Key Takeaways
- Apple has elevated the battery substitute price on iPhone 16 Professional to $119
- Battery substitute stays $99 for traditional fashions just like the iPhone 16 and older
- AppleCare+ solely provides free substitute for batteries beneath 80% well being
The price of dwelling by no means appears to cease rising. Even when costs do not go up, the evil behavior of shrinkflation ensures that we’re getting much less for our cash than we have been up to now.
Nowhere are worth rises extra apparent than within the smartphone market. The unique iPhone price $499 at launch. Even adjusted for inflation, that is lower than the bottom mannequin of iPhone 16 which is priced at $799. The most costly fashions are actually by the roof, with the most affordable mannequin of the iPhone 16 Pro costing $999, and the iPhone 16 Professional Max beginning at an eye-watering $1,199.
It is not simply the costs of the telephones themselves that proceed to rise, nonetheless. As first spotted by MacRumors, the worth of changing the battery within the new iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Professional Max fashions has gone up. For the primary time, the price of changing the battery within the smartphone you’ve got already paid a small fortune for has risen to a few figures, with the worth now set at $119. Sadly, costs look set to proceed to maneuver in a single route solely.
Apple iPhone 16 Professional
Apple’s iPhone 16 Professional line options a couple of notable upgrades over final 12 months’s iPhone 15 Professional, together with a devoted digital camera button, a brand new A18 Professional chip, a much bigger display, and a number of other AI-powered Apple Intelligence options.
Changing the iPhone 16 Professional battery out of guarantee is now $119
The value has elevated by 20% however commonplace fashions stay $99
Apple’s iPhone Repair and Service web page means that you can get an estimate for the worth of a restore or service based mostly on the mannequin of iPhone that you just personal. If you choose the Battery service sort on the web site and enter your iPhone mannequin because the iPhone 16 Professional or iCellphone 16 Professional Max, the estimated worth now exhibits as $119.
Compared, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus each give an estimate of $99, as do all older fashions, together with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Professional Max. The iPhone 16 Professional and Professional Max pack bigger batteries than the opposite fashions, which can be why the substitute price is increased for these fashions.
Substitute is free with AppleCare+ however there’s a catch
You may nonetheless have to pay in case your battery has 80% well being or higher
Even when your iPhone is lower than a 12 months outdated, you may in all probability nonetheless need to pay to exchange the battery. Apple’s web site states that your iPhone guarantee does not cowl batteries that put on down from regular use. In case your battery is flawed, nonetheless, then you might be eligible for a free substitute inside the first 12 months.
For those who pay for AppleCare+, you then’re eligible for a free battery substitute in case your battery is degraded. There is a vital catch, nonetheless; you possibly can solely get a free battery substitute in case your iPhone battery holds lower than 80% of its most capability. You’ll be able to see the present proportion within the Battery Health part of your iPhone’s settings; my iPhone 15 Professional is at the moment at 92% after a 12 months of use.
There is a vital catch, nonetheless; you possibly can solely get a free battery substitute in case your iPhone battery holds lower than 80% of its most capability.
Nevertheless, some customers on on-line boards aren’t too pleased about this seemingly arbitrary cut-off level, complaining that their battery well being is caught at simply over 80% regardless of giving considerably worse efficiency. Till that quantity drops under the magic 80%, their solely possibility is to pay for the battery substitute as a substitute.
Apple must promote telephones to generate income, however it’s not good for the patron
Poor battery life can pressure us to improve even after we’d somewhat not
Apple / Pocket-lint
This worth rise is not the primary time that Apple has bumped the costs for battery substitute in recent times. With the discharge of the iPhone 14 fashions, the worth jumped to $99 from the earlier $69. That signifies that in two years, the worth of a battery substitute for an iPhone Professional or Professional Max mannequin has jumped by greater than 70%. If the identical pattern continues, we could possibly be paying over $200 to exchange the battery within the iPhone 18 Professional in 2026.
Making it low cost and straightforward for folks to exchange their batteries is not one thing that might be good for Apple’s earnings.
The difficulty is, it is not in Apple’s curiosity to make changing your battery a cheap possibility. Apple makes cash by promoting iPhones; though the share is slipping, greater than half of Apple’s income nonetheless comes from gross sales of its smartphones. Within the early days of the iPhone, new fashions got here with vital upgrades that gave iPhone house owners a giant incentive to purchase a brand new machine. As of late there merely aren’t the identical “wow issue” options to encourage folks to improve their iPhones.
Because the variations between fashions get much less compelling, individuals are tending to carry on to their iPhones for longer. Nevertheless, degrading battery life has a major affect on usability, and might typically persuade folks to improve a telephone that they are in any other case completely proud of. Making it low cost and straightforward for folks to exchange their batteries is not one thing that might be good for Apple’s earnings.
The issue is barely prone to worsen
Telephones proceed to get greater and extra highly effective
With the genuinely new options in new fashions of smartphones having dried up significantly in recent times, there are two key areas the place smartphone producers are focusing their consideration to attempt to preserve the improve cycle alive.
The primary space is AI. Apple Intelligence is not a part of the preliminary launch of iOS 18, however the AI options can be rolling out over the next months. Apple Intelligence requires a major quantity of RAM, which signifies that the one units that help it are the present iPhone 16 fashions, and the iPhone 15 Professional and iPhone 15 Professional Max. That is the primary time in a very long time that there was a major iPhone function that is not obtainable on older fashions and that might encourage folks to improve who weren’t initially planning on doing so. Nevertheless, the push for AI options signifies that telephones are going to want to get increasingly highly effective.
With telephones getting greater and extra highly effective, bigger and longer-lasting batteries are required to energy these new options.
The second space is the scale of units. Apple hasn’t bitten the bullet but, however a number of different main smartphone firms have launched folding phones. These telephones not solely have bigger screens when unfolded, however some even have extra screens which can be seen when the telephone is folded shut. All of that extra display space requires extra energy.
With telephones getting greater and extra highly effective, bigger and longer-lasting batteries are required to energy these new options. Because of this the price of changing them is barely going to rise, and smartphone makers are banking on the truth that if you are going to need to pay tons of of {dollars} for a brand new battery, it’s possible you’ll as nicely simply improve to an entire new telephone.
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