The new iPhone 14 smartphones are on display at an Apple Store at The Grove in Los Angeles, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
On March 1, Apple will start charging an extra $20 for battery replacements on out-of-warranty iPhones, according to an update on the AppleCare+ webpage.
The new price will be $99 for the iPhone 14, and while these models are currently under warranty, they won't be after the one-year anniversary of their release in September 2023.
At that point, the higher price point could encourage customers with broken batteries to simply buy a new phone rather than shell out nearly $100 for a replacement part.
Apple has adjusted prices multiple times in recent years, as supply chain issues have raised production costs. Just last month, labor unrest at an iPhone supplier in China led to a production shortfall. The company struggled with similar disruptions throughout the pandemic.
There is also a history of consumers pushing back against Apple's practices around batteries. The company in 2020 was forced to pay $113 million in fines to settle consumer fraud lawsuits around a controversy known as "batterygate," in which iPhone users discovered that Apple installed new software that made devices with older batteries operate slower.
In addition, CEO Tim Cook in 2019 wrote in a letter to investors that "some customers taking advantage of significantly reduced pricing for iPhone battery replacements" was partly behind a lower-than-expected iPhone sales.
The federal government and numerous industries have been preparing for a greener future, setting goals to reduce greenhouse emissions by switching to electric vehicles. But the next hurdle to clear is convincing the wider public to get on board. Arun Kumar, managing director in automotive practice at AlixPartners, spoke to Cheddar's Ken Buffa about consumer trends related to EV transition and said he believes a widespread switch is imminent in 2022. Despite this, he acknowledged there are still significant obstacles to overcome, including high prices and more charging stations. "Without charging infrastructure, people are going to struggle with increasing adoption of electric vehicles in the future," Kumar told Cheddar. "I think by 2030 our estimate is that about a million chargers need to be put in place nationally in the U.S."
The pandemic has supercharged the creator economy, and there are no signs of it slowing down no matter when the pandemic officially ends. Creators prove to be a key factor in driving purchasing decisions and retail sales, and an increasing amount of platforms are taking advantage of the social influence. Karissa Bell, senior editor at Engadget, joins cheddar news to discuss the creator economy boom.
The National Women's Soccer League is partnering with Voyager Digital as its first-ever cryptocurrency brokerage in a multi-year deal. Marla Messing, interim CEO of the NWSL, and Steve Ehrlich, CEO of Voyager Digital, joined Cheddar to discuss benefitting the league and educating players and fans as a way of democratizing cryptocurrency. Messing explained that the players themselves will own half the assets as part of how the deal is structured. "My hope is, just in terms of the expectations of crypto over the long term, that I hope a lot of them are able to just let it sit there," she said. "And that one day this will be a nice retirement account for them."
The E-V maker Tesla has had a wild year. The company managed to continue to dominate the U.S. electric vehicle space despite growing competition and production delays. As the end comes to an end, Tesla finds itself growing richer and richer. Author of Risk Ritual Newsletter Richard Smith, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Paul Travers, CEO of Vuzix, joins Cheddar News to discuss the different scenarios that its augmented reality smart glasses can be used for and his outlook for this technology in 2022.
