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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

#31

Post by coupdejarnac »

lnsru wrote: post #24

I am going to pay 49€ for iPhone 6 original battery replacement in coming weeks. It’s still many times cheaper than buying new phone. Ifixit wants 20€ only for compatible part, so I think, Apple’s 49€ inclusive half hour technician work is very good deal. I work as an electrical engineer and understand Apple’s position very well. Nobody wants, that user try to service their devices. Some get lucky and device works fi…

Changing the battery in an iPhone 6 is easy with the iFixit kit. I've done it. Even if you somehow manage to catastrophically screw up, it is a 5 year old phone.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#32

Post by miles »

Have we all forgotten that mobile phone battery replacement was just this easy[0] not too long ago?

Now, even a phone listed in "9 Best Phones With Removable Battery In 2019"[1] has a battery replacement process like this[2].

[0] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sxdXuKbivQ&t=1m0s

[1] https://thedroidguy.com/2019/06/9-best-phones-removable-batt...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY07MujU2pM

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#33

Post by csydas »

RandomTisk wrote: post #20
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's a very big deal to me. Apple needs a good smack to their financial jaw. This is ridiculously anti-consumer and it utterly pisses me off.

I partially disagree.

The simple truth is that the market for third party non-Apple replacement parts is super sketchy. In the US and other countries where it's convenient to purchase from a reliable site like ifixit, you have legitimate options. For the rest of the world, you have AliExpress. It's not a matter of finding a local reseller, you really just don't have many good options.

I opted for my own 3rd party replacement via AliExpress and a few other resellers who shipped to the country I'm in, and while the price was right (about $10 or so), the battery shipped was just trash. It did not charge properly, even when I wired it up myself, and once fully charged that way, the batteries turned out to be counterfeit and had labels posted over the actual capacities.

It's a mine field, and unless you have the technical background to know whether it's the phone or the battery itself causing the issue, it really starts to look like it's Apple making things bad. In my case, I have the rudimentary knowledge to know that I just was sold batteries that were not fit for purpose. Go to the most common online retailer for most US persons (Amazon) and you are inundated with shoddy 3rd party batteries, the exact same ones I got from AliExpress.

How exactly are they supposed to protect the consumer here when __not__ noting that this is an unofficial battery results in the phone/user getting the impression something is wrong with the phone, not the battery.

I love iFixit, but in this case, I feel maybe they're misjudging the situation. I'd totally trust a battery from them 100%, but it's not feasible to ship to my country of residence from iFixit. Many people in the world are in this situation.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#34

Post by MiroF »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #28
RandomTisk wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a very big deal to me. Apple needs a good smack to their financial jaw. This is ridiculously anti-consumer and it utterly pisses me off.

So we going with "lock down the hardware and software" anti-consumer Apple, or "spy on everything" anti-consumer Google?

Google'a shit is more easily mitigated if you're smart and want an only slightly less great browsing experience

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#35

Post by jimmaswell »

rhegart wrote: post #27

Worse for climate change than all their supposed good deeds. An iPhone could easily last 5 years instead of 2, and millions of poor people could have a few extra thousand in their pockets if they just allowed proper repair.

Or even more in their pockets if they just got better, cheaper Android phones.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#36

Post by lnsru »

coupdejarnac wrote: post #31
lnsru wrote: post #24

I am going to pay 49€ for iPhone 6 original battery replacement in coming weeks. It’s still many times cheaper than buying new phone. Ifixit wants 20€ only for compatible part, so I think, Apple’s 49€ inclusive half hour technician work is very good deal. I work as an electrical engineer and understand Apple’s position very well. Nobody wants, that user try to service their devices. Some get lucky and device works fi…

Changing the battery in an iPhone 6 is easy with the iFixit kit. I've done it. Even if you somehow manage to catastrophically screw up, it is a 5 year old phone.

I replaced the screen and battery by myself on other iPhone 6. First time I damaged cable of the front camera. 5€ used with shipping. Second repair went smoothly. Original display was something crazy expensive as 180€. 30€ display from Amazon was ok for 5 year old phone.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#37

Post by joshypants »

Apple makes increasingly disappointing products. I recently was looking at replacing my iPhone 7 Plus, but around $900 would get the next baseline model, for no real tangible benefits, and some tangible downsides like no zoom lens and being forced to use the face scanning. Sorry, I'll replace my battery and cracked screen and wait a couple more years, thanks.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#38

Post by aejnsn »

roboys wrote: post #23
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.

My guess is Apple is bored of truly innovating and now has to resort to nickle-diming customers to hit quarterly numbers. Tim Cook put on his "Make Changing Batteries Expensive Again" hat.

Don't go buy a BMW anytime soon.

Have to recode the battery, and it's been that way for years.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#39

Post by protomyth »

Betelgeuse90 wrote: post #10
soganess wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

They replace the whole phone. They do not swap batteries when you bring it in for a battery replacement.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#40

Post by mstolpm »

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, but I bought it.

Two days later battery health was down to 71%. A week later the battery was dead. And of course it was not an original Apple battery by any means.

So, it might be bad communication by Apple, but for buyers a sign that the battery isn‘t original is very welcome.

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