now that they've been caught strong-arming their loyal customers out of billions of dollars.

Apple just made a mistake, anyone can make a mistake, plus I don’t believe that they tried to fool us.

 

[gnipgnop]

Apple has said that the slowdown is tied to older batteries. OK, let's accept that for a moment. So, we take our older iDevice to Apple and take advantage of their generous apology price of $29. Then we can run Geekbench again and the measure should be back in the ballpark of X... IF INDEED only the older battery was the culprit in getting a result substantially less than X.

Geekbench is programmed differently than a standard app. It doesn't have the typical idle time that a standard app uses AND it loads the CPU to the maximum at the same time. That creates the big peaks/valleys in power draw that iOS is now looking to smooth out in order to prevent an auto shutdown. So if you run Geekbench, all you're establishing is how much throttling Geekbench itself is creating at that particular voltage level. You're not actually measuring whether or not a standard application would be throttled at all, and that's what the concern actually is: people running standard apps that have normal idle time built in and aren't designed to max out the CPU to test it's theoretical limits. Do those apps really experience throttling at nominal voltage? Geekbench can't tell you.

 

[MacBebe]

Do you enjoy throwing 1k out the window every 2 years? LOL. Save your money, loser.

Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who doesn't care spending that much money every 2 years for an iPhone.

 

[tcusick]

I am interested to know how the feature showing the battery heath will work in the upcoming IOS update. any guesses?

 

[doelcm82]

Even that the problem is that they put a time limit . They should let this offer always on, we shouldn't be limited by the time giving the facts that the iPhone doesn't get only slow because of battery but also of their updates software

Replacing the battery won't solve that problem. It will just make customers that they paid $29 or $79 for a "repair" that didn't help.

If this is still a big issue at the end of 2018, I expect Apple will extend the program.

 

[cmaier]

...

I own a 6s. I own an original iPhone, a 3g, a 4, etc. all the way up to x. In fact I own two of many of those models, running every version of the os from iPhone OS 1 all the way up to the current developer beta. So I’m familiar with out of the box performance. I continue to use old devices for years to develop on, and pass down phones to my family where they are in active use as daily devices for, on average, three years. iPhone X is the best iPhone ever made. Feels best in the hand, best screen to size/weight ratio, fastest by far, easiest to use. FaceID brings it all around back to the original iPhone when all of us were too dumb to use passcodes.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who doesn't care spending that much money every 2 years for an iPhone.

Oh I believe you, the proof is in the sales.

There are also plenty of people that can't afford to spend that much on a new iPhone but do anyway.. which is another topic of conversation