iPhone Battery Replacement An Unwelcome Surprise

epidemic99 writes "Apple has released what it will cost to replace the battery in the iPhone, and consumers might be a bit put off. Replacement is a tricky ordeal, as the battery is apparently soldered into the device. The service will cost $79, plus $6.95 for shipping, plus an optional $29 'loaner iPhone' rental. A consumer advocacy group sent a letter to Apple complaining that this information was not made public before iPhone's release since the cost of the battery replacement is so high. Even reviewer Harvey Rosenfield, who is usually very kind to Apple, was quoted as saying 'some of them might be waking up now, wondering who they got in bed with.'" Update: 07/06 21:06 GMT by Z : Fixed incorrect attribution of quote to Mossberg.

Comments

I guess Mossberg is spelled Rosenfield ?

[The Media Mechanic]

"Some of them might be waking up now," Rosenfield said, "wondering who they got in bed with." I guess this is a new spelling of the name Mossberg that I was previously unfamiliar with.

Re:I guess Mossberg is spelled Rosenfield ?

[ubuwalker31]

Why is anyone even remotely familiar with Apple surprised by this? I remember the dreaded vendor lock-in when I had to put a new power supply into an aging Mac Performa 575 many moons ago. I swore back then that I would never buy a Mac again because of their obnoxious business model that requires you to get expensive service and parts from Apple.

That being said, to those who are waking up next to Steve Jobs, you have at least 2 weeks to return your iPhone and get a refund.

High quality editing!

[Mahtar]

"Some of them might be waking up now," Rosenfield said, "wondering who they got in bed with."

So no, Mossberg did not actually say that. Are even the submitters not reading the articles these days?

$87 is a big deal.

[Boogaroo]

People still think of it as a phone. People are shocked at $40 phone battery prices. Why are you shocked that people are shocked? People think of batteries as easily replaced like the rest of their batteries. Would you be shocked if you bought a TV remote and the battery was $40?
The fact that it's soldered into the device and that it's so expensive isn't surprising to you or me because we visit Slashdot and other sites that reported the iPod battery fiasco. We knew this was coming. Millions of phone buyers did not see this coming.

Re:based on the cost...

[ThosLives]

Yup, it's all usage cycles. I think education goes a long way.

Case in point: I have a cell phone from spring of 2001. (Yeah, I haven't upgraded yet, yadda yadda.) I use it as my primary phone - which means it's on pretty much every day, except when I'm camping or something (which isn't that often).

I'm still on the original battery. Yes, that's right - both the phone and the battery have lasted over 6 years now.

So, I don't know if I just got lucky or what, but it seems to me that my usage cycle is such that Batteries Like It.

So, if you have a battery management system that is able to emulate my usage cycle, my guess is a single battery could easily last the ninety-fifth percentile lifespan of phones (I'd say with a 6 year old cellphone, I'm probably in the 98th or higher).

oblig. bad analogy to Cars...

[Tmack]

Wow, I figured you were way off with the desolder comment, then I looked up the dissection photos and sure enough they were stupid enough to solder the battery in! WTF were they thinking? Anyone who's owned a phone for more than a year knows you will eventually have to replace the battery, and with the drain that these things go through it's even more certain. Why they didn't use edge contacts like everyone else in the industry I can't even fathom.

I got my truck a few years back, and after driving it around off road and such, its time to replace the shocks. Every car owner knows that the shocks will have to be replaced eventually, and that some people like to replace theirs before going off roading and again when done, and that driving off road over bigger bumps and hauling heavy stuff wears them out faster, but the brand I bought decided to use special nuts that hold the shocks on tighter, so now Im going to have to go to a service center authorized by the manufacturer to get them replaced at a cost of about 10% the original price of the truck! Why didnt they tell me that the shocks used special nuts before I bought it??!?!? How can they charge me so F'n much to keep using my truck that I already bought?!!? Why cant they just use normal nuts and bolts like everyone else?

BLAH!

1. Do you expect a manufacturer to sit down with you and list line by line everything they did thats "Different" from other manufacturers? Every part they soldered in instead of clipped? How the case is heat-welded instead of screwed together? How the antenna is integrated and cant be replaced and has no way to attach an external one to it without serious modifications? How the software it runs has certain lockouts in place that allow and prevent certain features as they see fit? I bet if you ask about certain qualities, like "how hard is it to change the battery" they will gladly tell you before you buy it. Its not like they are holding a gun to your head forcing you to buy their product. If you dont like the design, dont buy it! If you are concerned about battery life, ASK, and if you dont like the answer, DONT BUY IT!

2. Phone batteries, like shocks on vehicles, tend to last quite a long time these days, as technology has increased their performance to that point. I have actually had my truck for 5 years now without needing to change its shocks, and have had my current cell phone for even longer and am still on the original battery, which can still go a few days without a recharge (not quite the week and a half it did when I first got it, but still). 3. Actually, I would much rather they just soldered my phone's battery in place and have a solid case around the whole phone rather than deal with its tendency to fall off, since the release lever is in a place that your finger tends to hit when pulling the phone out of your pocket, its quite annoying and led me to actually glue over the release. The iPhone was designed with that in mind, instead of having access panels that can fall off, create seams and lines and stuff in the case, they made it sleek and seamless, and knowing the battery will last years before needing replacement, they soldered it in place. I would rather have it soldered than risk a connector coming separated inside there with no easy access to just re-connect it. To de-solder and re-solder the two tabs would take less than a minute if you have any soldering experience.

4. Shocks, like batteries, are not cheap to begin with. This goes even more so for higher-end parts, like the Li-Ion batteries in the iphone, or special heavy-duty off-road shocks on trucks. 10% of the original cost is about right for higher-end OEM shocks (hell, the shock on my mountain bike is well over 30% of the total cost of the bike, and its not the most expensive one out there), including labor and everything, and 15% sounds reasonable to me for the cost of the battery replacement on the iphone, considering they could have just said "F you all, we wont replace any batteries, so when it dies, its dead!".

5. The iPhone is a little different from everything else in the industry, and is the main reason so many people are buying it. Comparing it to a plain old cell-phone just doesnt work.

Tm

Re: proprietary parts

[alienw]

Get one of those USB battery things and charge the phone off of that. Not exactly difficult, is it? Besides, you'll have to constantly keep swapping batteries to keep that spare from dying.

But hey, I like a phone I can throw around, so I use those $10 prepaid phones and not worry about damaging it.