Last week I went to the Apple Store to have the battery of my iPhone 7+ replaced. After three years it was still working perfectly fine, but the battery capacity was down to 81% and clearly not lasting very long anymore. I was considering upgrading to an 11 but dreaded the procedure of getting all banking accesses (some of which are linked to the phone IMEI) set up again. So I thought let’s get another year out of the 7+.
Apart from the weak battery, it was fine, no scratches on the screen, no dents, just quite a bit of chipping in the anodized finish – it’s a black matt one, so this seems to be a common issue.
When I got back to the store two hours later (the time announced to get the battery changed), I was told they were unable to change the battery but would give me a new (replacement phone). I thought ok, maybe in the process of changing the battery they broke it but to my surprise, after having confirmed that I have a backup, they brought my old phone out so that I could erase it – in other words it was still working and in one piece.
So in the end I just had to pay for the battery replacement cost (55 Euros) and got a new (refurbished) phone out of it, unfortunately that meant the pain of calling the banks etc.
So here are my questions:
Apart from the weak battery, it was fine, no scratches on the screen, no dents, just quite a bit of chipping in the anodized finish – it’s a black matt one, so this seems to be a common issue.
When I got back to the store two hours later (the time announced to get the battery changed), I was told they were unable to change the battery but would give me a new (replacement phone). I thought ok, maybe in the process of changing the battery they broke it but to my surprise, after having confirmed that I have a backup, they brought my old phone out so that I could erase it – in other words it was still working and in one piece.
So in the end I just had to pay for the battery replacement cost (55 Euros) and got a new (refurbished) phone out of it, unfortunately that meant the pain of calling the banks etc.
So here are my questions:
- Any explanation / clue why they would replace the phone. They didn’t tell me anything, so I am curious if there was some kind of recall or the likes for 7+
- Would have loved to be given the possibility of paying extra and upgrading to a newer phone, apparently not an option. Is this common practice?
- The phone is obviously a refurbished one which is not a problem. But when I checked online the serial number it said no warranty – shouldn’t there be at least some warranty on it?
- Has there been a silent upgrade on the screen? My old phone was from 2016 (got it right when it was launched) while the new one was (according to Coconut battery) manufactured in 2019. The screen looks a lot more vibrant - or could there have been some degree of deterioration of the old one)?