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It won’t be for no reason. If their battery health tightly calibrated to report on Apple’s OEM battery, it could provide misleading information about third-par

It won’t be for no reason. If their battery health tightly calibrated to report on Apple’s OEM battery, it could provide misleading information about third-party batteries. My guess is that Apple is bored of dealing with complaints about devices which have been modified by third parties.

sschueller 7y ago
Well, if they made the batteries easily replaceable without the device having to go to service they would not have this many issues. Of course their replacement batteries would need to be reasonably priced...
- addicted 7y ago
  Or available.
- endorphone 7y ago
  Anecdotes are worthless, but in the past half decade the only people I know who have successfully replaced a smartphone or pad battery have been Apple device owners. Apple has an easy, clear, successful program for replacing batteries, and most find the pricing entirely reasonable. A friend did buy a Nexus 6P battery replacement kit from Amazon, but the process was so byzantine, and no shop was willing to do it, that they just ended up getting a new device. I did like back in the day when I could pop the back off my Samsung Galaxy and replace the battery, but those days are gone and Apple is the only company that has any sort of concerted program to keep their older devices operating.
  - throwaway2048 7y ago
    You realize user replaceable batteries with removable back covers are still a thing right?
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - alkonaut 7y ago
      I don't think that's worth it vs a slightly more rigid and more waterproof phone. Changing the battery is done 0 or 1 times in the lifespan of a phone, so making it a 10 minute affair is hardly too inconvenient.
  - PudgePacket 7y ago
    > but those days are gone Maybe for high end phones. It's still a very common feature on low-mid end phones. My motorola g4 which I got just a couple years ago has it.
  - bscphil 7y ago
    >Anecdotes are worthless, but in the past half decade the only people I know who have successfully replaced a smartphone or pad battery have been Apple device owners. More anecdotes, but it's too bad you don't know me. I've replaced 3 or 4 phone batteries in the last decade. Needless to say, they've all been Android, as I've been able to do them all myself. Most of the batteries have been $30 or so and have given me years more life on my phones than I otherwise would have gotten.
roboys 7y ago
My guess is Apple is bored of truly innovating and now has to resort to nickle-diming customers to hit quarterly numbers. Tim Cook put on his "Make Changing Batteries Expensive Again" hat.
- toasterlovin 7y ago
  FWIW, Apple is making a huge push into services. Services revenue is dependent on a large installed base, rather than quarterly unit sales. This gives them a huge incentive to make sure customers have a great experience for as long as possible after purchase (on top of just wanting to make their customers happy). If they're doing this, there's probably a pretty good reason for it.
  - rebolek 7y ago
    That makes sense. ChBaaS (Changing Battery as a Service) is probably a huge opportunity for them.
- aejnsn 7y ago
  Don't go buy a BMW anytime soon. Have to recode the battery, and it's been that way for years.
  - metalliqaz 7y ago
    I, for one, hate when my car is in the shop. That's why I haven't been buying BMWs.
  - vesrah 7y ago
    Not sure why you got downvoted, but this is true. When you replace the battery in a new-ish BMW you need to recode/register the battery since BMW changes the way it charges the battery based on age and type.
    - aejnsn 7y ago
      I'm not sure myself. I am attempting to contrast one premium consumer product with another based on expectations. I think iFixIt and others knowingly sensationalize this stuff without looking for parallels elsewhere. In the BMW community, we justify technical reasoning behind the battery coding of our automobiles' features, but apparently phones, with their comparable levels of complexity, are supposed to use AAA batteries because the company that makes replacement parts has a loud voice. Maybe I am mistaken, but this could be considered a double-standard. I am not apologizing for Apple, I have my own frustrations with the company lately, but I strive for consistency when I opine.
konschubert 7y ago
In the article, they say that Apples OEM batteries are also affected.

sschueller 7y ago

Well, if they made the batteries easily replaceable without the device having to go to service they would not have this many issues. Of course their replacement batteries would need to be reasonably priced...

addicted 7y ago
Or available.
endorphone 7y ago
Anecdotes are worthless, but in the past half decade the only people I know who have successfully replaced a smartphone or pad battery have been Apple device owners. Apple has an easy, clear, successful program for replacing batteries, and most find the pricing entirely reasonable. A friend did buy a Nexus 6P battery replacement kit from Amazon, but the process was so byzantine, and no shop was willing to do it, that they just ended up getting a new device. I did like back in the day when I could pop the back off my Samsung Galaxy and replace the battery, but those days are gone and Apple is the only company that has any sort of concerted program to keep their older devices operating.
- throwaway2048 7y ago
  You realize user replaceable batteries with removable back covers are still a thing right?
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - alkonaut 7y ago
    I don't think that's worth it vs a slightly more rigid and more waterproof phone. Changing the battery is done 0 or 1 times in the lifespan of a phone, so making it a 10 minute affair is hardly too inconvenient.
- PudgePacket 7y ago
  > but those days are gone Maybe for high end phones. It's still a very common feature on low-mid end phones. My motorola g4 which I got just a couple years ago has it.
- bscphil 7y ago
  >Anecdotes are worthless, but in the past half decade the only people I know who have successfully replaced a smartphone or pad battery have been Apple device owners. More anecdotes, but it's too bad you don't know me. I've replaced 3 or 4 phone batteries in the last decade. Needless to say, they've all been Android, as I've been able to do them all myself. Most of the batteries have been $30 or so and have given me years more life on my phones than I otherwise would have gotten.

roboys 7y ago

My guess is Apple is bored of truly innovating and now has to resort to nickle-diming customers to hit quarterly numbers. Tim Cook put on his "Make Changing Batteries Expensive Again" hat.

toasterlovin 7y ago
FWIW, Apple is making a huge push into services. Services revenue is dependent on a large installed base, rather than quarterly unit sales. This gives them a huge incentive to make sure customers have a great experience for as long as possible after purchase (on top of just wanting to make their customers happy). If they're doing this, there's probably a pretty good reason for it.
- rebolek 7y ago
  That makes sense. ChBaaS (Changing Battery as a Service) is probably a huge opportunity for them.
aejnsn 7y ago
Don't go buy a BMW anytime soon. Have to recode the battery, and it's been that way for years.
- metalliqaz 7y ago
  I, for one, hate when my car is in the shop. That's why I haven't been buying BMWs.
- vesrah 7y ago
  Not sure why you got downvoted, but this is true. When you replace the battery in a new-ish BMW you need to recode/register the battery since BMW changes the way it charges the battery based on age and type.
  - aejnsn 7y ago
    I'm not sure myself. I am attempting to contrast one premium consumer product with another based on expectations. I think iFixIt and others knowingly sensationalize this stuff without looking for parallels elsewhere. In the BMW community, we justify technical reasoning behind the battery coding of our automobiles' features, but apparently phones, with their comparable levels of complexity, are supposed to use AAA batteries because the company that makes replacement parts has a loud voice. Maybe I am mistaken, but this could be considered a double-standard. I am not apologizing for Apple, I have my own frustrations with the company lately, but I strive for consistency when I opine.

konschubert 7y ago

In the article, they say that Apples OEM batteries are also affected.