Just like the $29 aren't really the true costs, that was a marketing scheme to soften the blow from the negative publicity of battery throttling. Point is: It

Just like the $29 aren't really the true costs, that was a marketing scheme to soften the blow from the negative publicity of battery throttling. Point is: It costs Apple more than $29 to replace a battery and not make a loss while doing it. So ok, a battery won't cost $6, but a technician's replacement usually won't cost $29, either. That means, the true costs are more likely to be $20 vs. $50. (And those $50 are brutally cheap, what are they paying their technicians?) EDIT: FWIW, a "sketchy" replacement battery for the Samsung Galaxy S5 costs between 7-15€ on the German eBay. That was my reference, I don't use Apple products.