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Did Apple go far enough with $29 battery replacements?


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TokMok3

macrumors 6502a
Aug 22, 2015
672
422
Imagine the outrage if instead of trying to fix the problem they did nothing and let hundreds of millions of old batteries die.

"I have to spend $79 to get a new battery! They could have fixed this with software!" would have been the outcry.

That's the problem of the ages when we exist in a double polarity universe.
[doublepost=1514520467][/doublepost]
I feel sorry for the independent phone repair guys. There goes half their business if not more.

That is good comment.
Amazing how one thing can effect on another...
 

eyeseeyou

macrumors 68040
Feb 4, 2011
3,384
1,594
or a 50% discount on an iPhone X

I wonder who would actually accept a 80%-90% refund for whatever iPhone they upgraded to, along with a fresh battery, along with getting back the original iPhone “6” that they were using.

You want 3 year old Apple tech with a new battery? Here ya go. Stop complaining lol.
 

reggavegga

macrumors regular
Dec 23, 2009
133
61
We had my wife's 6 battery replaced about 2 months ago because it was all over the place and would just die even when it said a higher charge percentage.. we paid the 85 bucks for a battery change would love to get 50 bucks back from them but not holding my breath I am sure gonna ask though. My nephew works for them so I texted him and asked him to find out if that's possible. Doesn't hurt to ask.
 
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TokMok3

macrumors 6502a
Aug 22, 2015
672
422
We had my wife's 6 battery replaced about 2 months ago because it was all over the place and would just die even when it said a higher charge percentage.. we paid the 85 bucks for a battery change would love to get 50 bucks back from them but not holding my breath I am sure gonna ask though. My nephew works for them so I texted him and asked him to find out if that's possible. Doesn't hurt to ask.

Just keep your receipt, you might get some pf your money back. Good luck with that.
 
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Arran

macrumors 601
Mar 7, 2008
4,864
3,823
Atlanta, USA
I wonder who would actually accept a 80%-90% refund for whatever iPhone they upgraded to, along with a fresh battery, along with getting back the original iPhone “6” that they were using.

You want 3 year old Apple tech with a new battery? Here ya go. Stop complaining lol.

Well quite. I imagine others are de-lighted to have an excuse to justify buying the latest iPhone. :D
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...I would prefer to know what their proposed solution was to begin with so I could make a choice.

Not find out afterwards that throttling the CPU was the choice they made for me.

But that's why customers buy standardized, mass-market products: To have decisions made for them. To abstract-over the complexity.

If you really want to be given visibility of and input into thousands of fine-grained decisions made - on your behalf - by the design team, then you probably need to find another supplier. That, or do it yourself. The perverse thing is, however, that taking either of those routes in 2017 hi-tech will almost certainly be more expensive.
 
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justiny

Contributor
Jul 28, 2008
753
2,419
Bubbletucky
Is apple going to replace it at that price IF they test the battery and they state that its not below 80%?

I’m actually surprised more people are not asking this question (and it’s something I’d like to know as well). There are still a ton of 6 and 6s iPhones out in the wild, and I’d imagine Apple Stores are going to be batshi* crazy starting the end of January.

The wife’s 6s needs a new battery, but she has AppleCare+ until March 2018, so the $50 savings doesn’t help me there. But my 6s will need a new battery in the next six months, and I was even willing to spen the $79.

If Apple turns me away, even after I’m willing to spend the fee for a new battery, only because I’m at 83% instead of below 80% I’ll be mad as hell because I just want it done (I don’t want to be forced to “monitor” my battery status every week). Then again, by June people will be so obsessed with the next iPhone X no one will care about this.
 

dan9700

Suspended
May 28, 2015
3,347
4,824
It's a great way to divert attention from the issue.

You'll notice that Apple didn't say they'd fix the issue. They said they'd give you a reduced cost battery. Free candy sounds good right? Enough to distract you from the problem that they won't actually fix?

And for those who will mention that Apple says an update is coming that will allow the customer to see in more detail what's happening, well - they didn't say they'd fix the issue in that statement either.
What you want them to fix exactly the batt has a cycle life no aoftware can fix that its about how many times its charged nornally them batts have a 500 cycle until batteries tech gets better then deal with it you service a car every year even tho u dont need to but same with apple if u have a phone thats 3 yeara old then it needs service ie a new batt simple
 
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nviz22

Cancelled
Jun 24, 2013
5,277
3,071
Apple may have used underwhelming quality batteries. Their "cheap" solution involved deliberately decreasing processing power to preserve battery life and prevent additional random reboots. A $29 or $79 fee should not be assessed on the 7/7+ owners since they did receive an update to throttle processors. Yes, I understand batteries degrade over time and a lot of people do not take the necessary steps to recalibrate a battery. However, the expectation shouldn't be for a 1 year old phone to suffer issues after the warranty expires and a phone shows a bit of age. 2 years should be a reasonable life expectancy for a flagship Apple device. The 6 is old and 3 years on a battery with major degradation is expected since it has normal wear and tear. But perhaps Apple used batteries that would be more profitability focused rather than consumer quality centric. I expect them to settle out of court. Plus, the issue raised an important concern regarding future updates addressing battery health beyond what iOS 11 does.
 

Bbeelzebub

macrumors regular
Sep 7, 2015
100
21
You know.... Having come from Android prior to me getting the 6s Plus, I was already used to phones starting to not run great after a couple updates. Not to mention, no matter what Android phone I had (HTC Incredible, Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Note 4, etc...), none of them offered the battery life of IOS. I really like Android, but I've also learned to like IOS. I like it enough that it is doubtful I'll bother going back to Android. (Well, if Apple releases Messages for Android, I'd be tempted to go stand in line for a Galaxy Note 9 :p ) I love me some timely updates, not having to worry about battery drain, and the other headaches Android can give. Android can do a lot more than IOS (IMO) but I like the simplicity on this side of the fence. It does everything I need it to do. You're lucky if your Android phone got full support for even two years.

I got my 6s Plus mid cycle... like in April or May. It still runs terrific. The battery thing did bother me though. I like many others though think bothering to have a battery changed is not worth it generally. A phone should last about two years and then it's time to move on and get the latest and greatest. I considered the iPhone X. I'm use to automatically getting a new phone around every 20-24 months. Was online at release and had one in my cart, but to be honest.... I like my 6s Plus. I'd love a larger screen... 6" or more. I also wasn't crazy about having to use my face to unlock... but I'm sure the fingerprint will be going away all together on IOS. I figure I may as well hang onto it a little longer.

Then, the battery thing came out. I was disappointed. I don't buy that it was for user experience completely. They don't have the best track record with speaking the truth. (Antenna Gate anyone??? Really, holding it wrong???) Still, I think this is admirable to offer the discount and come up with some sort of app to let us know when our phones are being crippled. I don't expect a phone to last me four or five years (nor would I really want it to), but I know they are expensive for some people and it sucks to be on an older device because that is all they can afford. I think a 29 dollar battery is a good start.

That being said, I already ran a bunch of tests to make sure my phone wasn't being slowed down and that my battery is still in excellent condition. I only charge it once every four days or so, so I wasn't surprised to see I don't have that much degradation. (I learned the hard way with Samsung devices that the battery would die at an inconvenient time and they had "discontinued the battery"... eye roll. That was the day I was in Verizon Wireless and said, Give me an iPhone... I'm over this sh*t.) Ha!
 
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dazz87

macrumors 68000
Sep 24, 2007
1,628
1,710
You know.... Having come from Android prior to me getting the 6s Plus, I was already used to phones starting to not run great after a couple updates. Not to mention, no matter what Android phone I had (HTC Incredible, Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Note 4, etc...), none of them offered the battery life of IOS. I really like Android, but I've also learned to like IOS. I like it enough that it is doubtful I'll bother going back to Android. I love me some timely updates, not having to worry about battery drain, and the other headaches Android can give. Android can do a lot more than IOS (IMO) but I like the simplicity on this side of the fence. It does everything I need it to do. You're lucky if your Android phone got full support for even two years.
!
You Know Android has come a long way right? You can label today Android with yesterday hardwares and OS....
 

dk001

macrumors demi-god
Oct 3, 2014
10,754
15,094
Sage, Lightning, and Mountains
Do you think Apple making a battery replacement $29, which will restore your iPhone back to it's advertised speed until it degrades again, is enough to make you a happy iPhone owner?

No. Also need something indicative that the event is going to occur (throttling).
Problem is Apple is asking for forgiveness (again) instead of permission.
 

Bbeelzebub

macrumors regular
Sep 7, 2015
100
21
You Know Android has come a long way right? You can label today Android with yesterday hardwares and OS....


I'm quite aware. We have Android phones and tablets in our household as well. There is a lovely Note 8 and a Pixel 2 XL downstairs and I still don't have any desire to go back..... yet. ;) (I try not to be a "fanboy" of any company, but I will say.... neither Android or IOS is worth the trouble on a tablet..... I prefer Windows 10 there.)
 

The-Real-Deal82

macrumors P6
Jan 17, 2013
16,570
24,352
Wales, United Kingdom
Do you think Apple making a battery replacement $29, which will restore your iPhone back to it's advertised speed until it degrades again, is enough to make you a happy iPhone owner?
It could be free considering the software has enabled the issues. Apple should absorb the cost if you ask me. A year old phone requiring the user to pay out again to restore performance is very cheeky.

It’s given many the impression iPhones don’t last as long as other devices. Maybe Apple should explore why the batteries used by Samsung are recording higher benchmarks as they get older? Posters on here are reporting just that.
 

44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,492
What happen if my phone batt was replaced with oem batt?

If you're referring to third-party batteries, Apple would not cover that, because it's not an OEM battery that was used as a replacement to begin with.
 
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