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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

#81

Post by Mirioron »

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…

There used to be a time when swapping a battery could be done by a 7 year old, but then companies decided to make it more difficult. People should be servicing their own stuff, but that obviously doesn't help Apple's bottom line.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#82

Post by acd »

Is it legal from competition laws to lock your product?

Sherman anti trust law “Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States”

Someone could argue that monopolize battery repair is a form of monopoly. I understand the battery safety part from Apple though.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#83

Post by dijit »

metalliqaz wrote: post #62
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…

This anecdote so closely matches Apple's messaging on the topic, it makes me wonder if you are an Apple employee. However since it involves aftermarket sales, I suppose it's prudent to assume not. Let's look at it from a different angle. You got to take advantage of an aftermarket in order to find a cheap phone. In this case you got scammed, but for the time being you still have the option of getting a cheap battery…

There is an added incentive to do this with iPhones and Apple products in general though; because they hold such a high aftermarket value.

It’s quite common to refurb expensive things because you can be relatively sure you will get a return on it. Double so if you can refurb with discount parts.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#84

Post by vesrah »

aejnsn wrote: post #38
roboys wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#85

Post by ska »

tooop wrote: post #55
derefr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not reporting as broken; it’s just reporting as “not our problem if it fails.” The Right-to-Repair discussion often ignores a key problem companies have: figuring out whether a device is under warranty (i.e. whether they’re obligated to repair the device for free) when it’s submitted for repair. Some repairs make themselves obvious, and so make the removal of warranty obligation obvious. Other repairs—like third…

"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 odd and intermittent symptoms with communication issues. Why should a manufacturer be expected to deal with that under warranty?

Part of the problem with consumer electronics is that they aren't really particularly designed to be serviceable, let alone user-serviceable. So it's not like a car manufacturer saying they'll refuse to warranty a rear shock because you changed your own oil or whatever.

I'm a strong supporter of right-to-repair, but I'm not convinced that should extend to forcing user serviceable designs where there is an actual design tradeoff. On the other hand this is pretty hard to prove - maybe all you can do is go after user-hostile design changes that serve no other purpose.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#86

Post by vesrah »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #63
eridius wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No but it's going to prevent a PR disaster when a phone's "Apple" battery explodes.

How would it be a disaster? All they have to do is determine it's a third party battery and all the tech blogs move on.

By then the damage to the brand has already been done.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#88

Post by caycep »

metalliqaz wrote: post #62
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…

This anecdote so closely matches Apple's messaging on the topic, it makes me wonder if you are an Apple employee. However since it involves aftermarket sales, I suppose it's prudent to assume not. Let's look at it from a different angle. You got to take advantage of an aftermarket in order to find a cheap phone. In this case you got scammed, but for the time being you still have the option of getting a cheap battery…

My impression is batteries are more finicky, and things can go wrong more than other components.

Repair a 3rd party screen, the worse that go wrong is maybe your contrast and image quality is a smidge worse than original

But w/ all those reports of battery fires, explosions, or just duds, my suspicion is this is both more of a QC but also a "cover your ass" liability kind of move by Apple.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#89

Post by close04 »

addicted wrote: post #59
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’m not sure how this is supposed to help you in your situation. In fact it has muddied the waters for all situations because now even perfectly fine batteries will show a bad battery status.

Having a status page in the phone that tells you which parts are original and which are aftermarket is very helpful when you buy a used phone or fix your own in a shop. You could easily see if you're getting an original battery or screen.

Of course you should be allowed to fix your own phone in any shop and with any parts but this should be obvious in the phone to discourage fraud.

Re: Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair

#90

Post by Bubbadoo »

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.

Agreed, the spirit of Apple under Mr. Cook is vastly different then when his predecessor was directing--no, recreating--the company. Part of it, I realize, the innovation curve tends to flatten over time. If you can't make your numbers with innovative and powerful new ideas, at least capture the margin with vendor lock-in. For a good percentage of Apple customers, that may just be fine.
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