The iPhone 16 phones will start being delivered to buyers on Friday, at which point we’ll finally be able to put Apple’s claims about the new devices to the test. One of the most interesting aspects of the iPhone 16 phones is battery life. We should see improvements over the iPhone 15 across the board. The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will offer better battery life than any previous models. At least, that’s what Apple says.
What Apple didn’t say is that battery replacements will be more expensive for the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. You’ll have to pay $119 instead of the $99 battery service fee that Apple will charge for all the other iPhone models.
Longtime iPhone users who keep their devices for several years won’t like that price hike. But there might be good reasons Apple is charging more money to replace the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max batteries.
A quick check on Apple’s battery replacement tool will tell you how much it costs to replace your iPhone battery, depending on the model you have.
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If you have AppleCare Plus, you won’t have to pay anything for your battery service. Otherwise, you’ll pay $99 for battery replacements on all iPhone 14 models and newer. That list also includes the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. Older iPhones will cost you $89 for new batteries.
The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are the only two iPhones in Apple’s lineup that get a $119 battery replacement fee. What is that all about? Why is Apple raising these fees for the new Pros?
We don’t have an official explanation from Apple. But I’ll remind you of a few recent iPhone-related battery developments that you should be aware of, including a few interesting iPhone 16 rumors.
The main iPhone 16 Pro features, including battery life claims. Image source: Apple Inc.
First, Apple made a big change to the battery health expectations for new iPhones. It started with the iPhone 15 models, which can retain 80% of their original capacity after 1,000 complete charge cycles. All previous models were designed to retain 80% of their battery capacity after 500 cycles. The same upgrade is expected for the iPhone 16 phones. Apple has yet to confirm the figure in its support document.
That can’t be good enough to justify the $20 price hike. After all, the iPhone 15 models still cost $99 to replace the battery, Pros included.
Is new battery tech to blame?
This is where the exciting iPhone 16 Pro battery rumors come in. Reports said Apple would introduce new battery tech with this year’s iPhones. We might be looking at batteries with increased energy density compared to their predecessors.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max battery also might be enclosed in metal instead of foil. The metal enclosure should improve heat dissipation and, thus, support higher-density batteries. Moreover, metal enclosures will feature a new way to glue them in place. Instead of the glue strips that hold batteries in place in current models, you’ll need to apply an electric current to glue and unglue the new batteries.
iPhone battery life: Video playback estimates for iPhone 12 through iPhone 16 series. Image source: Chris Smith, BGR
Rumors said Apple will debut these battery technologies with the iPhone 16 Pro Max before making them available to the other models. But what if Apple uses the same innovations in the iPhone 16 Pro? Higher-energy batteries might help explain the better battery estimates for the iPhone 16 Pro model.
Also, the metal cases will make replacements easier in the EU, which has new regulations concerning batteries in electronic devices.
These iPhone battery innovations might cost Apple more than the batteries it used in previous iPhone models. It could explain the $20 price hike for replacing them.
These rumors have yet to be confirmed. But on September 20th, the first iPhone 16 teardowns will happen. That’s when we’ll learn more details about the iPhone 16 Pro batteries. These teardowns won’t explain whether the battery replacement fee is warranted, but if the rumors above are confirmed, they could provide hints in that direction.
In practice, I wouldn’t worry about replacing an iPhone 16 Pro battery anytime soon. If you are a heavy user, you might want to invest in AppleCare Plus to get that worry out of the way.
