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Comment by ghaff | Hacker News Reader

>If the iPhone would have true user-swappable batteries, their business would collapse.

I was with you up to there. Do you really think that people are so lazy or stupid that they wouldn't go to any of the zillion battery replacement places (including Apple Stores) rather than buying a new $1K-$1.5K device?

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Yes. Because it’s a giant pita to drop your phone off and be without it for an indefinite period of time (if something goes wrong). For a device worth a couple hundred dollars it typically makes more sense to trade it in and simply upgrade.

Especially if you are paranoid and refuse to hand a third party your phone full of private data. If I need to wipe and restore that is a huge time sink I’d rather future proof against.

It’s the pain and uncertainty factor.

I don’t know where you live but I get the battery swapped while I’m standing there. It’s insane that you’d rather spend $800 than be without your phone for a few hours.

I live in the US. I've had friends without their phone for days due to a bad swap. I wasn't really talking about myself (I have a spare phone at all times I can simply switch to in an emergency) - but the average person doesn't have spares laying around.

It works until it doesn't.

It's also rarely spending "$1,000" - it's usually a $200-400 price difference after trade-in depending on how often you upgrade. Apple typically gives extremely aggressive pricing on trade-ins, or at least has over the past few years. I sent my wife in for a battery swap and it ended up being $150 more to simply swap phones and upgrade 3 generations to reset the obsolescence clock. No-brainer at that point.

I have a 2015 Macbook pro and an iphone 11 that works great save for that they don't hold a charge.

I would happily spend a several hundreds dollars to save these and continue to use them, or give one to my parents or kid, but I can't find someone who will do a battery replacement. I live in Austin TX and have called 3-5 different apple repair shops. If I can't find someone to do it in a city with the second largest Apple office in the world, I don't think anyone else will be able to.

Apple will replace the battery on your iphone for $89 and your macbook for $249.

Source: https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/battery-replacement and https://support.apple.com/mac/repair

Following the link on the Mac page, it looks like Apple will not repair a 2015 Macbook Pro:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772

> Obsolete: ... MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015), MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)...

>Mac laptops may be eligible for an extended battery-only repair period for up to 10 years from when the product was last distributed for sale, subject to parts availability.

Probably makes sense, if you're organized enough, to get a battery swap while it's still in coverage if you'll use. My 2015 MacBook had a battery that got swollen a few years ago. Got it replaced and continue to use it as basically a browser and it's perfectly usable.

Yeah they started gluing in the batteries to the macbooks around then. RIP.

https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/battery-replacement

Fill in the form and send your iphone 11 in for battery replacement.

I've done this a few times w/different iphone models, works great, no fuss. The several days w/o the phone is nice forced social media detox.

I've replaced the battery on my 2015 MacBook Pro with one from iFixit [1]. They're a huge pain though, since they're glued to the inside of the case and requires using a solvent to get the battery out.

It has held a charge for the last few years well. The other issue I had with a laptop this old was cooling. Ended up swapping out the fans and heatsink/heatpipe and am expecting to get another couple years out of it.

1. https://www.ifixit.com/products/macbook-pro-15-retina-late-2...

The thinnest teflon turner worked fine for me, no solvent needed. 2 TiB nvme disk worked fine too with OLPC MacOS 14

If you’re in South Austin, the Apple Store in Barton Creek Mall will help you. For North Austin, it’s in The Domain.

Do I believe that? Absolutely. Never underestimate how lazy people are. I very commonly hear battery health as the reason for replacement. In fact, I'd say it's the most common reason heard. A 3 year old iPhone is still excellent, why else would you replace it?

Besides effort, there's also trust issues. I once had a battery replacement done but the "new" one was just as bad as the old one.

Because people want a new phone and a battery that's not 100% is as good an excuse as anything. The couple times I've had a battery replacement done, I've had Apple do it. Probably worth the premium. If the battery is really the only issue--even if it's just to use the device as a backup of some sort--it's stupid not to get it done.

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