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Other why is Apple replacing the battery?
- Thread starter zoran
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Apple admitted to throttling the performance of iPhones to prevent them from shutting down randomly.
New batteries solve the issue.
New batteries solve the issue.
How are the new batteries different?
And most importantly, will the batteries last longer now that i can replace them? After 2 years i see that the battery will not last more than a day without charging. The use im making is the same from day one of purchase!
And most importantly, will the batteries last longer now that i can replace them? After 2 years i see that the battery will not last more than a day without charging. The use im making is the same from day one of purchase!
It's not a matter of different. It's a matter of putting things back the way they were.
When the battery in your car dies and you buy a new one of the same brand/model to replace it, is it different?
I don’t think the new batteries are any different besides them being brand new.
The issue was that the battery degrades over time and would cause the phones to shut down randomly. To stop the random shut downs, Apple throttled performance of the phone after the battery degraded past a certain threshold.
By Apple supplying new batteries, there is no need for them to throttle the phones.
Right. So, replacing the battery with an identical but brand new battery means your phone is like it used to be again.
What is that? How can i find out to tell you?
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Yeah but what im wondering is, if it will come to the state it is now after 2 years time! Is it normal for the existing battery to be like this, after 2years time, or will the new battery have a similar performance after the 2 year time usage?
That is all dependent on how you use your phone. Unless the new battery has a fault it should last you just as long as the last one if you have the same usage.
Here's a summary of the issues surrounding older iPhones and performance degradation with older batteries.
1. A small number of iPhones (6 and 6s, but 7 as well) had issues with sudden shutdowns.
2. The cause of these shutdowns was that under high CPU loads, older batteries were unable to deliver enough power and the phone would shut off.
3. Apple's solution to this was to throttle the CPU when phone with affected batteries were subjected to high power demands.
4. Then with the upgrade to iOS11, my belief is that more phones were affected because the baseline power usage of iOS11 was higher, so the number of phones affected by the throttling grew. (I never had a random shutdown on iOS10 and I don't believe I was ever throttled).
5. All of the above was never disclosed by Apple, other than vague explanations under the "What's New" tab of the iOS updates.
6. Some clever folks figured out that their phones were slowing down as the battery percentage (note this does not mean the battery capacity) ran down. With the power of social media, these clever guys figured out what Apple was doing.
7. These same clever folks figured out that when they put in a new battery, that could consistently deliver the high power needed under peak loads, the phones would not be throttled.
The fallout of this was that the narrative was that Apple was decpetively crippling otherwise good phones in order to drive people to upgrade. I think many people remembered back to the upgrade that killed iPhone4 and essentially bricked them.
So Apple response was to reduce the price of battery replacements from $80 to $30 for one year (plus a few months).
Note - iPhone batteries have always been replaceable, it's just not an easy process.
Note 2 - iOS11 will throttle if the phone experiences a sudden shutdown, but now you will be able to go into the settings to turn off the throttling, but you're risking further sudden shutdowns.
1. A small number of iPhones (6 and 6s, but 7 as well) had issues with sudden shutdowns.
2. The cause of these shutdowns was that under high CPU loads, older batteries were unable to deliver enough power and the phone would shut off.
3. Apple's solution to this was to throttle the CPU when phone with affected batteries were subjected to high power demands.
4. Then with the upgrade to iOS11, my belief is that more phones were affected because the baseline power usage of iOS11 was higher, so the number of phones affected by the throttling grew. (I never had a random shutdown on iOS10 and I don't believe I was ever throttled).
5. All of the above was never disclosed by Apple, other than vague explanations under the "What's New" tab of the iOS updates.
6. Some clever folks figured out that their phones were slowing down as the battery percentage (note this does not mean the battery capacity) ran down. With the power of social media, these clever guys figured out what Apple was doing.
7. These same clever folks figured out that when they put in a new battery, that could consistently deliver the high power needed under peak loads, the phones would not be throttled.
The fallout of this was that the narrative was that Apple was decpetively crippling otherwise good phones in order to drive people to upgrade. I think many people remembered back to the upgrade that killed iPhone4 and essentially bricked them.
So Apple response was to reduce the price of battery replacements from $80 to $30 for one year (plus a few months).
Note - iPhone batteries have always been replaceable, it's just not an easy process.
Note 2 - iOS11 will throttle if the phone experiences a sudden shutdown, but now you will be able to go into the settings to turn off the throttling, but you're risking further sudden shutdowns.
So this battery lasting performance is not the issue that Apple resolves with the battery replacement... correct? Im experiencing battery degrade, not iPhone performance... maybe replacing the battery will solve the battery degrade issue only until the aging reaches the 2 year time that the battery is in now... do you understand what im talking about? 
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You won't see a drop in performance unless your battery falls below some specific health level. I don't know what that is and even if it does, you can now disable throttling and take your chances with a battery that might not be able to provide enough power during peak usage. Most of the people who are walking around with pitchforks seem to have some magical idea that batteries don't decay.
You can get a replacement battery for only $29 for the rest of 2018. After that, I think the price goes up to $59 for most devices. A battery replacement kit with everything you need to replace your own battery is roughly $30 through iFixit.com. It's not that hard, but I can't say it's easy either. It definitely takes some time to do.
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Unless you happened to get a bad battery by luck of the draw, there's nothing patently wrong with your iPhone's battery. They started the battery replacement program as an answer to bad PR they were getting for installing software that slowed your phone down to prevent excess battery draw. Lots of people interpreted that to mean they were intentionally slowing their phones down to force them to pay money and upgrade to the latest iPhones... which is a ridiculously paranoid idea, but lots of people subscribe to garbage like that.
But because people raised such a storm of bad PR, you get the option of replacing your battery for $29 if you want. If your battery is above 90% and you've had it for a while, it's probably not worth it. If you're below 80%, take advantage. It's not going to keep being offered.
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So this battery lasting performance is not the issue that Apple resolves with the battery replacement... correct? Im experiencing battery degrade, not iPhone performance... maybe replacing the battery will solve the battery degrade issue only until the aging reaches the 2 year time that the battery is in now... do you understand what im talking about?
Batteries die, regardless of usage. They’re lithium technology. They’re the closest thing to living parts on a phone — they can last for ages with heavy usage, or die in just a few cycles if you got a bad batch.
When the batteries in your TV remote stop working, you don’t buy a new TV. You replace the batteries. Nothing can stop a battery from wearing — even if you keep it locked in a drawer untouched for 2 years, it’ll have less capacity when you take it out than when you first put it in there.
TL;DR:
- battery life is rubbish? Get a new battery.
- battery will die eventually? Yep, that’s the nature of the beast, regardless of manufacturer or model.
How can i know to what % level my battery is? I have "coconutBattery" app on OSX... maybe i can use that?
$29 for replacement! That the cost of the battery retail and labor is free! Cannot beat this price!
Not that i'm aware of. Just update to ios 12 and be happy. Or just get your battery replaced. It's cheap. Those are your options.
Coconut Battery works for that just fine. You can also go into your iOS settings and there's a Battery Health feature in there somewhere. Keep in mind that all battery health estimates are just that. They're estimates and you can see them fluctuate. It's not uncommon to see a battery gain 3-4% or lose 3-4% on a day to day basis so don't obsess over it. Any day to day changes you see is likely just noise. If it drops 5% this week and 5% next week, then you have a problem, but if it bounces around, ignore it.