Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair
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Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair
#2>>"Technically, it is possible to remove the microcontroller chip from the original battery and carefully solder it into the new battery you’re swapping in, restoring the Battery Health feature—but the procedure isn’t for the faint of heart, and it’s an unreasonable requirement for any repair, much less something as simple as a battery swap."it seems a razor and a low wattage solder iron will fix it.
and im guessing a few little guys may end up fattening thier wallets this way. Im wondering how apple might catch the play, and how they would change the hardware so a chip transplant is no longer a workaround.
Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair
#3Goddammit Apple! You keep on finding new reasons for me to hate you! I want names! Who’s responsible for this crap?!?
Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair
#4Goddammit Apple! You keep on finding new reasons for me to hate you! I want names! Who’s responsible for this crap?!?
This seems like it's pretty similar to the old reasons.
The people responsible are the people who keep buying their locked-down crap.
Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair
#5To be clear, you can replace the battery with whatever battery you want, it will just show a message saying it can't be verified as an Apple battery. The only user impact is being unable to see battery health. I don't even think I can see my battery health on my Android so I don't see it as a big deal, but definitely not great if they are hiding this functionality for no reason.
Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair
#6EDIT: Per Betelgeuse90 comment below, my characterization of the situation was incorrect. Apple's behavior is anti-competitive. I am leaving my original comment here for posterity.
Original comment:
I love jumping on the apple hate train as much as the next person, but this is not a valid reason to do so.
Depending on the aftermarket battery, those reported values could be completely wrong / misleading to the user. If you are looking for proof, just buy a random battery off amazon for your computer and tell me how accurate the current reported charge is.
Plus, I would like to know if a used device I buy has a non-OEM battery. As long as it stays in that settings screen and doesn't turn into a consistent annoying pop-up (or doesn't stop the user from upgrading, as was the case with the home button debacle of days passed) I don't think this deserves the outrage.
Also, the title is a bit misleading. Nothing is being locked, the device functions as it should. An ideal solution would be that apple allows third party battery manufacturers to go through a certification process so apple could ensure quality control. Fat chance in you-know-what apple would ever do that.
Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair
#7iFixit is misrepresenting Apple to market its tool sales business. This is what they do.
Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair
#8EDIT: Per Betelgeuse90 comment below, my characterization of the situation was incorrect. Apple's behavior is anti-competitive. I am leaving my original comment here for posterity. Original comment: I love jumping on the apple hate train as much as the next person, but this is not a valid reason to do so. Depending on the aftermarket battery, those reported values could be completely wrong / misleading to the user. I…
To be fair, you'll get the "service battery" message even if you place an original Apple battery in the iPhone. A used device that was serviced perfectly well but not by Apple will still display this message. All this means is that the battery wasn't replaced by Apple themselves.
Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair
#9EDIT: Per Betelgeuse90 comment below, my characterization of the situation was incorrect. Apple's behavior is anti-competitive. I am leaving my original comment here for posterity. Original comment: I love jumping on the apple hate train as much as the next person, but this is not a valid reason to do so. Depending on the aftermarket battery, those reported values could be completely wrong / misleading to the user. I…
To be fair, you'll get the "service battery" message even if you place an original Apple battery in the iPhone. A used device that was serviced perfectly well but not by Apple will still display this message. All this means is that the battery wasn't replaced by Apple themselves.
Good catch! I will adjust my original message with an edit. That is straight up anti-competitive. Egg on my face for giving apple the benefit of the doubt.
Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be fair, you'll get the "service battery" message even if you place an original Apple battery in the iPhone. A used device that was serviced perfectly well but not by Apple will still display this message. All this means is that the battery wasn't replaced by Apple themselves.
Good catch! I will adjust my original message with an edit. That is straight up anti-competitive. Egg on my face for giving apple the benefit of the doubt.
To be even more fair... ;)
We don't know what Apple does when they replace batteries for customers. Maybe there's a calibration process or something of the sort. After all they're reporting battery health, which nobody else does, and that's notoriously difficult to get right.
I think there's still room for giving the benefit of the doubt. We're just assuming that all they do is plop a battery with an Apple logo on it and call it a day, but we don't know that.