Apple's $29 Battery Replacement Program Could Lead to 16M Fewer iPhones Sold in 2018

[Machead2012]

Apple's decision to offer $29 battery replacements to customers with older iPhones could cause iPhone sales to drop in 2018, according to Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz (via CNBC).

Customers opting for a battery replacement instead of upgrading an iPhone could be a "mild headwind" for iPhone unit sales, potentially resulting in millions of fewer iPhone purchases during the year. Moskowitz believes up to 77 percent of iPhone users are eligible to upgrade their batteries.

It remains to be seen if and how the battery replacement program will impact sales in practice despite analyst predictions, as there are other considerations that drive upgrades, such as new features.

Apple began offering reduced-cost battery replacements following backlash from an admission that it slows down some older iPhone models with degraded batteries to prevent them from shutting down unexpectedly.

The power management issue impacts the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus, but only in situations where battery health has declined. Affected iPhones see throttling during times of peak power usage, such as when running a benchmark.

iPhones that are running slower can be restored to their original condition with a fresh battery, which is why Apple has decided to offer $29 replacements from now until the end of 2018.

While Apple implemented power management features in older iPhones in an attempt to extend their lives as long as possible, some people have claimed that Apple is intentionally slowing devices to push its customers to upgrade, which the company says is not true. From Apple:Though Apple may not have been aiming to get customers to upgrade their devices by implementing power management features, it's an inevitable side effect, hence why the battery program could cut into sales somewhat. Apple is currently facing several lawsuits from customers who claim they upgraded after experiencing slower speeds on their older iPhones.

Apple plans to offer $29 battery replacements throughout the year, and according to internal documentation, all customers who ask for a battery replacement for an affected iPhone will receive one, regardless of battery health.

Article Link: Apple's $29 Battery Replacement Program Could Lead to 16M Fewer iPhones Sold in 2018

FYI - The so called "generosity" battery replacement plan in Europe is 44.00 Euros not including a labor cost by some Authorized Apple Re-Sellers.. so when you calculate the USD amount to Euro any American living or visiting overseas with a USA credit card will pay FAR more than 29.00 USD. Seems like Apple is just begging to lose more and more credibility every blundering step they take. <Rolling eyes in disbelief>

 

[G-News]

Cheap life extension through the 29$ battery replacement program, coupled with no crucial new functionality in the past three years and the removal of the headphone jack is going to bite Apple in the arse now. Extending the life of older devices has just got a lot more attractive.

 

[nebo1ss]

FYI - The so called "generosity" battery replacement plan in Europe is 44.00 Euros not including a labor cost by some Authorized Apple Re-Sellers.. so when you calculate the USD amount to Euro any American living or visiting overseas with a USA credit card will pay FAR more than 29.00 USD. Seems like Apple is just begging to lose more and more credibility every blundering step they take. <Rolling eyes in disbelief>

I have doubt about the figure you are quoting. I did mine in London for £25 which included VAT that is only 28 Euro's. Try an Apple store that sounds like a retailer ripping you off.

 

[kevinbeared]

Where are all the people that kept making fun out of others that said "Apple is doomed". This is nothing unexpected under Tim Cook, anyone with more than 50 IQ could see that he's a bad CEO and is going to drive apple into the ground.

He's a great CEO if you're a shareholder, he litteraly cashed out the most he could in 5 years, and now the company will slowly decrease but you have some time ! and as a shareholder, when he gave you billions i think you don't really care anymore

 

[Artmuzz]

I would of rather that Apple started signing the old iOS versions again so anyone can downgrade back to the preferred iOS version if performance is affected rather than having to get a new battery replacement even though it's at a heavily reduced price. iOS 10 should of been the last iOS version for the iPhone 6/6 Plus and 6S/6S Plus.

 

[kevinbeared]

I would of rather that Apple started signing the old iOS versions again so anyone can downgrade back to the preferred iOS version if performance is affected rather than having to get a new battery replacement even though it's at a heavily reduced price. iOS 10 should of been the last iOS version for the iPhone 6/6 Plus and 6S/6S Plus.

This is clearly NEVER happening

 

[Artmuzz]

This is clearly NEVER happening

That is true. This is the one thing I am not happy with Apple about.

 

[The Game 161]

Complete rubbish

The average person who thinks their phone is acting up would buy a new phone and not think about just getting a battery replaced.

 

[mmm1345]

B.S! People will continue to buy new phones. Realistically, how many people actually buy new phones because of their slower performance?

I do. If my phone is slow and buggy, I replace it with a new one. But then I'm crazy, I guess.

 

[SaucyWeeTart]

That is what Apple gets for Deceiving Customers! Not just iPhones but all throttled devices to cover up for their Corrupt Battery Claims since Tim Cook became CEO. Apple is Corrupt and lying to the customers on battery performance for several years...and now they have been Caught...Steve Jobs would fire the entire executive team for poor quality of software, products and services years ago...Apple is on a severe decline; don't let the Stock analyst suggest otherwise...the Apple Community has had it!

Absolute conspiracy-laden, hysterical bollocks.

 

[Stella]

LOL! What’s the issue?

 

[trifid]

Absolute conspiracy-laden, hysterical bollocks.

Sure, because it's unthinkable a corporation could ever do something like this.. or is it? Volkswagen and Audi surely wouldn't cheat emissions test for profit FOR YEARS would they?

 

[doelcm82]

First off, most iPhone users will never know about this $29 replacement. Secondly, people don't necessarily buy new iPhones because the old ones are slow. They do so because they want a new phone with a better camera and now without the home button and with much smaller bezels.

“People” is not a monolithic group. For example, I am like you describe. My iPhone 6+ was unbearably slow, but it’s not the reason I upgraded to the iPhone X. On the other hand, my sister doesn’t want to spend money on a new phone. Her screen broke recently, and she was considering getting a new one. With the battery replacement, she can just use my old one. She is just as much a “people” as I am, but doesn’t have the same priorities.

 

[Keirasplace]

I would of rather that Apple started signing the old iOS versions again so anyone can downgrade back to the preferred iOS version if performance is affected rather than having to get a new battery replacement even though it's at a heavily reduced price. iOS 10 should of been the last iOS version for the iPhone 6/6 Plus and 6S/6S Plus.

That would be a huge security hole since they don't backport security fixes to previous major versions, that's why they won't allow it. You just wait till upgrading to a new major versions, how the hell hard could that be.

You can still sort of do it with windows, but its a major pain in the ass. Easier to reinstall windows from scratch.

I don't agree at all btw, got 6s on 11.2.1 and it is going fine and my battery is fine too.

 

[doelcm82]

Well that's obvious.
Have no doubt that Apple had spent effort on calculating the economic benefits of the secret software fix in great detail.
Apple would of had a quite good estimate of its impact. It would be no surprise to them.

That doesn’t really ring true to me. Apple’s secret software fix was to resolve a problem where iPhones with a 30% charge were shutting down suddenly. They didn’t have to do anything about it to get people thinking about replacing their iPhones.

 

[SaucyWeeTart]

Sure, because it's unthinkable a corporation could ever do something like this.. or is it? Volkswagen and Audi surely wouldn't cheat emissions test for profit FOR YEARS would they?

I'm not saying that corporate corruption does not exist but to rant in an unlettered and hysterical fashion whilst wildly throwing about hearsay and outright lies achieves nothing but rouse other idiots and inspire them to do the same. You then end up with a comment section that resembles YouTube.

9/11 was an inside job!

 

[gnipgnop]

Apple already has the stats on complaints for this issue and what percentage of those would likely lead to a battery swap. There's likely going to be a bump early and then it will drop off, especially since swapping the battery won't effect performance unless it's capacity has degraded to the EOL level.

The standard troubleshooting steps Apple has in place for performance issues are the most likely way to get an improvement with a healthy battery.
[doublepost=1515068798][/doublepost]

Sure, because it's unthinkable a corporation could ever do something like this.. or is it? Volkswagen and Audi surely wouldn't cheat emissions test for profit FOR YEARS would they?

Car companies cheated on emissions tests because it wasn't easy for them to change their engine/combustion designs. Apple is blowing the doors off the rest of the industry with the A series, so you can ditch the 1:1 comparison there. Sales? Again, blowing the doors off the rest of the industry. Apple doesn't really have a motive here other than to try and help owners of the 6/6s which represented more than half of the active iPhone units worldwide midway through 2017.

 

[trifid]

I'm not saying that corporate corruption does not exist but to rant in an unlettered and hysterical fashion whilst wildly throwing about hearsay and outright lies achieves nothing but rouse other idiots and inspire them to do the same. You then end up with a comment section that resembles YouTube.

9/11 was an inside job!

1. Apple banned or disabled apps from telling users battery health status. Only after scandal do they promise to bring it back.
2. Apple nags you constantly to upgrade until you can't take it anymore psychologically and give in. You can't turn off the nagging. Then Apple bans users from downgrading, hence going back to non-throttling iOS version is impossible.
3. Apple kept it secret that the new update slows down CPU and only revealed the excuse that it's to "smooth" out your battery issue a year later.
4. Apple's tool in the genius bar is designed to give a green light that battery is good even though there is throttling present.
5. Apple denied battery replacements unless genius bar tool didn't give the green light.
6. There is a direct correlation of loss of sales if users replace battery and Tim Cook's Apple is the most profit-driven Apple there has ever been, doing unethical things like engaging in anti-competitive monopolistic practices with services like Spotify.

There is not a single incident, it's a consistent number of unethical questionable things Apple did.

 

[says_stuff]

Apple doesn't really have a motive here other than to try and help owners of the 6/6s which represented more than half of the active iPhone units worldwide midway through 2017.

Help, really, is that how you see it? If you want to help, you tell me to get a new battery. Or even better you replace it for me. You don’t get to **** with my things “for my sake” without telling me about it.

 

[Jsameds]

You don’t get to **** with my things “for my sake” without telling me about it.

Actually Apple, and everyone else, does, whether we like it or not.

 

[gnipgnop]

4. Apple's tool in the genius bar is designed to give a green light that battery is good even though there is throttling present.
5. Apple denied battery replacements unless genius bar tool didn't give the green light.

Healthy lithium ion batteries can run into voltage issues with low charge or cold conditions, so it's not surprising that throttling could potentially take place without the battery being EOL. Plus, the phone running into performance issues is not guaranteed to be related to voltage. That's why the standard troubleshooting steps exist: percentages are in favor of them working the vast majority of the time.

 

[Ramchi]

May be it is really scary to see a very close integration of Hardware, Software and Service (Genius) !!

 

[gnipgnop]

Help, really, is that how you see it? If you want to help, you tell me to get a new battery.

That would be misleading if the battery isn't defective or at end of life. Can a low charge or cold cause voltage issues in a healthy battery? Yes. Is battery voltage the most likely cause of general performance problems? No.

 

[wcroadie]

1. Apple banned or disabled apps from telling users battery health status. Only after scandal do they promise to bring it back.
2. Apple nags you constantly to upgrade until you can't take it anymore psychologically and give in. You can't turn off the nagging. Then Apple bans users from downgrading, hence going back to non-throttling iOS version is impossible.
3. Apple kept it secret that the new update slows down CPU and only reveal the excuse that it's to "smooth" out your battery issue a year later.
4. Apple's tool in the genius bar is designed to give a green light that battery is good even though there is throttling present.
5. Apple denied battery replacements unless genius bar tool didn't give the green light.
6. There is a direct correlation of loss of sales if users replace battery and Tim Cook's Apple is the most profit-driven Apple there has ever been, doing unethical things like engaging in anti-competitive monopolistic practices with services like Spotify

There is not a single incident, it's a consistent number of unethical questionable things Apple did.

You are right about that, boss!
[doublepost=1515070393][/doublepost]

I'm not saying that corporate corruption does not exist but to rant in an unlettered and hysterical fashion whilst wildly throwing about hearsay and outright lies achieves nothing but rouse other idiots and inspire them to do the same. You then end up with a comment section that resembles YouTube.

9/11 was an inside job!

Wait, it wasn't? Or you could continue to be a sheep...

 

[nia820]

not unless iOS 12 slows it down in time for new iPhones.

Yeah those who are still hanging onto their 5s and 6 are going to have to upgrade come September.

Apple made their iphones high quality to a fault. Now they are finding ways to degrade them so people upgrade sooner.