iPhone 5 v. iPhone 6 Battery Cycle Count - Questions

Hi

Apple states that the battery in iPhone is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles.

(Note that this appears to be at odds with another statement that "Apple lithium-ion batteries are designed to hold at least 80% of their original capacity for a high number of charge cycles, which varies depending on the product").

It is not necessarily the case that any given battery will need to be replaced after 500 charge cycles.

Equally, an iPhone may benefit from battery service after far fewer than 500 charge cycles (for example, if capacity has been affected by use, charging or storage under extreme ambient temperatures).

If and when you become concerned about reduced performance, arrange for Apple to inspect your iPhone (perhaps via a Genius Bar appointment).

Depending on timing and usage, iPhone battery service might be covered under warranty, an AppleCare / AppleCare+ plan or consumer law.

Otherwise, Apple (either directly or via Apple Authorised Service Providers) offers a chargeable battery service.

More information:

http://www.apple.com/batteries/why-lithium-ion/

http://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/

http://www.apple.com/batteries/service-and-recycling/

iPhone Service Pricing - Apple Support

1) I thought it was 400 cycles for an iPhone battery but it could be 500. It's certainly not 1000.

2) The battery starts to degrade from the very first time you charge it. It is supposed to maintain 80% charge for the 500 cycles. After that, it should be replaced. Individual batteries may vary. Three years for an iPhone battery is pretty good, in my opinion.

3) Yes.

4) No one knows precisely how long your battery will last. If it fails within a year, it's covered by warranty. If it fails after that, you pay to have it replaced. Just because an app says that your battery is BAD doesn't mean that you have to replace it instantly. Do keep in mind that older lithium ion batteries can start to swell, though.

There's a factor that hasn't been mentioned. Batteries also degrade over time, independently of the number of charge cycles. My wife's 4S is over 4 years old, only has 170 full charge cycles (she doesn't use it much) and the battery capacity is 78%.

My iPhone 6, 2 years old, shows 468 cycles, capacity 95%.

On a totally different plane, my 2003 Prius, now 13 years old with 100,000 miles still shows battery capacity near its new value. Its traction battery is NiMH, not Lithium. That probably makes a difference.

My iPhone 5S which is 3 years and 2 months old was measured at the Genius bar with 81% capacity and 1051 cycles.

Pretty good I think, but the battery occasionally suddenly died, or experienced large voltage drops when the battery indicator was displaying 15% and sometimes 20%, just after 3 years. It would shut down and go to blank black screen with central spinner (at 10-20% indicated on battery level), as it powered down to request a recharge.

Needless to say this unpredictability when the battery would die, necessitated a new change in battery.

Perhaps the battery is the issue with my iPhone 5 which requires a hard reset fairly frequently when left in sleep generally - it doesn't wake up.

I have the following from iBackupbot:

Cycle count: 953

Design capacity:1430

Full charge capacity:1300

Battery Life App on the phone says 'Good' just 9.7% wear level

However, the phone did get wet once, did the whole rice in a zip-loc bag, and I hard to replace the camera which I did myself, which did require the battery to be removed to install the camera. For quite a while after that it was working fine, but these crashes are happening more regularly. Despite the above results, my suspicion is the battery needs replacing.

bold_seagull wrote:

However, the phone did get wet once, did the whole rice in a zip-loc bag, and I hard to replace the camera which I did myself, which did require the battery to be removed to install the camera. For quite a while after that it was working fine, but these crashes are happening more regularly. Despite the above results, my suspicion is the battery needs replacing.

My suspicion is that it is delayed damage from the wetting it got. There's also a chance it is corrupted software. Try backing it up, then restore it and set it up as New. Don't install anything, and see if the symptoms go away. If they don't it's some sort of hardware problem. If they do, restore the backup and see if they come back. They may not.

So far, after factory reset it seems okay, although I'm no longer using it as my phone, so it is just on and I'm checking it regularly (giving it to my son for Xmas). Fingers crossed it was just the software.

I've just bought a used, gradeC iPhone 6 that is in excellent condition and has a free send back service if I'm not entirely happy. Battery Health App has the battery at GOOD, 6.1% wear level. The battery data is:

Battery health GOOD, 94% (1700/1810mAh)

Cycle count: 473

Other than the cycle count, everything is okay for 2 year old phone? I shouldn't be worried should I, or necessarily expecting a low count on a used phone?

Thanks

Thanks Lawrence. It was completely activation unlocked and sim free. I've set the phone up and enabled my own Find My iPhone so it all looks okay. I've tested many of the features, and other than the crescent moon on the front camera which isn't impacting on the images, I'm pretty pleased. Battery seems to be fine, so I'll stick with this one I think.

My daughter's phone is showing an activation lock - she's been using it for a year and a half (it was a warranty replacement direct from AT&T). She was on the phone with apple support for TWO hours last night and did everything they told her. It hasn't been jailbroken and my laptop has never been used to jailbreak anything. She suspended some security things on my laptop. Finally did a hard reset and the phone still isn't working. Apple says they can't help anymore and AT&T won't help. Any advice?

Activation Lock and inability to activate are not the same thing. Activation Lock appears as a dialog that asks you to enter an Apple ID and password. If you don't recognized the partly redacted Apple ID email address you have encountered Activation Lock. You can also check if it is activation locked here: Activation Lock Status Check

If the error is unable to connect to the activation server that is not activation lock.

To better help troubleshoot, which problem is it?

I currently have over 1000 cycles on my iPhone 6 and it is working flawlessly, lol

Thanks, good point I'll try that before looking to replace anything.

Looks OK. It's not much of a risk; if the battery goes, Apple will replace it for $79, so that's all you are risking.

Make sure it isn't activation locked! Activation Lock Status Check