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Apple is almost a subscription service. You just pay in huge installments once every 2-5 years, by replacing the entire device when the battery degrades or perf

Apple is almost a subscription service. You just pay in huge installments once every 2-5 years, by replacing the entire device when the battery degrades or performance is starting to feel underwhelming.

torstenvl 2y ago
Why not just change the battery?
- bluescrn 2y ago
  Because it's been made intentionally difficult, with significant risk of further damaging the product you're trying to repair. And there's no official supply of replacements. A battery change shouldn't require heat guns, special suction/clamp tools, or adhesive-dissolving chemicals. It also shouldn't require being without your device for an unknown period of time to send it in for service.
  - fckgw 2y ago
    Ok, but a battery replacement is possible. You don't just throw it away. I've gotten battery replacements on various iPhones, iPads and Macbooks and it's a pretty straightforward processes.
    - the_snooze 2y ago
      Reading through bluescrn's comments, it seems like anything short of "I can easily replace the battery myself" is unacceptable. Would I like to be able to replace the battery in my Apple devices myself? Absolutely. Is it an unreasonable amount of money and effort to have the Apple Store do it? Not at all. Getting them to replace the battery is no big deal. If there's something to complain about, it's that they (probably intentionally) don't do a good job advertising their battery service.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      - DEADMINCE 2y ago
        > Reading through bluescrn's comments, it seems like anything short of "I can easily replace the battery myself" is unacceptable. Which is pretty reasonable. Giving up little bits of a control at a time is how we end up with no control at all.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
AlexandrB 2y ago
I'm looking at replacing my MacBook, but it's from 2015. I think 2-5 years is a bit of an overstatement. PC laptops I've owned in the past have fared much worse over the same time period.
- bluescrn 2y ago
  The lower end of the spectrum is for phones, going through daily charge/discharge cycles. While they do a lot of things very well, desiging batteries, storage, and keyboards to be practically non-replaceable and denying any upgradeability (to upsell ludicrously overpriced storage at the initial purchase) is setting an upper limit on how long the device will remain useful for.
  - Retric 2y ago
    > The lower end of the spectrum is for phones, going through daily charge/discharge cycles. With iPhones you can replace the battery for a small fraction of the cost of a new phone. Plenty of people are using 5+ year old phones without doing so, it really depends on how much time you spend on the device per day and if you’re recharging mid day. Deep discharges drastically shorten lifespan, but again just get a new battery.
    - bluescrn 2y ago
      The true cost of replacing an iPhone battery isn't the quoted dollar amount. It's the cost of being without your phone for an indeterminate period of time if you have to ship it to Apple for the battery replacement due to not living near an Apple Store.
      - Retric 2y ago
        You don’t need to go to an Apple Store. However being somewhere near an Apple Store within a ~2 year window covers most people. Further, replacing a phone is itself painful so there’s no avoiding any inconvenience here.
      - 2y ago

torstenvl 2y ago

Why not just change the battery?

bluescrn 2y ago
Because it's been made intentionally difficult, with significant risk of further damaging the product you're trying to repair. And there's no official supply of replacements. A battery change shouldn't require heat guns, special suction/clamp tools, or adhesive-dissolving chemicals. It also shouldn't require being without your device for an unknown period of time to send it in for service.
- fckgw 2y ago
  Ok, but a battery replacement is possible. You don't just throw it away. I've gotten battery replacements on various iPhones, iPads and Macbooks and it's a pretty straightforward processes.
  - the_snooze 2y ago
    Reading through bluescrn's comments, it seems like anything short of "I can easily replace the battery myself" is unacceptable. Would I like to be able to replace the battery in my Apple devices myself? Absolutely. Is it an unreasonable amount of money and effort to have the Apple Store do it? Not at all. Getting them to replace the battery is no big deal. If there's something to complain about, it's that they (probably intentionally) don't do a good job advertising their battery service.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - DEADMINCE 2y ago
      > Reading through bluescrn's comments, it seems like anything short of "I can easily replace the battery myself" is unacceptable. Which is pretty reasonable. Giving up little bits of a control at a time is how we end up with no control at all.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

AlexandrB 2y ago

I'm looking at replacing my MacBook, but it's from 2015. I think 2-5 years is a bit of an overstatement. PC laptops I've owned in the past have fared much worse over the same time period.

bluescrn 2y ago
The lower end of the spectrum is for phones, going through daily charge/discharge cycles. While they do a lot of things very well, desiging batteries, storage, and keyboards to be practically non-replaceable and denying any upgradeability (to upsell ludicrously overpriced storage at the initial purchase) is setting an upper limit on how long the device will remain useful for.
- Retric 2y ago
  > The lower end of the spectrum is for phones, going through daily charge/discharge cycles. With iPhones you can replace the battery for a small fraction of the cost of a new phone. Plenty of people are using 5+ year old phones without doing so, it really depends on how much time you spend on the device per day and if you’re recharging mid day. Deep discharges drastically shorten lifespan, but again just get a new battery.
  - bluescrn 2y ago
    The true cost of replacing an iPhone battery isn't the quoted dollar amount. It's the cost of being without your phone for an indeterminate period of time if you have to ship it to Apple for the battery replacement due to not living near an Apple Store.
    - Retric 2y ago
      You don’t need to go to an Apple Store. However being somewhere near an Apple Store within a ~2 year window covers most people. Further, replacing a phone is itself painful so there’s no avoiding any inconvenience here.
    - 2y ago