Apple launches Battery Replacement Program for some iPhone 5 units

Apple has launched a new out-of-warranty repair program for some iPhone 5 models that may have defective batteries.  

 

Apple has initiated a new iPhone 5 battery replacement program to repair "a very small percentage" of iPhone 5 models sold between September 2012 and January 2013, according to a new support website the company has posted.

 
All of these devices are out of Apple's standard 1-year warranty, but the company will be providing replacement units for affected users free of charge. The devices "may suddenly experience shorter battery life or need to be charged more frequently."
 
iPhone 5 owners can enter their serial number on Apple's support website to learn if they have an affected device. The serial number can be found by going to the Settings app and then selecting General | About.
 
If so, they can go to an Apple Retail Store, an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or call Apple Technical Support to obtain a replacement. Service is available today in the US and China and in all other countries beginning on August 29.
 
Of course, it's not all good news for iPhone 5 owners experiencing issues -- the replacement program is not a catch-all for all iPhone issues. For example, if the affected iPhone 5 unit has cracked screen glass that affects the replacement of the battery, "that issue will need to be resolved prior to battery replacement." This likely means an additional charge for the new screen, but once that's completed, Apple would replace the battery at no charge.
 
This isn't the first "Replacement Program" that Apple has launched for the iPhone 5. Back in April, Apple initiated a replacement program for some iPhone 5 models where the Sleep/Wake Button would "stop working or work intermittently."
 
iPhone 5 units affected by that program were manufactured before March 2013 and have a similar replacement process. iPhone 5 users should enter their serial number on Apple's website for that replacement program and, if they are affected, take their phone to an Apple Retail Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider for repair.
 
Unfortunately, repairs can only be performed at Apple Repair Centers, meaning the phone will need to be taken for some amount of time to be repaired off-site. Apple Retail Stores and authorized service providers may have loaner phones available for affected users, though there's also a mail-in option that does not have a loaner program.
 
It is not known if iPhone 5 models can be affected by both recalls, but if a phone has been replaced under warranty for any reason, it's unlikely that they need to be repaired again.
 
Getting a new battery can be a nice bonus for iPhone 5 users looking to replace their phones when the iPhone 6 is released next month. When selling a used phone, a brand new, factory-original battery can be a nice selling point and increase the value of the phone significantly.
 
Is your phone affected by either of these recalls? How was the repair process? Let us know in the comments below.
 
~ Jordan Golson

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IHS teardown finds iPhone 5S costs $199 to build, 5C even less

A recent teardown of Apple’s latest iPhones from IHS found that Apple spends at least $191 on components to build a 16GB iPhone 5S and up to $210 for a 64GB model. Factor in assembly cost and you’re looking at between $199 and $218 for a phone that sells for either $649 or $849, respectively.
 
This year’s flagship is actually a little cheaper to build than the iPhone 5 last year even with some new components like the Touch ID fingerprint sensor. If you recall, IHS pegged the original iPhone 5 at around $207.

As we have seen in the past, the phone’s display is the most expensive component of them all – accounting for about $41 when all associated parts are included. Displays were likely sourced from several vendors including Sharp, LG Display and Japan Display Inc.

 

The colorful iPhone 5C is believed to cost Apple between $173 and $183 to build which is said to include a $7 assembly fee. These handsets (16GB and 64GB) retail for between $549 and $649 off contract, respectively.

 

IHS analyst Andrew Rassweiler oversaw the teardowns and said the two different models are almost the exact same phone. The key differences of course being that the 5S has the A7 processor, some newer memory chips that consume less power and the fingerprint sensor. Beyond that, the two are basically the same, he said.

 

IHS’ report isn’t due out until tomorrow but they granted All Things D early access to their findings.

 

~ Shawn Knight

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Bigger iPhone: Apple said to be testing up to 6-inch screens

The iPhone 5S and 5C haven’t even been announced yet but that isn’t stopping Apple from looking to the future. That future reportedly includes larger displays ranging in size from 4.8-inches up to six inches according to "people familiar with the matter" as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
 
The current iPhone 5 ships with a 4-inch display, the first handset from Apple to include a bump in display size since the release of the original iPhone way back in 2007. An iPhone with a six inch display would put the handset among the largest on the market, rivaled only by phablets like Samsung’s Galaxy Mega and perhaps a small handful of international devices.

It’s not uncommon for Apple and several other tech firms to test multiple variants of a product before it hits retail. Whether or not Apple would ultimately release devices in multiple sizes remains to be seen but it doesn’t seem likely. Unlike Samsung that’s content to throw everything at the wall to see what sticks, Apple has up to this point been very calculated with their product releases.
 
If true, however, such a move would mark a turning point for Apple as they continue to explore options to remain relevant in a red hot smartphone market that’s now dominated by Korean rival Samsung. It can be argued that Apple’s last truly innovative product was the iPad which singlehandedly spurred the lucrative tablet market we all know today.
 
~ Shawn Knight

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I can't believe I switched from iPhone 5 to Galaxy Note II

My beloved iPhone 5 recently disappeared -- lost or stolen doesn't matter. Gone is gone. Verizon ticks me off; the warranty is supposed to get me a new one for $100 deductible. But no! VZW wants me to pay full subsidized price again! So, I do what anybody would; I fire Big Red!!!

I go for cost savings and switch to T-Mobile, figuring to buy the top-of-the-line geek Android toy and sell -- or better, trade -- it. I assume the Samsung Galaxy S III is top-geek merchandise but instead T-Mo pushes me towards the Galaxy Note II. What a deal online -- $200. I immediately list it on Craigslist, looking to trade for iPhone 5. To my surprise I get multiple offers. I mean, who as a sane person would want that deal?

Then the day comes. The Note 2 is delivered. And what's this? I like it. But I can't! It's a droid! I decide to test drive, and after 3-4 days I am ignoring the "5" trade offers. I NO LONGER WANT TO TRADE!!!

And now here weeks later I write this on my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 -- a phone I criticized and ridiculed for its gigantic form factor. Worse -- save me, Steve Jobs! -- I can't see myself going back to the fruit! For the record I have used other droids, but NOTHING LIKE THIS!!!!!

I just can't believe I switched!!!!

Rotten Fruit

Some people know me as the vulgar, inappropriate BetaNews comment troll. I let nothing said bad about Apple go unanswered. I am biased but not stupid. Galaxy Note is so much better, and I can't deny it -- much as I really want to.

Taking into account the advancements made by Samsung and the rate at which Apple releases updates and innovations, the future looks grim in Cupertino.

When a hardcore, die-hard fanboy such as myself cannot fathom going back to iPhone, fanboys around the globe better hope that somebody at One infinite loop is paying attention. It seems as though not one of the Apple executives has ever picked up a Galaxy device; their biggest competitor. The threat at hand is not just towards Apple. Samsung is so far ahead of the other Android players that we are moments away from calling it a one-horse race.

Now my loyalty is still with Apple, however, I can no longer be loyal to iPhone. The tragedy in that box is that a smartphone is like the captain of the football team; in other words the smartphone is the MVP of the company mobile product line up. But I just cannot travel backwards in technology, at least not to this degree.

Take Note, Apple

So to be specific, I would say the features or attributes that won me over are the screen, the speed and performance of the device, the improved polish in this version of Android and (surprisingly) the S Pen, which I find myself using abnormally more than expected, especially since I had labeled it a gimmick. I mean this thing can read my cursive handwriting for crying out loud! Not even I can read my own cursive sometimes!

And the final nail in the coffin for Apple, I received early yesterday morning a notice informing me that my device had an update waiting, ready to be installed. So a couple taps on the screen, a device reboot, and 10 minutes later come exciting new features.

Man, that split screen, and even triple screen is just astronomically amazing. So taking phone calls, composing emails, and replying to text messages, all while surfing the web AND watching a YouTube video?... well now, THAT is what I call multitasking!!!

So if I were asked to paraphrase, I would simply state that by all appearances, Scamsung has either acquired or raised and nurtured a talent/skill that I would refer to as "value delivered to customer". While 'ol Scammy put in overtime, behaving like a typical overachieving Asian, the fruit farm travels at the speed of light, metaphorically meaning stuck in time, maybe '08-'09, or zoned out where time (and competitors) stands still!!!"

What's an Apple fan to do but tear out his hair and cry. I love the thing I once loathed and hate myself for it.

~ Carlos Viscarra

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Those sexy Samsungs: Why iPhones are no longer cool in China

After a long delay, China finally approved the domestic launch of the iPhone 5. Apple shareholders would expect this to be a major event, but signs are it won’t be.

According to technology research house Gartner, Apple’s share of the mainland Chinese smartphone market slumped to below 7% in the third quarter of this year. That was a big drop, down from 12% in the second quarter.

Things used to be so different. Less than two years ago, wealthy Chinese consumers loved Apple. But they are a fickle bunch, always looking for the latest cool brand to add to their collection. That used to be the sweet spot the iPhone inhabited. Now, Samsung sits there. And at the lower end, consumers are too price conscious for iPhones.

As a young woman posted on microblogging website Sina Weibo: “I wish I could have an iPhone 5 for my birthday, but my parents saved for months just to get me an iPod.”

While there are a growing number of middle-class Chinese, they are nowhere near as rich as middle-class Westerners. There’s no word yet on what the iPhone 5 will retail for in China but consider that the retail price for an iPhone 4S started at around $780 at today’s exchange rates. Meanwhile, Chinese internet firms including Baidu, Alibaba Group and Shanda have all launched smartphones this year costing under 1,000 yuan (US$160)

Apple now ranks sixth in China’s smartphone league, down from third place in the second quarter, according to Gartner. Samsung has been first for the last six months. Chinese manufacturer Lenovo, which sells cheaper products than Apple, is second. Sandy Shen, a Shanghai-based Gartner analyst, told Quartz she forecasts Lenovo will take the first spot by the end of 2013.

Apple may have lost market share because the iPhone 5 launch was delayed in China. But Shen thinks waiting consumers are actually few.

Apple’s real problems are market saturation, consumers not believing the iPhone 5 is much better than the 4S and high-end consumers being more attracted to what they perceive as Samsung’s superior hardware, Shen says.

The majority of people who should have an iPhone have already got one. And in terms of improvement between the 4S and the 5, its not so big. So people have been kind of disappointed. They are either happy enough with the iPhone 4 or the 4S, or looking for another brand.

On the shift to Samsung, Shen adds:

I’ve been observing high-end consumers who have been using iPhone for the last two to three years now looking to switch to Samsung products. These people are not price sensitive. They are always looking for the latest flagship product to add to their technology collection. They have a laptop, an iPad, an iPhone, and now they are going for the Samsung Galaxy S3 or the Galaxy Note.

Samsung probably has better hardware, Shen continues.

In terms of design and hardware specs,  the Samsung products are seen more sexy than iPhones. The Galaxy Note screen is bigger, for example. The S3 has a better display.

Research firm IHS has said the same thing about the S3′s superior display, though Apple enthusiasts dispute this.

Paul French, Mintel’s chief China market strategist, has a different take on why iPhones are becoming less popular with China’s brand-conscious wealthy. He says it has less to do with technical features, which he believes a lot of Chinese consumers do not show interest in, and more to do with being fickle.

Apple just isn’t really that cool anymore. Teenagers aren’t too interested in it. When I see people in Apple stores here, they tend to be late 20s and early 30s.

He adds:

Most Chinese people won’t be that interested in getting the new iPhone 5 because it has better this or that. I don’t think most Chinese people use their iPhones for the apps or the technology. Before, it was all just ‘look, I got an iPhone’, which people then just used for phoning and texting. I ask people what apps they have, and often they don’t have any.

What’s really popular across Asia right now, including in China, are the big phone-small tablet hybrids. Like the Galaxy Note but cheaper versions too. Teenagers especially are mad about these.

That is a source of hope for Apple’s iPad mini, then. But there are also small, cheap tablets on the Chinese market. A $99 dollar Chinese clone of the iPad mini, called the Goopad Mini, surfaced in China late last month, just days after Apple announced its latest innovation.

In China, as in most emerging markets, being neither cool nor cheap is a big problem. There isn’t much of a middle class or a middle ground.

Apple’s business in the country is still huge, representing 15% of its sales. In its last full year results,
Apple reported it made a whopping $23.8 billion in China, a 79% increase from the $13.3 billion earned in 2011. But those impressive results masked the slowing quarterly trend that Gartner’s data has also picked up. Apple made $5.7 billion in China in its fourth quarter, the three months to September 29, which was a 28% drop from the $7.9 billion it made in the second quarter.

And while crowds of Chinese shoppers besieged Apple’s flagship Beijing store on the day the iPhone 4S was launched there—with some rioting and throwing eggs because the store opening was delayed—these may not have been eager consumers. Instead, they might have been what the Chinese media call “scalpers.” These are speculators who buy potentially scarce goods in bulk in the hope of reselling them at a premium later on.

French argues:

That’ll be because maybe about four years ago some people made good money buying up all the iPhones on day one and selling them for more than the retail price. In China, where everyone wants to make a fast buck, these ideas get around.

The question remains whether they’ll find buyers this time..

~ Naomi Rovnick

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Apple: The accuser becomes the accused

Takeaway: On the heels of the Apple/Samsung lawsuit, Apple drops IOS 6 on the public. Just like IOS 5, there are plenty of features stolen directly from Android, alleges Jack Wallen.

Much to my chagrin, my wife has an iPhone. Yesterday she upgraded the OS to 6 and the upgrade brought a few shocks, but no surprises, to my eyes. It seemed every time my wife would shout, “Oh cool!”, it would turn out yet another feature on IOS 6 was another bit of clever thievery on the part of Apple.

Now, the only reason this is even remotely important (at least to me) is that it comes after the ridiculous IP lawsuit Apple won over Samsung. Prior to that, Apple was doing its usual ‘Oh, that’s a cool feature Android has, let’s steal it, put it in our platform, and pretend we invented it.’ I’ve been used to that ever since various desktops started stealing from Linux long ago. But this time there was something else involved — hypocrisy.

Apple sues the bankroll off of Samsung for patent design issues (does anyone actually have any details on just what design issues?) and then turns around and releases a new OS that clearly “borrows” from Android. Apples to Apples? Shouldn’t this be a case of the pot calling the kettle black?

There were so many pundits pontificating on why Apple brought this insane law suit to court. I myself stated it was a cash grab in hopes of stopping the Samsung Galaxy S3 from getting into the hands of too many people before the iPhone 5 arrived. But now, I wonder if it was little more than a diversionary tactic so people might not notice (or even bother to bring up) the fact that Apple did just what they claimed Samsung was doing.

Let’s see:

• You can now create auto responses to phone calls in the form of texts (been in Android for a long time now)
• All Facebook contacts show up in Contacts (been in Android since day one)
• Bluetooth sharing (again, been in Android since day one)
• Document syncing (Sync your Android docs with Google docs)
• Offline Reading (tons of Android apps have already had this)

This list doesn’t even include the list of IOS 5 features that were “borrowed” from Android. And in a show of unprecedented shenanigans, Apple even stole the design for their clock design from the Swiss National Railway!

Ultimately, what gets me about this whole mess is that Apple seems to always have a Get Out Of Jail Free card hidden in their back pocket. It seems the darling dear of the tech world can do what they want, when they want, and get away with it, knowing full-well there will be no consequences.

It’s very clear that Apple wants to be the only big man on campus. Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with that — we all do in our respective fields. But to win a lawsuit to the tune of over two billion dollars and then turn around and pull off the same thing you just sued a company for is beyond the realm of audacity (and I’m not talking the amazing, open source audio recording tool)!

Every maker of Android devices needs to stand up to the bully. Actually, it’s time Google came up to bat and knocked Apple out of the park. Make Apple aware they can’t bully everyone on the playground just because they are Apple. Slap them with an iLawsuit that will finally make the public aware that the accuser is now the accused. Sure, the public at large won’t care. But those with a finger in this tasty pie (aka Android developers and designers) would certainly feel validated and vindicated.

Apple should be ashamed of themselves for wasting taxpayers’ money on a lawsuit that could just as easily be aimed at themselves. I realize that nothing will probably come of this, mostly because the public is far too awash in a sea of delight that is the iPhone 5 to realize said delight is brought to them by a completely different platform. But maybe, just maybe this will come back to haunt Apple when Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and Google have had enough and drop the gauntlet to Cupertino. Should that happen, the court system and the court of public opinion might have a surprise for Apple up their sleeves.

~ Jack Wallen

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