Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/09/14/apples-29-iphone-battery-re.html
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I just went to replace the battery in my 6s - learned there was a recall on the battery and they gave me the new one for free.
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Aaah shit. I have to do it soon then… My iPhone 6 is buggy as hell…
What the hell am I supposed to do with my 4S with a cracked screen? Where is the apple love for a customer who loyally bought a used 4S and refuses to throw money away ever year when a new phone comes out?
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I’m not sure Apple has a moral responsibility to fix your seven-year-old phone that you broke.
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Apple can still replace iPhone 4 screens.
So can a dude at the mall.
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Argh! I keep forgetting we have to do this…
Well, there are shops that do repairs for far less than Apple charges, and they often repair old gadgets that apple has ceased to support in any way. But considering the amount you will pay for labour plus parts, I recommend buying a used replacement on Ebay. Used 4s phones have become quite cheap, and putting a new battery in one is a fairly simple and non-technical procedure.
I would not under any circumstances recommend that you try to fix the screen yourself - with the 4s you have to disassemble the entire phone to get to the screen, and despite Ifixit’s propaganda, doing so is a task only to be undertaken by highly detail oriented people with sharp eyesight, fine motor control, technical acumen, and a lot of patience. Being a hobbit helps too.
ETA, once you have a replacement phone, sell your cracked one on Ebay for parts. You’ll get some cash back and save the old phone from becoming e-waste.
Ah, see, Apple don’t love that.
IIRC, they are only doing this because it was discovered that the phones were actively and intentionally bricking the batteries as time went on for some bullshit made up reason.
Personally, I also think there’s something in the OS that works to deprecate the hardware as time goes on. But since the code isn’t open source, we will probably never know.
I just can’t imagine a reason for my iPad Air reloading every Safari page when I tab between them – even if I just go back and forth – when it didn’t used to be that way. Other than to make the experience as annoying and slow as it can get away with in an effort to nudge me to upgrade.
“Hah! Joke’s on YOU Apple! I already bought an iPad Pro. Heh. Hmm.”
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Not quite. They were throttling CPU performance when battery performance dropped below a certain level. Without that, the phone would just randomly crash instead, so the idea was to give users a softer landing.
Stupidly, this feature was unannounced and not at all user configurable. All users could see was the throttling. And presumably the phone’s inability to hold a charge as long as it used to, though I doubt many people would connect the two phenomena (I doubt I would have).
After the kerfuffle, Apple launched the battery repair program. I think the throttling is now a user-configurable option, but not sure about that part.
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Of note, Apple will still replace batteries in the new year, just for more money. The good news is that the price is not going back to the extortionate level it used to be. It used to be $70, next year it will be $50 for all but the X-series phones. Considering the labour cost, $50 is a good deal, especially since DIY battery swaps will destroy your phone’s waterproofing.
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So like I was joking…
This is Boing Boing. Poe’s law applies. Right now, on the front page, there’s a guy who’s righteously outraged that Google has the ability to push security updates to phones.
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