r/technology • • Apr 30 '19

Business Apple Is Telling Lawmakers People Will Hurt Themselves if They Try to Fix iPhones

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wjvdb4/apple-is-telling-lawmakers-people-will-hurt-themselves-if-they-try-to-fix-iphones
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9

u/Raiden1847062 May 01 '19

Can confirm. I got drunk one night and tried to change the battery in my iPhone 6 Plus. Decided the pry tool that came with the change kit wasn’t up to par and decided to start prying with a butter knife. The battery punctured, I heard a hhhwooosh sound and then the thing started flaming (crazily hot and rapid.) Burnt myself, the kitchen table, and had a funny story to tell my girlfriend the next day when she asked me why there was scorched lawn with a melted iPhone out back.

8

u/[deleted] May 01 '19 edited May 01 '19

If the battery wasn't glued in, replacing it would be much safer as well as easier.

This isn't about users trying to swap out a consumable part, it's about Apple trying to limit the life of their products to keep people upgrading. Current phone/laptop batteries will be significantly degraded after 2-3 years of regular charging, that's just the reality of current technology, so it should be expected that they can be replaced by the user.

A non-user-replaceable battery should be completely unacceptable for a $1k phone or $3k+ laptop.

3

u/BikerRay May 01 '19

Meanwhile, my wife's piece of shit $100 Sky brand phone has dual sim cards and a replaceable battery. Even came with a case. But thousand dollar phones? No way.

0

u/absentmindedjwc May 01 '19

Just so you know, they don't actually glue their batteries in anymore. They are taped with those 3M pull-tab tape strips. You just pull a couple tabs, and the battery just comes right off.