If you’re thinking about getting a new battery for an old iPhone, you’ll want to act quickly. According to 9to5Mac, Apple will raise the price of battery replacements for pre-iPhone 14 models by $20 on March 1st. This raises the price of notched iPhones (iPhone X through iPhone 13) from $69 to $89. If you own an iPhone SE, iPhone 8, or another classic model, the price will rise from $49 to $69. A replacement for the iPhone 14 family was already more expensive, at $99.
It’s unclear whether self-repair prices will rise at the same time. Part prices, on the other hand, tend to be roughly equal to the cost of having Apple perform a battery swap. Expect the do-it-yourself option to cost more in the near future.
In a website notice, Apple did not explain the price increase. We’ve reached out to the company for comment. The tech behemoth last set iPhone battery service prices in 2019, when it discontinued a one-year $29 replacement offer made in response to the outcry over CPU throttling. To make amends for its initial approach to battery degradation, the company reduced prices. It throttled performance to prevent unexpected shutdowns on iPhones with worn-down batteries, but didn’t notify customers or give them the option to disable the throttling.
The new prices are still low enough to justify replacing the battery rather than purchasing a new phone. The increase will undoubtedly sting, and it may be especially painful if your device is several years old (such as an iPhone X) and may lose other forms of support, such as major OS updates, relatively soon.
