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Apple Replaced 11 Million iPhone Batteries in Its $29 Program (cnet.com)
Apple's $29 battery replacement program may have seriously dinged sales of its 2018 iPhone models. From a report: The company replaced 11 million iPhone batteries under the program, John Gruber of tech-focused blog DaringFireball reported Monday, citing Apple CEO Tim Cook at an all-hands meeting. Typically, the company replaces 1 million to 2 million batteries each year, DaringFireball noted. Cook cited the program's negative impact on Apple's revenue in a Jan. 2 sales warning to investors but didn't offer specific numbers.
Why not just chuck it in a landfill and get the next $1000+ model? The "green" tech companies would love you to do that.
Batteries should always be replaceable (ideally, by the end user).
It's clear the iPhone 6-series has a hardware design defect that caused shutdowns when its CPU hit heavy loads when running on batteries with reduced capacity. The right thing to do would have been a recall, of both the logic board and a replacement battery. But considering the millions of iPhone 6's sold that recall would have likely cost billions of dollars. So instead Apple attempted to hide the issue by releasing a software update that quietly and severely throttled the CPU to avoid peak power usage. Then Apple lied about it, then Apple got sued, which is what finally lead to the year-long $29 battery replacement program. Even with lost upgrade sales from that program Apple probably still came out ahead vs the cost of a recall. That said, the damage to their reputation was severe IMO.
The much larger than normal number of batteries sold, seemed to have led somewhat to a decline in new purchases that led to Apple's earnings warning.
That sent the stock down. But what I do not see anyone mulling over, are implications for the future... given the high degree of measured customer satisfaction from iPhone owners (90% +), this simply means that future sales have been deferred - not lost.
So at some point in the future, probably 1-2 years hence, there's going to be a bump in sales from all these people who got new batteries as they finally do upgrade...
Now an alternative to this scenario is: What if this gets more people accustomed to buying batteries to extend the life of phones? Even then it would just mean a longer delay, but it could lead to a deeper change in consumer behavior and generally longer ownership cycles, long term.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
That number only works if it assumes all 11 million people would have bought a new $1,000 iPhone instead - $11 billion makes up for the earnings expectations nicely.
However, that only works at the most superficial of levels. There's a whole cottage industry of mall kiosks and small-time repair shops that specialize in replacing spent batteries and cracked screens. Apple managed to massively undercut them at $29 (which is why the numbers are so high). Let's say that half of those 11 million people would have done any of the following:
-Gotten a $749 XR. 5.5 milion of those meets their projected earnings, but only barely. Make it a $599 iPhone 8, and now you're off by over a billion - not "oh f'k" money, but still enough to make investors plenty nervous.
-Gotten an Android phone.
-Had a third party change the battery.
-Gotten a secondhand iPhone 7.
-Stuck it out with their existing iPhone.
That also would have put them in a position where class action lawyers were tripping over themselves to get some iBucks. If that lawsuit was as large as the tenth largest payout in history - not impossible since it would likely include virtually every iPhone in the past decade - that's $3.2 billion just in the payout. That payout would make them miss their earnings by billions even if every battery replacement would have otherwise been a $1,000 XS.
The number indicates that even the slightest scrutiny prevents Apple from making their earnings numbers. In turn, this starts to indicate that Apple can't expect to make the fortunes off the Annual iPhone crowd they once did. IoT doesn't seem to be helping them; it's rare to find a description of a HomePod as a great-sounding also-ran and there's no indication that releasing the iRing or the iHue will push them into those markets. The Apple Car is vaporware, Apple being the new cable company could go either way (especially without a first party television to generate the hype for it), Tim doesn't seem to want to revisit the server room, and while I can't entirely dismiss a surprise-success like the iPod, Tim's had nearly a decade to do that and doesn't seem to have been able to figure out the next big thing just yet.
Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not an Apple hater, and I don't think they're going to die overnight. The iOS ecosystem is incredibly strong and will continue to be Apple's cash cow for quite some time to come. However, I think that investors are starting to get nervous. Maybe it'll be a good thing, and we'll see Apple revisit their creative design loyalists. Maybe Apple will shock everyone by finding a niche and owning it. Or maybe, Apple will finally prove to itself, to Microsoft, to Google, to Facebook, and ultimately to Wall Street, that Big Tech has settled in with Big Oil and Big Pharma as being boring, stable, and iterative.
Took my 6s in to take advantage of the $29 replacement, turns out my battery qualified for free replacement. No idea why.
I'm happy though, cuz now my phone lasts the day instead of two hours to dead. It's, what, 5 PM now, I would have unplugged my phone at about 8 AM, and it's at 57%. Much better.
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It's clear the iPhone 6-series has a hardware design defect that caused shutdowns when its CPU hit heavy loads when running on batteries with reduced capacity.
Hey buddy - ALL PHONES have this issue. Just try searching for "Android sudden shutdown battery".
What Apple did was say, hey lets make it so the phone only shuts down when it's truly out of power, by throttling back performance a little bit, rather than just suddenly die at 10 or 20% left just because you played a game or something, or the battery was getting old.
Instead of being lauded for helping phone users get the thing they treasure most above all else - battery life - Apple was pummeled for helping out users, and even though this criticism was utterly unfair, Apple took the high road and said "well how about cheap replacement batteries all around that restore full performance!".
Now you can choose which path you want phone to take battery wise -but of course because people are not utter morons they 99% choose to use the method Apple added that got them in such trouble, and which Android phone makers have added over time hoping you wouldn't notice and also ask for cheap replacement batteries.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
$29 battery replacement vs $500 to $1000 phone that removed features. What a choice!
By then the user will crave shopping for a new Apple smartphone.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
How many batteries did they refuse to replace, pissing off and losing customers?
They wouldn't do my wife's iPhone. Before the recall she had the battery replaced by a third party, and they would only replace the original cell. Fortunately I have managed to get her onto Android now.
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The new iPhone will be renamed iBattery. Need a new battery?! Well, for $800+ you can replace it with iBattery! And it's all safe and secure within its waterproof welded shut design.
Life is not for the lazy.
How many batteries did they refuse to replace, pissing off and losing customers?
They didn't have any criteria other than model of phone, and as other comments have noted some models not technically included also had batteries replaced... I had my wife's iPhone 6 battery replaced, and not only was there no question of replacement, but I first went in earlier in the year to have it checked out and the Apple support person said "well it's doing OK, we can replace it now if you like but you should probably wait til near the end of the year to get the most benefit". Any other company would have just said "it's fine, no replacement" or replace it right then so it would wear out sooner...
I know it's hard to believe after decades of pain from other companies supposed "support", but Apple is really excellent at bending support replacements to err on the side of the consumer. I have always had pretty good experiences with AppleCare which is why it's the only company I actually buy extended warranties from.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I just had Apple "genius" refuse to replace my battery due to it not being an original Apple one so I had to go out and spend a whole £13 & 15 mins replacing my own iPhone 6S battery, now it lasts 2 days again and is as fast as the old 7 I gave to my daughter. 8, 10, xs xr x? I really am not surprised by the lack of sales, phones have just hit the same ceiling as gmers PC's did 5-6 years ago. "Good enough" As an avid gamer and less avid phone fan I can say the pressure on us to upgrade our PC's and our phones has gone away, its only the perpetually stupid or rich who even bother with both now.
The non removable battery, then SEALING it in, to "promote" the waterproof idea, along with the crippling of the software for a 2-3 year old battery, got people in the habit of just chucking them and buying a new one every couple years. Althought I'm not an iphone user, but around the SD80x chips, phone got pretty much "fast enough" for about 99% of users. I'm mean get real..people run a couple apps at a time, aren't trying to solve quantum physics. But now that the CHEAP iPhone/Samsung phones are in the 800 dollar range, and the top of the line is well over 1,000 dollars, people are starting to say wait a minute...my "slow" phone just got FASTER with a new battery, how much money have I WASTED year after year for a snappy new phone, when it was Apple slowing my old phone down, just to talk me into a NEW overpriced phone.