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Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

ifixit.com

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Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#101

Post by aejnsn »

vesrah wrote: post #84
aejnsn wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't go buy a BMW anytime soon. Have to recode the battery, and it's been that way for years.

Not sure why you got downvoted, but this is true. When you replace the battery in a new-ish BMW you need to recode/register the battery since BMW changes the way it charges the battery based on age and type.

I'm not sure myself. I am attempting to contrast one premium consumer product with another based on expectations. I think iFixIt and others knowingly sensationalize this stuff without looking for parallels elsewhere.

In the BMW community, we justify technical reasoning behind the battery coding of our automobiles' features, but apparently phones, with their comparable levels of complexity, are supposed to use AAA batteries because the company that makes replacement parts has a loud voice. Maybe I am mistaken, but this could be considered a double-standard. I am not apologizing for Apple, I have my own frustrations with the company lately, but I strive for consistency when I opine.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#102

Post by aejnsn »

Scoundreller wrote: post #92
aejnsn wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't go buy a BMW anytime soon. Have to recode the battery, and it's been that way for years.

I profited from this: Bought the code reader from AliExpress for $150. Then sold it locally once I was done for close to $200. My biggest gripe was getting the battery in and out of the trunk. Anywho, a half decent scan tool pays for itself.

Carly and ProTool are amazing tools too. :)

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#103

Post by aejnsn »

tfandango wrote: post #99
aejnsn wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't go buy a BMW anytime soon. Have to recode the battery, and it's been that way for years.

Even Chrysler is doing things like this. I had a hitch installed, super simple, all of the wires etc plug in to the appropriate places, but if you want to actually use the break lights, you need to visit the dealership to flip a boolean flag somewhere, otherwise the lights just don't work.

The only difference in a current Ford Mustang between making the in-dash vacuum gauge work for boost too is a boolean flag. So if you drop a supercharger on your N/A GT model, you can have your MAP sensor register in the dash as if the supercharger is OEM.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#104

Post by robocat »

mstolpm wrote: post #40

To give another perspective: I bought a used iPhone SE about a month ago and was worried about battery health because many sellers didn‘t mention it. After passing some more shady offers I found an SE for cheap (around 100€) that claimed 95% battery health. And I could verify that in the settings. Seller mentioned the iPhone was never serviced and only used as a backup phone. Perhaps that should have ring an alarm, b…

I like the Apple approach here: don't prevent the phone from being fixed by third parties, but allow someone buying a second hand iPhone to check that parts are genuine and fitted competently.

If buying a second hand device, you want to know the screen and parts are original. If they are not original parts, you can still choose to buy the iPhone, but you are likely to offer less. Or you might just say no if you are nervous about batteries exploding, or security. That helps everyone avoid a market for lemons.

Third party components are very often lower quality in my experience. And if you've ever watched anyone fixing a phone, you would understand why many people don't want a phone "fixed" by phone technicians or DIY repairers.

Preventing repairs (a la error 53) is evil. A place to see unofficial repairs is fine so long as it isn't obnoxious (no popups) and doesn't arbitrarily disable functionality (Apple shouldn't report battery health of a battery they didn't fit, as they can't do so reliably. Disabling truetone seems wrong: it's ok if a replacement screen looks bad).

Disclaimer: generally I'm not an Apple fan.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#106

Post by endorphone »

sschueller wrote: post #18
sjwright wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It won’t be for no reason. If their battery health tightly calibrated to report on Apple’s OEM battery, it could provide misleading information about third-party batteries. My guess is that Apple is bored of dealing with complaints about devices which have been modified by third parties.

Well, if they made the batteries easily replaceable without the device having to go to service they would not have this many issues. Of course their replacement batteries would need to be reasonably priced...

Anecdotes are worthless, but in the past half decade the only people I know who have successfully replaced a smartphone or pad battery have been Apple device owners. Apple has an easy, clear, successful program for replacing batteries, and most find the pricing entirely reasonable.

A friend did buy a Nexus 6P battery replacement kit from Amazon, but the process was so byzantine, and no shop was willing to do it, that they just ended up getting a new device.

I did like back in the day when I could pop the back off my Samsung Galaxy and replace the battery, but those days are gone and Apple is the only company that has any sort of concerted program to keep their older devices operating.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#107

Post by tooop »

ska wrote: post #85
tooop wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Needs service" is the same as reporting that it is broken. Another thing is that warranty covers manufacturing defects so, for example, it is unreasonable to automatically void warranty for a screen just because the battery was replaced.

> for example, it is unreasonable to automatically void warranty for a screen just because the battery was replaced. I get where you are coming from but this isn't so cut and dried, as incompetent repairs are certainly capable of damaging or destroying other components. Someone I know once unknowingly messed up an antenna in the process of replacing a phone battery with an after market one, which caused all sorts of…

I completely agree that manufacturer is not responsible for badly done 3rd party repairs which have broken things. My point is that warranty should be denied only in cases where someone (either manufacturer itself or an independent 3rd party) can prove that a component broke because of a bad repair.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#108

Post by 19870213 »

GhostVII wrote: post #5

To 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.

It will apparently also say/hide that if you swap two batteries of two identical iPhones that you just bought from the store. Louis Rossman's take on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlvlgmjMi98

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#109

Post by privateSFacct »

Despite all the HN comments, Apple's made an absolute killing and charges FAR FAR higher margins for their products in part because they design them so normal people don't get totally f'd over.

And yes, the scam of a trash after market battery to make the iphone battery life look good is well known. And guess how many parents and grandparents then go to apple to "fix" something that has nothing to do with Apple?

The scammers are the people putting the bogus batteries in. Apple saying that the battery is not confirmed genuine is not a scam. Its the truth.

People can't figure out why apple can charge such ridiculous premiums on what is otherwise a commodity product. This is why.

From applecare to the activation lock to app permissions to alerting user to bogus behavior to app store quality to reversible charging cables - all the activities HN considers "anti-consumer" have helped make consumers value apple products. This will be one of those situations.

Now when you buy a used phone, much more likely to have a real sense of the battery quality in what you are buying. 3 year used apple products ALREADY carry a much higher premium vs android phones, this will help continue that trend.

And no, it's NOT that hard to replace a battery in an iphone, seriously, for all the folks complaining about that go to an apple store or buy a kit, and compare the hassle to doing the same thing with a android phone.

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