Apple Charging 20% More to Replace Batteries in iPhone 16 Pro Models

[ArchEtech]

The biggest cost to apple, is the cost of its employees, and everything their employees buy, all of their living costs have gone up, which means payroll needs to go up, then their are raises and changes to benefits. There is no way any company is going to eat all of those yearly cost increases. The last two years have had 2-3x what is a typical cost of living increase in pay to keep up. That typical 3-4% is way lower that inflation.

I'm surprised that the iphone pricing has stayed about the same over the last 4-5 years. One way they have done this, well they created a pretty huge cost increase even before we had an inflation spike, so they rode the wave. All the smart phones made that $600-700 jump to $1000 or more not all that long ago.

 

[ric22]

I don't think an iPhone technician doing replacement will really do a speedier job. They replace hundreds of batteries, and probably do it "eyes closed" already. I understand the easier replacement to mean for those who want to do DIY replacements. Maybe you need less specialized parts or tools to perform it.

I am not trying to defend the price hike on this, I just don't think their technicians are the one who benefit from the changes to the process.

I do agree, that it stinks a bit - longer iPhone upgrade cycles for people --> pricier batteries 😬

It's funny looking back at our conversation 3 weeks later- considering that it turns out more specialist equipment is needed, and that it's worse to do for an enthusiast but quicker and easier for an Apple tech!

 

[ric22]

to the $51 you have to add:

The technicians salary for a 30 (?) minute repair

The cost of the technicians benefits which could include:

• Life and supplemental life insurance
• Disability insurance
• Occupational accident insurance
• Retiree health and medical
• vacation and time off
• parental leave
• shuttle service for commuting
• $300 a month gym credit
• stock purchase plan
• apple university & training costs
• tuition costs to $5250
• 401K 50% match up to 6% of their salary
• product discounts
• subsidized meals

Overhead costs:

Cost of store or repair center rent/electricity etc.
Cost of provding the necessary tools to do the repair

For a repair that that is this inexpensive their profit margin, if any, is likely fairly small

Battery costs Apple a few bucks to have produced. Let's round up to ten.

Tech takes 5 mins to replace battery. I watched mine be replaced! Tech doesn't earn a fortune.