APPLE has significantly hiked the price of battery replacements for two new models, and is now fielding allegations it is “out of touch”.
The Silicon Valley giant has raised the cost of a battery replacement by 20 per cent for the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models, according to reports.
The new cost of an out-of-warranty battery replacement for the two larger models of the latest iPhone lineup is $119 (£90), up from $99 (£75).
The cost remains $99 (£75) for the regular iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, which were officially unveiled just last week.
All new iPhones come with at least one year of AppleCare warranty, and subscribers to AppleCare+ can enjoy warranty-covered repairs for three years or longer.
Under AppleCare, customers can request a free battery replacement if the battery can no longer retain at least 80 percent of its original capacity.
CHECK YOUR IPHONE’S BATTERY USAGE
Here’s what you need to do…
You can see a quick overview of your battery level and activity by going to Settings > Battery.
Tap a time period to see your Activity graph for the last 24 hours, or a set number of days.
You can also see a list of apps that contributed to your battery usage.
And it’ll display the amount of battery that was used by each individual app.
You can see how long each app was in use on the screen, as well as in the background.
Apple explains that you might see the following usage types:
- Background Activity means that most of the app’s battery usage — such as playing music or tracking location — happened while the app was in the background.
- No Cell Coverage and Low Signal means that your device was searching for a signal or being used with a low signal.
- Connected to Charger means the app was used only when your device was charging.
If you’re worried about battery life and can’t get to a charger right away, consider turning Low Power Mode on to preserve it.
You can find this feature in your battery settings.
While the change is not expected to be felt until at least next year, onlookers have called the price hike “short sighted”.
“This is just p*****g up and down your customers back!! It’s stupid, short sighted and completely out of touch with what the world needs,” one person wrote in a Reddit post.
“We need easier reparability and lower prices for spare parts but that would, of course, go against Apple’s and its shareholders short sighted economic interests.”
Consumers do have the option of purchasing a cheaper third-party battery replacement, but onlookers say Apple has discouraged them from doing so.
“Such a scummy move,” a third person wrote. “[Apple] already increased the battery replacement cost in 2023 (in Europe at least).
“And of course they display annoying warning messages everywhere when using a non-Apple battery.”
iPhones with non-Apple batteries installed will conjure frequent pop-ups warning about “unknown parts”.
Third-party batteries mean the iPhone also won’t be able to retrieve battery percentage data.
The internal design of iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus has been reengineered to allow for an even larger battery and to better dissipate heat, while making battery service easier
Apple
It is a particularly bitter pill when consumers were largely expecting a reduction in the cost of replacing batteries – not a hike.
With the iPhone 16 lineup, Apple made the battery easier to access for servicing in an effort to comply with EU regulations.
In the press release, Apple confirmed the batteries inside the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models are not only larger but have a new metal shell for better heat dissipation.
“The internal design of iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus has been reengineered to allow for an even larger battery and to better dissipate heat, while making battery service easier,” the company wrote.
Battery replacements with those models, therefore, might require extra labour, MacRumors noted, which may explain the replacement cost increase.
