Photograph of a recent instore iPhone battery replacement carried out by us.

Introduction

If you’re an iPhone owner- and even if you’re not!- it’s almost certain you’ve heard the story about Apple “slowing down” iPhones with older batteries.

Apple received quite a bit of bad publicity over this when it first hit the news. Arguably this was- in part- because they hadn’t made clear they were doing it in the first place, encouraging scepticism as to their motives and annoying those who would have preferred the choice. (Apple now faces multiple lawsuits from users claiming they didn’t consent to this, or who replaced their phones not knowing a replacement battery would solve the problem).

So- what’s the story, and how does this affect you, particularly if your battery is getting older and needing replaced?

The Problem- and What Apple Did About It

The feature first appeared unannounced in iOS for the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus and SE in early 2017, then for for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus towards the end of the year. Apple’s explanation (made after the story became public) is- taken at face value- perfectly reasonable. As they say, the performance of batteries will degrade with usage and time. In addition to a reduction in charge capacity, their impedance (internal resistance) also tends to increase, reducing their ability to deliver high levels of current at a stable voltage.

Since the iPhone’s chipset- in particular the CPU and GPU- needs more power when it’s operating at higher speeds, it’s most likely to crash due to inadequate voltage from a failing battery in that situation. Apple’s solution is to avoid “spikes” of high demand on the CPU and GPU by spreading out the workload and- if necessary- slowing things down and reducing other uses of power.

Apple claim they take into account the battery’s current state of charge and impedance level- along with the iPhone’s temperature- and only use such measures when necessary. (They also acknowledge that they are more likely to have a visible effect on performance- e.g. launch times, scrolling and smoothness, backlight brightness, speaker volume etc.- if the battery is in poorer condition).

Various independent repair businesses- ourselves included- have confirmed that fitting a new battery causes the iPhone to return to its original (full) working speed, so it appears that what Apple say is correct.

Having Your Battery Replaced

Even if you’re happy with Apple’s explanation and how they implemented it, the fact remains that it’s still a workaround for a degraded battery! The only real solution is to have the battery replaced.

If you want Apple to do this, you need to make an appointment- something you can often wait literally weeks for. They’ll run a diagnostics check on your phone to see if it’s eligible for replacement. This is generally a paid service (though a small number of iPhone 6Ss with a known problem qualify for free replacement).

Unfortunately, there’s some bad news- Apple has run out of replacement batteries and at the time of writing (mid-January) they’re not expected to have more until March or April. Though it’s possible they were caught out by a spike in demand when the story leaked, others suspect that this is an intentional shortage being used as a delaying tactic to reduce demand. (The next release of iOS is due in February and will give users the option to disable this “slowdown”. Many people will be happy enough with this, even though it’s likely to decrease reliability. It’s also likely that many others will have their battery replaced by an independent third-party business, or simply forget and not bother at all.)

The blunt truth is that Apple isn’t really interested in servicing your device. They’re all about selling new devices, hence why they’ll use any excuse to sell you an out of warranty replacement instead of fixing it. Or possibly you’ll buy a new phone instead; it’s a win either way for them.

If you want your phone’s battery replaced at a reasonable price, Disc Depot Dundee can carry this out for you. We normally have batteries for all recent iPhone models in stock, and in most cases can fit them the same day. We’ve been in business since 2001 and repairing iPhones almost as long as they’ve been available. We’re the company many other businesses in the area turn to when they require help with more advanced faults.

If anyone can replace your iPhone battery, Disc Depot Dundee can! Find us at 16 Union Street in Dundee City Centre– we’re just off the Nethergate, and straight down from the Overgate. Or you can telephone us on 01382 22 66 26 or use our contact form. We also accept iPhones for repair via mail from throughout the United Kingdom and most of Western Europe- please contact us for further details.