iPhone 13: Excessive battery drain and freezing

Excessive Battery Drain and Freezing Issues on iPhone 13 (iOS 26.1)

Hi everyone,

We purchased a brand new iPhone 13 (128GB) for my wife in March 2025. Since day one, we have been experiencing significant battery drain and performance issues that don't seem normal for a new device.

The Main Issues:

• Excessive Battery Drain: From the moment we unboxed it, the battery drains rapidly. Even with very light usage (mostly WhatsApp, no gaming or video editing), she has to charge the phone twice a day.

• Battery Health & Cycle Count: After 10 months, the Battery Health has dropped to 87% with a cycle count of 390. I want to emphasize that this high cycle count is a CONSEQUENCE, not a cause. The phone's defective power management forced us to charge it twice daily just to keep it functional, which artificially inflated the cycle count in a short period.

• System Freezing: During FaceTime calls, the iPhone frequently freezes, requiring a force restart.

• Apple Support Feedback: We contacted Apple Support early on. They claimed it was "initial optimization," but even after waiting months, the situation only got worse.

The phone is currently running iOS 26.1. We see a massive "idle drain"; for example, the battery drops from 100% to 60% within 3-4 hours with almost zero active usage.

Has anyone else faced a similar issue where a defective battery forced more charging cycles, leading to rapid health decline? Is this likely a hardware/logic board defect?

Any advice would be appreciated.

I’ve shared below a screenshot from her battery usage.