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Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

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Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#231

Post by natch »

scottydelta wrote: post #221
mopsi wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both videos mention suggestions to buy a new computer because repair cost is close to the price of a new one. In such case, the computer would never reach a repair depot. As to Rossmann being a hater, I too have seen so many stories of Apple denying warranty for made up reasons (liquid damage, etc) that it is very difficult to believe that Apple is acting in good faith when it comes to repairs.

Apple's warranty and their water damage sensors are absolutely useless. The water damage sensors go off if you are in a humid area and along with it goes your warranty. I had problems with my keyboard macbook 2015. Took my laptop to the apple store and was basically told that warranty is void due to water damage. I don't understand know how this is legal?

I suppose humidity can also cause water damage. Humidity is basically caused by high levels of water moisture in the air. Which water moisture, as we know, moves in and out of liquid form as it condenses and evaporates, sometimes unnoticed in places we can’t see.

Seems unfortunate that some environments are harmful to electronics, but what would you have them do, guarantee the product in absolutely any conditions?

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#232

Post by Yabood »

Perhaps unrelated to the topic of batteries, but I wanted to share my experience at an Apple store from two days ago. I’m on a business trip to Sydney, at work I accidentally spilled water on my MacBook Pro and the thing went dark. I went to the Apple store, they popped it open and found too much water damage so they couldn’t repair it. Guess what, they replaced the whole laptop with a brand new one box and everything on the spot. They didn’t even charge me the AppleCare fee.

Apple’s customer service is second to none. If you buy their products, you should buy AppleCare too and not worry about shady repair shops.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#233

Post by buildzr »

dilippkumar wrote: post #230
buildzr wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please explain, what exactly are you doing that the standard look at the charge curve and compare with battery voltage and use known charge current and time won't solve? This is pretty much how all the battery capacity estimators work to my knowledge. As long as the chemistry is known it should hold true, sure, you'll get some variation based on load but you should be able to account for that pretty with some testing…

> Please explain, what exactly are you doing that the standard look at the charge curve and compare with battery voltage and use known charge current and time won't solve? If only it were that simple. In the real world, when you have a load that’s drawing from the battery, the voltage across the terminals will be different from the voltage on an open circuit for the same battery at the “battery level” (state of charg…

> A smartphone needs to know what battery it has when you plug in your newly replaced battery to charge it for the very first time to ensure it doesn’t become a fire or safety hazard.

This is just plain silly, even Apple's current implementation doesn't prevent it charging the battery even if you plugged a garbage one in. Indeed they have the very same luxury of monitoring many charge cycles.

Immediately rejecting the battery and refusing to charge doesn't seem to be an implementation any phone manufacturer today has chosen.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#234

Post by winrid »

privateSFacct wrote: post #109

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…

But if you replace the battery with one from the Apple store it'll still say the battery needs replaced right? That's the issue - even with a new OEM battery. Only Apple can replace it and get rid of that message.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#235

Post by nesadi »

natch wrote: post #231
scottydelta wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's warranty and their water damage sensors are absolutely useless. The water damage sensors go off if you are in a humid area and along with it goes your warranty. I had problems with my keyboard macbook 2015. Took my laptop to the apple store and was basically told that warranty is void due to water damage. I don't understand know how this is legal?

I suppose humidity can also cause water damage. Humidity is basically caused by high levels of water moisture in the air. Which water moisture, as we know, moves in and out of liquid form as it condenses and evaporates, sometimes unnoticed in places we can’t see. Seems unfortunate that some environments are harmful to electronics, but what would you have them do, guarantee the product in absolutely any conditions?

If they're legally selling devices in these areas, then yes. I don't see why environment absolves them of any and all responsibility.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#236

Post by hnick »

etaioinshrdlu wrote: post #167
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't want their customers to get f'd over you say? You might want to check out Luis Rosmann's videos, a famous Apple repair geek who fixes for cheap the products Apple themselves misdiagnose[1] in order to rip off their customers[2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7RXJP4mxCc // teenager's MacBook's display is not working correctly so Geniuses tell him he needs a new motherboard replacement while Luis d…

It might be that Apple is not able to apply the same attention to detail that Luis applies to every case. Luis complains that he can't find competent board level repair technicians to scale his business. The real problem is that it's a difficult expensive skill. Luis can't scale it, Apple can't scale it at a reasonable price either. Human attention is expensive, that's the reason software is eating the world. Part of…

> Apple can't scale it at a reasonable price either.

That may well be but they charge premium prices and position themselves as providing a premium service. They're the only business that calls their repair staff "geniuses", so I don't think it's too much to expect a "genius" to not go for the quick fix. People expect more from Apple because of how they present themselves.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#238

Post by neotek »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #209
saagarjha wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://youtu.be/AVL65qwBGnw?t=43

That's kind of ambiguous. He could mean original spec, as opposed to some junk using completely different components which is merely electrically compatible. The fact that he's then comparing "original" with "counterfeit" goes against that a little, but it feels more like confusion than malice, or using the same word in two different contexts. Saying these are original-spec components without Apple logos and not coun…

There's nothing ambiguous about it at all, they are indisputably not original components even if they adhere perfectly to the original spec.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#239

Post by chmod775 »

natch wrote: post #228
mopsi wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both videos mention suggestions to buy a new computer because repair cost is close to the price of a new one. In such case, the computer would never reach a repair depot. As to Rossmann being a hater, I too have seen so many stories of Apple denying warranty for made up reasons (liquid damage, etc) that it is very difficult to believe that Apple is acting in good faith when it comes to repairs.

Frankly I wouldn’t put it past Rossmann to make up that anecdote about the Genius suggesting they buy a new computer. That’s just not how Apple works in my experience. As to your second point, I’ve had only positive experiences with them with repairs both in and out of warranty. However some of that may be because I always buy at an Apple store, rather than at third parties, because doing so gives their systems more…

> make up that anecdote

Apple got caught on hidden camera. Multiple times.

You can find plenty of these kinds of videos, but I think Rossman was referring to this one, featuring the man himself:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_XneTBhRPYk

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#240

Post by Nextgrid »

logfromblammo wrote: post #128
Nextgrid wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The chip could keep encryption keys in RAM (since it’s always powered by the battery and there’s always gonna be enough juice in there to power it given its tiny power consumption) and if the chip loses power (due to being desoldered) the keys are lost preventing the phone from authenticating it.

Clip bypass battery to the power/gnd pins while desoldering and resoldering. Read RAM image before desoldering. Write image to RAM after resoldering. For that matter, read RAM image from old battery and write it to new battery, no soldering required. Or MITM the connection between phone and battery, and the bypass device can pass-through battery health information while intercepting and responding to authentication-r…

What if the chip uses asymmetric cryptography for authentication with a private key stored in it, impossible to recover, just like a credit card? In this case it can’t be spoofed by intercepting the comma between the phone & chip, private key can’t be extracted, etc.

Sure, a bypass battery is possible. The point here isn’t 100% security (which as you say is impossible), it’s to make the operation difficult enough that most give up or have to charge more than an official battery replacement.

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