Why an iPhone Battery Replacement was Worth It

I’ve been thinking a lot about my tech these past several weeks. We’re seeing the price of RAM, SSDs and even PCBs beginning to spike, we’re even beginning to see Apple restrict availability of some of their higher specced devices. Even the mighty Cupertino giant is struggling to compete against the tech oligarchs and AI bros monopolising the hardware, driving up prices for the rest of us.

And as a result I’ve been undergoing a project to see how I can extend the life of my existing tech as well as repurpose older devices. There’s also the fact I’m becoming increasingly skittish giving money to US tech companies.¹

But I still love my Apple devices, so can’t I stretch them out a bit longer? Take my current iPhone for example, the iPhone 12 Pro Max. A beautiful beast of a phone when I bought it in 2020, over the past 6 years it’s started to degrade in performance, especially the battery.

I’d put the performance issues down to the way new iOS versions tend to be geared towards the latest phones, and consequently less performant on older devices, so I tried to work around the battery performance by buying a portable MagSafe charger to get me through the day. Yet even that would struggle to provide a charge unless I took off my phone’s case.

And all the while I was eyeing up that lovely orange iPhone 17 Pro Max with its eye watering price, and don’t think it wasn’t sorely tempting me.

That was when I read a rumour that iOS 27 (the next release at time of writing) would continue to provide support for the iPhone 12. And I’m really happy with my phone, even if it lacks all the bells and whistles of newer versions.²

That’s when I realised I should just take my iPhone in to an Apple Store to get the battery replaced, and see if I can stretch it out until Apple decides to stop supporting it with iOS updates.

There was also that suggestive warning in the Settings app which made me think that maybe, just maybe, the poor battery performance was causing the iPhone to throttle the processor. This kind of thing can happen to prevent the phone drawing more power than the battery can provide at a given time. Because if the draw is greater than the battery’s capacity to provide, the phone can just suddenly shut off.

So off I went to Montreal’s recently relocated Steve Job shrine, and in a couple of hours I had a replacement battery.

Montreal’s new Apple Store – relocated a block or so down the road from the old one – is a significant improvement on their last premises. For a start it’s far less cramped, but it’s also bathed in softer light making for a more relaxing experience for the visitor. I found visiting the Genius Bar at the old venue was a stress-fest, mainly due to the lack of room and the sheer number of people with broken Apple devices, all of whom were putting their last hopes of salvation at the feet of Tim Cook’s army of “Geniuses”.

I jest, but the staff at the Apple Store are always helpful and the people at the Genius Bar know what they’re talking about. On the day in question the staff actually seemed a bit on edge, because due to a mystery event Montreal’s downtown was swarming³ with police, and several arteries were blocked off. This meant people were arriving late for work, and so my “Genius” had the look about him of someone who was about to have a difficult day.

But they gave the battery replacement a thumbs up, and a couple of hours later I popped by again to collect it. And it was like receiving a new phone. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits from doing this.

Extended Battery Life

This one may seem like the obvious consequence of replacing a degraded battery with a brand new one, but before I wasn’t even getting to the afternoon without needing a charge.

As a test I wanted to see how long I could stretch out my battery from waking up at 7am with a full charge. Bearing in mind I have a Shortcuts automation to turn on battery saving mode at 30% charge (iOS defaults to 20% otherwise) I made it to 10pm the following day without a charge. That’s 27 hours, and I’m really happy with that because it will serve me well during the next ice storm.

Improved Performance

So, there was no question the processor was being throttled as a result of the degraded battery. The phone now feels more responsive and less sluggish. It no longer feels like I’m fighting it, and whilst it’s still true that newer iOS versions are less performant on these older phones, it clearly wasn’t the main problem.

Improved MagSafe Performance

This one surprised me. My portable MagSafe battery now works properly with the phone’s case in situ, and it works in both the fast charging mode when the phone’s battery is low, as well as the more traditional slower charging when the phone’s battery is closer to being full.

Less Overheating

I realised my phone was heating up when I did things like watch videos. This heat was probably coming from the battery as it was responding to the phone’s demands for energy, another sign it was failing. I’m now wondering how long it would have been before the battery started to turn into a spicy pillow⁴.

I guess the point of this post is to encourage people to consider repairing or upgrading their existing devices before parting with their hard earned cash. It seems to me batteries and storage are the two primary points of failures in older tech, and both are usually straight forward to replace. Especially as it looks like the cost of new technology is going to continue rising.

And in my case, that shade of “Pacific Blue” is the best iPhone colour ever, full stop. It’d be hard to give that up, even for “Cosmic Orange”.