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Old Feb 1, 2018 | 8:53 am
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iPhone Battery Replacement

I have an iPhone 6s that suffers from the now-notorious battery wear issue, where Apple throttles performance in response to batteries that don't hold their full designed charge anymore. I made an appointment for the new $29 battery replacement via Apple support chat. I showed up at the Apple store for my battery replacement appointment, and was told they had no batteries in stock and needed to order one. How does an otherwise impressive supply chain operation fail like this? They knew I was coming, they knew lots of people were coming (appointment required!) but now I have to wait until they call me to tell me the battery is in.

They did say they'd do it for free, which is nice.

/rant
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Old Feb 1, 2018 | 10:09 am
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Had you reserved a battery and received confirmation that it was available? Or maybe miss

Need an iPhone battery replacement?

For iPhone 6 or later, Call or Chat with Apple Support today to reserve a battery before visiting an Apple Store
.

https://getsupport.apple.com/?caller=arshw

The option was this or the original plan to have folks wait until the end of January before making the offer available so they could ramp up their supply chain. Making millions of batteries available in a matter of days just isn't realistic, IMHO.
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Old Feb 1, 2018 | 10:59 am
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I thought that's what I had done. I chatted with Apple Support. They ran remote diagnostics on my phone and told me I was eligible for a battery replacement. I made an appointment at the Apple store through the chat. They said a battery would be waiting for me. It wasn't.

I downloaded a battery status app. It says my battery is either 82% of capacity or 52%. No wonder I have to keep the thing plugged in all day.
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Old Feb 1, 2018 | 1:45 pm
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In The New York Times:
Your iPhone Slowed Down. Heres What to Do When the Solution Is Just as Slow

***

Yet when Ms. Schipper, who lives in Seattle, took her iPhone 6 Plus, purchased in 2014, to an Apple store in early January, she was told that the store was out of replacement batteries for at least two weeks. An Apple representative later left her a voice mail message with a new estimated wait time: up to four months.

***
Note: The above URL is a Permalink, so there should be no paywall to access the complete article.
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Old Feb 2, 2018 | 7:04 am
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Yeah, but sadly there are no third party authorized shops here in Maine, and it's not worth driving to Boston for. Plus Apple will replace the battery for free. Eventually.
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Old Feb 2, 2018 | 5:59 pm
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When I called to get mine the phone support person told me it would be about 2 weeks, they had to order it. Then I got an email from my chosen store who said they will email me when it comes in. I then have 7 days to claim it or it will go to someone else.
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Old Feb 3, 2018 | 12:06 am
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Originally Posted by gfunkdave
Yeah, but sadly there are no third party authorized shops here in Maine, and it's not worth driving to Boston for. Plus Apple will replace the battery for free. Eventually.
I'm in Boston. They don't have any batteries here either. I have a 6S+

My battery was borderline so they said they'd replace it for free under AppleCare, but it would take two weeks for the batteries to come in because they were backordered.

The tech sites I've been reading said that they might not arrive until March.

I've held off on upgrading to iOS 11 until the battery gets replaced, and I carry a power bank everywhere I go, so I'm OK for now.

Last edited by diburning; Feb 3, 2018 at 3:46 pm
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Old Feb 3, 2018 | 3:17 pm
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Just one point to remember - neither Apple nor the Genius Bar geeks get to decide if you receive a new battery or not based on the diagnostic tests - the decision is yours alone, and even if their diagnostic test shows your battery at 95% of its original capacity, if you want to replace it, then it's your call.

I ordered a new battery, was told 2-3 weeks, but they called me a few days later to make an appointment for its replacement, so I wouldn't be too worried about quoted wait times.
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Old Feb 3, 2018 | 3:47 pm
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I was told two weeks, and it has been two weeks already actually. You must have gotten lucky. I haven't received notification that the batteries are in stock and that I should drop off my phone for the replacement.
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Old Feb 5, 2018 | 8:18 am
  #10  
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I initially went to an Apple store for battery replacement on Jan 5th and got email notification on replacement battery on Feb 1st (despite receiving an phone call saying replacement batteries won't be available until March). I went to the Apple store next day to have ours 6+ replaced. My 6+ runs better now and I'm happy to pay $30 for the replacement.
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