Apple denies imminent iPhone 6 battery exchange program in the works

Posted:
in iPhone
After rumors circulated claiming that the iPhone 6 family will be the next recipient of a battery exchange program, AppleInsider has been told that the report is incorrect, as there is apparently no justification for a wide program to fix issues.




Apple enthusiast site Macotakara first suspected that an iPhone 6 battery replacement program was in the works, but did not cite any reasons why they thought that the program was imminent.

AppleInsider, however, found no significant departure from expected norms in over six months of collated service data provided by 40 Apple stores across the US. Some local Apple retail stores were queried as well, who all claimed to know of nothing in the works, or any inkling of an upcoming program.

"We constantly evaluate service statistics," one source inside Apple corporate said. "There are no plans or grounds for a wide iPhone 6 battery exchange program at this time."

Apple ended a program for the iPhone 5 battery in 2016 for some units sold during a five-month period in 2014. A battery replacement repair extension is currently in place for some iPhone 6s units built between September and October of 2015, with an online tool available to check eligibility.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 44
    cfccfc Posts: 13member
    There are definitely battery-related problems with the iPhone 6, particularly regarding the estimated percentage.  My other half’s phone seems to randomly jump around, losing massive amounts in a small period of time, but when you restart it then the percentage goes back to what it was.

    It seems more like a software issue than a hardware one, and it has only happened since I upgraded her phone to iOS10, which seems to back that up.  I doubt a new battery would help, but maybe it is a combination of a failing battery and over-sensitive software in iOS10?

    There are lots of complaints on Apple’s forums about it but no response from Apple.
    jaribbsGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 3 of 44
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    They need a better program for the 6S...the current program is a complete cluster fu$*! Nobody knows what to do, even if you call the Apple Store they really don't know how to handle it. The batteries are never available and apparently Apple assumes everyone lives next or near to an Apple Retail Store. The entire process is horrible. 
    jaribbs
  • Reply 4 of 44
    I had to replace my 6 battery at 15 months of ownership, though the problems started manifesting at 8 months. Definitely wasn't an OS issue. 
  • Reply 5 of 44
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    macxpress said:
    They need a better program for the 6S...the current program is a complete cluster fu$*! Nobody knows what to do, even if you call the Apple Store they really don't know how to handle it. The batteries are never available and apparently Apple assumes everyone lives next or near to an Apple Retail Store. The entire process is horrible. 
    I had the battery replaces free of charge with just a little hassle if you live near an Apple store. I imagine as time goes by more of these batteries will fail so Apple get your act together and put a service in place now. 
    mr.scott
  • Reply 6 of 44
    This issue isn't going away. My family's 3 iPhone 6's are about 15 months old, in their second Minnesota winter. Go outside for fifteen minutes with one in your pocket when it is cold and it goes dead, even if it has an 80% charge. You have to warm it up and reboot. And I am not talking below-zero-fahrenheit cold, I'm talking below 40 fahrenheit. I've had three previous iPhones, never had this problem.
    jaribbsGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 7 of 44
    mtbnutmtbnut Posts: 199member
    I think a lot of users misconstrue minor issues as major ones, then cry loud enough on social media to make the trivial seem catastrophic. I think this says more about us as Americans, in which we like to blame everything on anything other than ourselves. 

    On the other hand, I am waiting for Apple to announce the "When I Am Over 500 Feet Away From The iPhone, The Bluetooth Headset Starts Cutting Out Bluetooth Antenna Replacement Program." 


    edited January 2017 mike1Rayz2016lkruppdewmeboltsfan17watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 44
    aknabiaknabi Posts: 211member
    sog35 said:
    I'm glad Tim Cook is SMASHING THESE BULLSHIT RUMORS IN A TIMELY MANNER.

    Next step: hire a security team to visit these media members and manipulators.

    My first action would be to send a security team to visit Ming Kuo at his home and office.
    Yeah... why make breakthrough, high quality products and service second to none that made the company great in the first place when you can just be a thug... don't need any product vision, engineering talent or great store staff... that's a great long term strategy there.
    GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 9 of 44
    My 6s manifests the same shutdown issues in the replacement program but my serial number isn't found to be part of the program which sucks. My phone will shut down around 33%. Grrr...
    dewmeGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 10 of 44
    I had my iPhone 6 replaced last week free of charge even though it was over a year passed it's warranty. It had the exact symptoms described in this article. They said as I had bought it directly from apple, I didn't have to pay for it. I asked if it was a hardware issue with the phone like the 6s but they said no. 
    GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 11 of 44
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    cfc said:
    Just stifle it. There is NO widespread battery problem with the iPhone 6. Views and comments on forums don’t count. Google “hits” don’t count. As with anything there could be hundreds or even thousands of individual users with various battery issues but that doesn’t mean it’s widespread or even a real issue. The law of averages dictates a few percent of users will always have something to complain about. The Internet always amplifies the negative. Your own problem is irrelevant in the big picture.

    Apple says there is no widespread issue to warrant a replacement program. If you’re not happy about it then hire a lawyer and see how far you get. Or switch platforms if you think Apple is evil and corrupt.

    Meanwhile there were seven iPhone 6’s in my immediate family (three now have iPhone 7’s) and NONE of them had battery problems. Therefore my anecdotal experience cancels out your anecdotal experience. Deal with it.
    edited January 2017 StrangeDaysration alwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 44
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    aknabi said:
    sog35 said:
    I'm glad Tim Cook is SMASHING THESE BULLSHIT RUMORS IN A TIMELY MANNER.

    Next step: hire a security team to visit these media members and manipulators.

    My first action would be to send a security team to visit Ming Kuo at his home and office.
    Yeah... why make breakthrough, high quality products and service second to none that made the company great in the first place when you can just be a thug... don't need any product vision, engineering talent or great store staff... that's a great long term strategy there.
    You must be describing Samsung. Apple is releasing awesome new tech and products. Each year they release the best smartphone, tablet, notebook, desktop, smart watch, and now wireless headphones, all utilizing innovative new technology that doesn't fall off trees. And they have the best support and consumer satisfaction ratings. So no idea who you're talking about. 
    edited January 2017 watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 44
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member

    Well I wish the rumor was true, but I just replaced my daughter battery in her Iphone 6.

    It was exhibiting the same issue as being reported on the 6S of randomly powering off especially when it is cool out. The issue and probably the reason Apple said they are not extending the program to the 6 is the fact the issue is showing up at the end of being 2 yrs old verse people who ran into the problem within the first year on the 6S. I heard of others with the 6 having the battery issue and most all of them were older phones.

    There is something going on with these batteries, the sudden power off and then restarting the phone finding it still has 30% to 80% of power then rapidly discharging at random times is not normal behavior. I personally was thinking it had to be a issue in software or hardware since batteries do not behave this way. When my daughter first started seeing the problem is was random and did not happen all the time. As of last week it was happening every day so it went from randomly happening to and an everyday thing in 6 months. She had to put the phone in power saving mode, otherwise, it was dying in less than an hour. It seem to be consistent when the phone was doing lots of background tasks and you were playing on the phone. Try off the background task and the phone behaved more predictably.

    I put in a replacement battery, it was not that hard to do other than to release the tape the use to hold the battery in place. With the new batter the phone holds a charge and does not randomly shut down when it still have charged in the battery. I guess these Lithium Polymer batteries exhibit a very different failure modes than other battery technologies. I never seen a battery behavior like this when they are beginning to die.   

    equality72521GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 14 of 44
    Dropped $85 bucks to replace a battery even though the tech said "It showed a short amount of charging cycles" and what he noted should be right as I don't charge it each hour and "The battery should not be showing short battery life this soon". Ask them to do a firmware update before replacing and same issue. Battery would drain 10% to 15% while in the store while he was reviewing the issue. I think there is more to it than Apple is willing to admit. I understand there are a million more of these devices on the planet than in the past and issues on a few will be found, but when there are a group of folks that are chatting about such an issue repeatedly, perhaps there is an issue. Not sure QA can be managed like it was 10 or 15 years ago as again more products are on the streets but still you make more devices, you'd best have more QA folks looking into the issue. Lot of money paid for ones iPhone to have a battery crap out so soon. Frustrated nonetheless... 
  • Reply 15 of 44
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    cfc said:
    There are definitely battery-related problems with the iPhone 6, particularly regarding the estimated percentage.  My other half’s phone seems to randomly jump around, losing massive amounts in a small period of time, but when you restart it then the percentage goes back to what it was.

    It seems more like a software issue than a hardware one, and it has only happened since I upgraded her phone to iOS10, which seems to back that up.  I doubt a new battery would help, but maybe it is a combination of a failing battery and over-sensitive software in iOS10?

    There are lots of complaints on Apple’s forums about it but no response from Apple.


    Yeah I thought it was software issue and my daughter first saw it when we move her phone to iOS10, we did a few things and it seem to go away, then I thought it was hardware issue, then possibly the cheap charger and cable she was using, all proved not to be the case. I did the battery swap on the phone and it is completely back to normal now. All the weird behavior is gone. From my understanding the Apple battery had a custom chip on the battery which keeps track of battery health and charging and discharging performance information and share it with the phone I am thinking there is something that is going wrong with this chip or the battery pack itself is deteriorating.

    If it was software or iphone hardware issue changing out the battery will not solve the problem.

    cfcGeorgeBMacmr.scott
  • Reply 16 of 44
    I was an Apple technician until recently, and I can tell you that the 6S definitely had a battery issue. However, the 6's did not. I rarely ever saw any battery related issues with the 6 or 6 Plus. I think the only one was a few months ago. Display issues, I saw plenty and was surprised it took so long for a Program to start for those. And when it comes to the difference between 6's and 6S's, the 6's are a breeze to open and takes just seconds for a tech. However, the 6S has an adhesive around the entire internal enclosure, which make it a massive pain for a repair. A battery replacement on a 6 takes maybe 10-15 minutes at the longest (processing and paperwork aside). But a 6S can take quite a bit more time. Plus Apple has to keep them stocked with new adhesive strips that we have to put back in the device. Once the 6S came out, I was not looking forward to any in-store repairs as it is a huge pain. In almost every scenario it had to be sent to an Apple Depot Facility. I feel for the techs at the Apple Stores.
    edited January 2017 avon b7GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 17 of 44
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    mkrewson said:
    I was an Apple technician until recently, and I can tell you that the 6S definitely had a battery issue. However, the 6's did not. I rarely ever saw any battery related issues with the 6 or 6 Plus. I think the only one was a few months ago. Display issues, I saw plenty and was surprised it took so long for a Program to start for those. And when it comes to the difference between 6's and 6S's, the 6's are a breeze to open and takes just seconds for a tech. However, the 6S has an adhesive around the entire internal enclosure, which make it a massive pain for a repair. A battery replacement on a 6 takes maybe 10-15 minutes at the longest (processing and paperwork aside). But a 6S can take quite a bit more time. Plus Apple has to keep them stocked with new adhesive strips that we have to put back in the device. Once the 6S came out, I was not looking forward to any in-store repairs as it is a huge pain. In almost every scenario it had to be sent to an Apple Depot Facility. I feel for the techs at the Apple Stores.

    Since I just did a 6, it too has the adhesive and it take more than 10 minutes since getting the adhesive to release take time. For those who do not know the adhesive is like 3M Command Strips, you should be able to just pull it and it separates from the battery and the case. Works in theory and in reality with a phone that is 2 yrs old it takes some work. I ended up heating the case of the phone with a heat gun and it made the process much easier, but you still need to pry up the battery to get the process working.

    I am curious why you did not know this about the iphone 6.

  • Reply 18 of 44
    fmalloyfmalloy Posts: 105member
    cfc said:
    There are definitely battery-related problems with the iPhone 6, particularly regarding the estimated percentage.  My other half’s phone seems to randomly jump around, losing massive amounts in a small period of time, but when you restart it then the percentage goes back to what it was.

    It seems more like a software issue than a hardware one, and it has only happened since I upgraded her phone to iOS10, which seems to back that up.  I doubt a new battery would help, but maybe it is a combination of a failing battery and over-sensitive software in iOS10?

    There are lots of complaints on Apple’s forums about it but no response from Apple.
    Yep. Same thing happening to my 6.

    Don't tell me there's no issue with my phone. They broke something in iOS 10.1 and they are having trouble finding the bug and fixing it. 

    What'll happen is there will be an iOS update with some stupid one line mention of "bug fix" in the release notes. Typical Apple arrogance.
  • Reply 19 of 44
    fmalloyfmalloy Posts: 105member
    mkrewson said:
    I was an Apple technician until recently, and I can tell you that the 6S definitely had a battery issue. However, the 6's did not. I rarely ever saw any battery related issues with the 6 or 6 Plus. 
    That's because it's a battery reporting bug introduced in iOS10.0 or 10.1. Apple broke something and won't own up to it. I'm quite sure they're trying to figure it out and fix it in a software update, They won't admit a problem or apologize. 

    Apple hubris.
  • Reply 20 of 44
    tbehunin said:
    My 6s manifests the same shutdown issues in the replacement program but my serial number isn't found to be part of the program which sucks. My phone will shut down around 33%. Grrr...
    Have you tried the last iOS beta? It solved this problem to me!
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