Slashdot Mirror
Apple Says Air Exposure Is Causing iPhone 6s Battery Problems (arstechnica.com)
Last month, Apple announced a repair program for a "small number" of iPhone 6s phones that suffer from faulty batteries. The phones that were affected by this fault were manufactured between September and October 2015. Two weeks later, Apple now says the fault was caused by overexposure to "controlled ambient air." Ars Technica reports: The same press release -- issued only in China so far, but available in English if you scroll down -- says that some owners of later iPhone 6S models are also reporting problems with unexpected shutdowns. Apple isn't replacing those batteries just yet, but the company says that an iOS update "available next week" will add "additional diagnostic capability" that will allow Apple to better track down and diagnose the causes of these shutdowns. It "may potentially help [Apple] improve the algorithms used to manage battery performance and shutdown," as well. Those improvements will be included in future iOS updates. Apple says that the battery problem "is not a safety issue," an important thing to note given the way the Galaxy Note 7 blew up in Samsung's face. The software update that Apple mentions in the release is almost certainly iOS 10.2, which is currently in its sixth beta build. The update will be the first major bug-fix release since October's iOS 10.1, and it also includes a handful of other changes like new and redesigned emoji, the TV app that Apple demoed at its last product event, and other features.
The phone "in the air" isn't the problem. The unassembled phone parts "exposed" prior to installation aged them before they were used. Poor QC and supply chain, not an inherent design flaw. They should be able to identify all affected phones by serial, as well as an iOS update that tests for the failures/signs known to the aged battery parts.
Learn to love Alaska
I know you're joking, but no, the actual problem is that they were exposed to air during manufacturing. It has nothing to do with the users using them a particular way. Apple is basically admitting to a manufacturing defect causing bad readings to occur, which is causing the battery to misreport its status and shutdown early. They think, however, that they can take all of that into account and rectify the problem via a software update.
Field replaceable batteries!