Hard to believe it was almost a year ago that Apple finally offered cheaper battery replacement in older iPhones to make up for slowing their processors (the so-called “BatteryGate”). Apple began started the offer days into January 2018, but only for a year - which means you should act fast before it expires on December 31.
If you own an iPhone SE, 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, or X and think your battery is run down, you can replace the battery for a discounted $29 (down from the previous rate of $79).
When the new year rolls over, most older iPhone battery replacements will go up to $49, while the newer iPhone X will cost $69, per MacRumors.
The iPhone XS and XS Max aren’t covered because they weren’t released until long after the scandal, and they’re still under warranty anyway.
Discounted after discovery
As older batteries started wearing down, iPhones started shutting down when they failed to provide processors enough juice to maintain performance at peak usage. Apple introduced a feature in iOS 10.2.1 back in January 2017 that would quietly throttle performance if iPhones had depleted capacity in order to prevent these random crashes - but they didn’t tell users.
Instead, the feature - called Peak Performance Capability - was discovered in late 2017, leading to an uproar as users learned their devices were throttled without their knowledge or permission.
If you want to replace your older phone’s battery at reduced price, take your phone to an Apple store, Apple-authorized retailer or send it in via Apple’s support site.
