Why has my iphone battery life declined all of a sudden?

[AI1601]

Bought my iphone SE in Sep 2022 and in the past 3 weeks or so the battery health has nosedived from 86% to 81%. Surely this can’t be right? Not changed anything on the phone and usage habits are the same. Has anyone paid Apple to get the battery replaced?

[MitchT]

AI1601 said:

Has anyone paid Apple to get the battery replaced?

I paid Apple to replace the battery on my iPhone 8 in September 2022, though the replacement is now down to 88% and says "Your battery's health is significantly degraded", so I might look at getting a new phone as the 8 no longer supports the latest OS. That said, the battery seems to be behaving normally, despite the scary warning!

[wyson]

Sounds about the right lifespan for a battery. Most of mine start noticeably degrading after 2 years and after 3 they are done. Get a new phone, or send it off to Apple’s battery management program. What is it £99 for a new battery?

[needamiracle]

In the same situation. Decided to try carry a wireless power bank in my bag to see if it helps. It does. Trade off is needed to charge that, which is do at work.

[MitchT]

wyson said:

Sounds about the right lifespan for a battery. Most of mine start noticeably degrading after 2 years and after 3 they are done. Get a new phone, or send it off to Apple’s battery management program. What is it £99 for a new battery?

I bought my iPhone 8 in October 2018 and the first battery lasted until late summer 2022. I had it changed in September 2022 when it started to play up big time. The Apple Store in Leeds charged me £49 to replace it but I think it costs more for the larger phones.

needamiracle said:

In the same situation. Decided to try carry a wireless power bank in my bag to see if it helps. It does. Trade off is needed to charge that, which is do at work.

I have a wireless charging pad at work and have also started carrying a power bank since the warning appeared as I need my phone for my train tickets.

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

I have never understood how iPhones can be so expensive, yet have such rubbish batteries. It seems to me that at 18 months old battery life starts to take a dive until at 3 years old you are having to charge it twice a day.

My old Honor 8X on the other hand cost £229 and at four years old the battery was as good as the day I bought it.

My current Honor 70 is 18 months old and I frequently fast charge that (it takes 20 minutes) and no sign of battery degredation. It is also far slimmer than the equivalent iPhone 15, yet has a bigger battery.

If I was a suspicious man I would think this was done on purpose by Apple to sell more phones......

[MitchT]

I don't know who makes the batteries for iPhones but I've always thought it was something that could be done better, but isn't because the status quo serves as a convenient cash dispenser.

[Magikarp]

My iPhone 15 Pro Max battery has diminished to 90% capacity in thirteen months. Cycle count is 279 times, Seems defective to me, although changing the maximum charge level to 80% seems to have slowed the deterioration somewhat. I expect some, but this seems greater and quicker than previous models.

[MustangGT]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

I have never understood how iPhones can be so expensive, yet have such rubbish batteries. It seems to me that at 18 months old battery life starts to take a dive until at 3 years old you are having to charge it twice a day.

My old Honor 8X on the other hand cost £229 and at four years old the battery was as good as the day I bought it.

My current Honor 70 is 18 months old and I frequently fast charge that (it takes 20 minutes) and no sign of battery degredation. It is also far slimmer than the equivalent iPhone 15, yet has a bigger battery.

If I was a suspicious man I would think this was done on purpose by Apple to sell more phones......

This, having had Huawei recently and Motorola now, I charge on average every 3 or 4 days, this has never changed over the lifetime of the phone (Huawei was 5 years old when changing it). Also had a Blackview that would do a full week before charging.

[DaveTheRave87]

MitchT said:

I don't know who makes the batteries for iPhones but I've always thought it was something that could be done better, but isn't because the status quo serves as a convenient cash dispenser.

Just like the Phoebus Cartel did with lightbulbs 100 years ago.

[Brainpox]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

If I was a suspicious man I would think this was done on purpose by Apple to sell more phones......

Some time ago it came out that Apple was slowing devices down as battery health degraded to preserve battery life. Many were upset saying it was Apple trying to convince people to upgrade to the latest and greatest and so Apple stopped doing that. Now batteries degrade more rapidly and those same people are saying it's to convince customers to upgrade to the latest and greatest (ignoring the fact that you can just change the battery). So you wouldn't be the only one.

[ecsrobin]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

I have never understood how iPhones can be so expensive, yet have such rubbish batteries. It seems to me that at 18 months old battery life starts to take a dive until at 3 years old you are having to charge it twice a day.

My old Honor 8X on the other hand cost £229 and at four years old the battery was as good as the day I bought it.

My current Honor 70 is 18 months old and I frequently fast charge that (it takes 20 minutes) and no sign of battery degredation. It is also far slimmer than the equivalent iPhone 15, yet has a bigger battery.

If I was a suspicious man I would think this was done on purpose by Apple to sell more phones......

I’m a very heavy user of my iPhone and it’s just over 4 years old (12 pro max so a bigger battery to start with) and despite being on 77% battery I can still get a full day out of it on an average day.

I would say that’s pretty good for a 4 year old device?

[maccas99]

Mine is a 12 Pro and I get over a day out of mine on the original battery FWIW

[andygo]

I have a 15pro that was exactly a year old in September. On its birthday, the battery % dropped to 99% and now a couple of months later its dropped to 96%, despite never having been charged to over 95% capacity as advised by Apple to preserve battery life.

Funny old things, iPhones...

[AI1601]

Visit to genius bar at apple store confirmed the battery is indeed on its way out. Booked in for a replacement for £65. The SE is a good phone but as someone above said it’s probably due the smaller battery size which means it degrades quicker? Either way a new battery should keep it going for another 2 years at least.

Also what’s the best way to charge then? I leave it plugged in overnight is this bad? Searching online never seems to give a conclusive answer..

[C69]

A lot of stuff I've read online says don't let it go below 20% or above 80%.

If you're leaving your phone plugged in all night, is there a setting that'll stop the battery charging when it reaches a certain %?

[Mr E]

MitchT said:

I don't know who makes the batteries for iPhones but I've always thought it was something that could be done better, but isn't because the status quo serves as a convenient cash dispenser.

If you can invent a better battery I suspect you could buy most of Hawaii.

[Tony1963]

Settings > Battery > Charging

[Mr E]

C69 said:

A lot of stuff I've read online says don't let it go below 20% or above 80%.

If you're leaving your phone plugged in all night, is there a setting that'll stop the battery charging when it reaches a certain %?

BMS will be doing complex stuff to preserve the cell, but there are options

[epom]

I suppose there is nothing in the cynical view that the battery degrades quickly just in and around the same time most peoples contracts are up or when people begin thinking about change ??