iPhone Battery Replacement

@ AbFabDef - @ Duke1942

The operation is starting "worldwide" just now ... and we don't have details (yet), except the only official info provided in this announcement:

A Message to Our Customers - Apple

Apple should give more details in the next few days.

In any case, before making an appointment at the nearest Apple Store or AASP, ask if they have already started the replacement program.

Thanks and regards

Giulio

Terry789 wrote:

I made an appointment to get a new iPhone 6s battery on Nashville but I was informed they don’t have the batteries in yet. Anyone know if this is happening elsewhere?

It likely is. Apple publicly said recently that they are just ramping up with battery supplies and in particular, the 6s batteries may not be in stock until March.

Some people (not directed at you, btw.) have unrealistic expectations that Apple all of the sudden had millions upon millions of batteries just sitting on a shelf. They just announced this reduced price battery program. They're extending the program through ALL of 2018. Give them a chance to get batteries in stock before throwing daggers at them.

The folks who have waited months and months and months for the Takata airbag replacements from their recall they got more than a year ago would be amused about this. Stock of airbags is still not up to the level required to fix all the cars that were recalled. And I'd wager that having a safe airbag is far more important to the safety of people than a new battery in a cell phone.

rbrylawski wrote:

Terry789 wrote:

I made an appointment to get a new iPhone 6s battery on Nashville but I was informed they don’t have the batteries in yet. Anyone know if this is happening elsewhere?

It likely is. Apple publicly said recently that they are just ramping up with battery supplies and in particular, the 6s batteries may not be in stock until March.

Some people (not directed at you, btw.) have unrealistic expectations that Apple all of the sudden had millions upon millions of batteries just sitting on a shelf. They just announced this reduced price battery program. They're extending the program through ALL of 2018. Give them a chance to get batteries in stock before throwing daggers at them.

It's not necessarily a great idea having that many lithium batteries on hand. They're known to lose capacity simply by aging without being used (along with self-discharge), so keeping around supplies of unused batteries for two years isn't such a great idea. One made recently is likely to have more capacity than one stockpiled for two years. And deep discharge is a possibility.

It wouldn't be that bad if lithium rechargeable batteries were recharged in storage to 50%, but who's going to do that? The only industry where I've heard of something similar is for lead-acid batteries, where it's done to prevent sulfation.

Everything that I've read said that supply may be constrained at first and to make sure the store has the batteries in stock before making the appointment.

Just to share my experience with the board. I have a iPhone 6. Battery never lasts through day and is often near dead by noon . I called Apple support to participate in replacement program and they insisted on running a diagnostics test. Based on the test results they said my battery was fine and a replacement would not change anything. After I insisted they reluctantly reserved a battery for me at our local Apple store. At the store I was forced again to do a battery analysis and again told authoratativaly that a replacement battery “ will not last longer or speed up...” my phone. At my insistence the battery was replaced. It is 4pm now, I have been using my phone all day on a single charge and am still in the 80%. Also, my phone seems more robust.

Apple Stores are supposed to do the iPhone 6 and later battery replacement no matter what and without testing out the battery.

Maybe that store is NOT aware of Apple's current iPhone reduced price battery replacement program, yet.

seventy one wrote:

Just to say; I do not see this matter as people taking advantage so as not to miss out on a cheap battery offer.

I depends on the person. My wife heard about it and has asked me about it. She's got no performance issues on her 6s Plus, where my running of coconutBattery indicates that it's at about 84% health. She's looking at this as a chance to start over with 100%. However, she's also heard of the availability issues and is willing to put it off until there are reports that there's no longer a backorder.

I was reading someplace that maybe 10% of the iPhones being brought in under this promotion are failing the standard battery diagnostic.

Apple's motivation is likely very different than their customers' different motivations. I had my 4s for over 4 years, and it had a nominal life of 300 cycles. I'm guessing that it was probably around 1000 and had about 20% of its original capacity. If Apple had made their battery replacement service available for $29 I would have done it in an instant. Since they didn't I just gave it away to someone who got an aftermarket battery installed in Asia for about $15.

This has been rather unprecedented, and I'm not sure how Apple could have done it in any ways that satisfies the majority of customers. When they announced that they'd make the lower price available in late January, the outcry was to do it immediately and Apple relented. Then when the supplies were wholly inadequate for the demand, people were complaining about that. But I give Apple credit for trying.

tom1825 wrote:

Yes, same issue in Manhattan Beach, CA. Made an appointment at Apple store (after making one at Best Buy, which at least has a sign saying they have no inventory, don't know when they will, and users should not rely on Apple website appointments), waited 15 minutes after arriving, and then "tech" guy says they have no inventory. I ask why they accept appointments when they have no batteries, and he says they get phone diagnostic data (which takes 60 seconds or so) and put you in the queue to be notified when they actually have inventory. Apple needs to change their appointment system for this. Don't allow appointments when they know there is no inventory. Absolutely no reason for people to make two trips to the store. Oh, and the tech guy says when they do notify me, all I have to do is drop in and they'll install right away. Sure they will.

That's Apple's part inventory process. They absolutely won't give customers real time inventory before arriving at a store. If you need it and have an appointment, they'll tell you if it's in stock and then allow you to return if it's not. I suppose the rationale is to maintain a "virtual queue" where everyone has to come it and where nobody jumps ahead just because someone is posting to a message board that "Apple Century City" says they have plenty. Not that the current typical 1-week appointment window means it will still be there.

I had a tough time just finding out if they had a particular part that still available at all. I had a serial number and everything, but unless my computer was there along with a Genius Bar appointment, I wasn't going to find out if they had the part.

Apple has thousands of people who answer the phone. Some are better at their jobs than others.

Now think about the logistics of suddenly, without warning, getting a HALF a BILLION batteries deployed to Apple stores around the world. (That's roughly the number of phones eligible for battery replacement). Not to mention manufacturing the 8 different kinds of batteries. And finding enough technicians to install them. And finding enough workspace for those technicians to do their jobs. Or the time to do it. Based on having replaced a 4S battery myself recently, I would guess it would take about 15 minutes per battery. That's 4 batteries an hour per technician. Or about 40 in a workday with overtime. Doing the math, that's 12 million staff hours of work. Apple has committed to complete it in one year. Let's assume about 2,000 hours a year per technician, a figure that most HR departments would find reasonable. So you now need over 6,000 trained technicians to meet this goal. In addition to the current technician staff in Apple stores (you can't stop the other repairs done in stores to just deal with battery replacements).

MichelPM wrote:

What does a battery replacement have anything to do with a cracked screen?

If someone brings in an iPhone with a damaged or cracked screen, of course, Apple is going to charge extra for that damage repair if they can't get the screen back on.

No one here is talking about damaged screen iPhones get batteries replaced.

Why must you always go off-topic all the time.

How is it "off-topic" when the topic is "iPhone Battery Replacement"? It may be obvious to you, but it's not obvious to everyone else that cracked glass (where the phone otherwise works) incurs an additional repair cost in order to replace the battery. There are bound to be people (perhaps reading this topic) who might walk into an Apple Store with an appointment to replace a 6 Plus battery, and then balk when told that $29 battery service now requires a full-retail $169 glass replacement service. I've read about it and heard it from an Apple Store employee, but Apple doesn't mention it in their main iPhone battery replacement pages.

iPhone Battery & Power - Official Apple Support

iPhone Service Answer Center - Apple Support

So anyone with a cracked screen who just "lives with it", think about the additional cost before getting an appointment to replace the battery.

Yes, same issue in Manhattan Beach, CA. Made an appointment at Apple store (after making one at Best Buy, which at least has a sign saying they have no inventory, don't know when they will, and users should not rely on Apple website appointments), waited 15 minutes after arriving, and then "tech" guy says they have no inventory. I ask why they accept appointments when they have no batteries, and he says they get phone diagnostic data (which takes 60 seconds or so) and put you in the queue to be notified when they actually have inventory. Apple needs to change their appointment system for this. Don't allow appointments when they know there is no inventory. Absolutely no reason for people to make two trips to the store. Oh, and the tech guy says when they do notify me, all I have to do is drop in and they'll install right away. Sure they will.

Worse! I walked into an apple store to have the battery replaced. I was told that I had to have my iPhone 6 plus diagnosed and then I could order the battery. I stated I only wanted the battery, but their rep and supervisor wouldn't budge. I asked to talk to the supervisor's manager and he stated that he did not have one. At this point I finally consented to call apple support and their tech then informed me that the diagnosis wasn't needed for the battery replacement. Apple support created a case ID. I also asked that support that I wanted to complain about this long process and he created another ticket. Next morning received another email from support that the battery replacement would be available in over two months. I was livid and contacted support again and got a hold of supervisor to complain. His response was that the discounted price was apple's effort to make good on this issue of slowing down the phones and there wasn't anything more he could do because that was what apple was instructing them to do. Apple customer service was what made worth the extra cost, now I don't see that as worth the extra cost of devices and will be looking at the other companies products.

It is not limited to iPhone 6 models. It includes the iPhone 6 and all later models: 6+, 6S, 6S+, 7, 7+, 8, 8+. Print a copy of this for backup if you need it: A Message to Our Customers - Apple

Especially this paragraph:

Apple is reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 — from $79 to $29 — for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced, available worldwide through December 2018. Details will be provided soon on apple.com.

Also note that Apple issued a later clarification that says that Apple will replace a battery whether or not it shows that it needs to be replaced.

MichelPM wrote:

Apple Stores are supposed to do the iPhone 6 and later battery replacement no matter what and without testing out the battery.

Maybe that store is NOT aware of Apple's current iPhone reduced price battery replacement program, yet.

From what's been reported, it's one chance to get the $29 service without the battery failing the diagnostic. If it fails (under 80% new capacity) they'll replace it for the offer price in 2018. So anyone will be disappointed if hoping to get a new battery, then another one before the end of the year. That's unless someone can manage to get a battery to be under 80% health by the end of the year.

If your screen is cracked, they're going to charge for the glass repair because they can't press the front in place without intact glass.

rbrylawski wrote:

Tenafly144 wrote:

It’s not that I expected an appointment the minute I called. What I did expect, AFTER Apple announced the program up and running was a straight forward experience meaning easy to set up an appointment ( even if it wasn’t for three months ) and courteous employees who apologize for the delay instead of implying I was being unreasonable for wanting a new battery in the first place!

An additional FYI for those who haven’t gone yet, the person who helped me had me sign a form that if any non Apple parts were in my phone (mine thankfully does not) the repair would not be covered meaning if you have previously serviced your phone outside of Apple don’t bother bringing it in. Not sure why this is so, a defective battery is still defective even if your screen is not an original!

This has been Apple's policy forever. They will not work on a device that has been serviced by a 3rd party firm, period. And the reason is pretty simple. If the 3rd party did anything that could have damaged the phone, there is no way to stop a customer from then trying to pin the blame on Apple and expect Apple to either fix or replace the phone. So Apple won't touch a phone that has been touched by another company.

I think it's got more wrinkles than that. The most important thing is that warranty repairs can't be conditioned on going through authorized repair and using authorized parts.

Under warranty, there are consumer protection laws in many countries (such as the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act in the United States) that don't allow a warrantor to deny a warranty or extended service plan (like AppleCare) claim out of hand because a product was modified or serviced by an "unauthorized" person (including the owner), or now contains "unauthorized" parts. At least in the US that means "tie in provisions" can't be made unless the particular part is provided for free (like a carmaker's complimentary service plan) or a waiver is granted by the FTC. They're of course not responsible for damage that comes from shoddy work or if the unauthorized part might have damaged something. The worst thing about such laws is that some companies ignore them, and it takes legal action to enforce the terms.

I've serviced my own MacBook Pro before. I replaced the hard drive myself. I'm thinking of upgrading the RAM. I unplugged the battery connector when I had an otherwise unrecoverable SMC issue. These are not things that Apple will consider disqualifications for their MBP battery service, which is the only way to get a new OEM battery. As was stated, they want to know that there are non-Apple/AAS installed parts, but it't not automatically going to disqualify for everything Apple sells. I'm pretty sure that if I previously installed an aftermarket battery in there myself (and it's really easy) they would refuse to install a new one out of warranty.

Now out of warranty with a particularly difficult to service device like an iPhone is another matter. These consumer protection laws only apply to warranties and "extended warranties". Apple legally has no obligation to service the battery in an out of warranty device if it's received aftermarket parts. There's bound to be people who are turned away by Apple because they had some repair stand in a mall replace the battery or fix a cracked screen.