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.
Attack surface management startup CyCognito recently raised $100 million in its latest funding round, valuing the company at $800 million. CyCognito offers cyber security through its attack surface scanner, which uses artificial intelligence to identify weak spots in an organization's network. The new funding comes as companies around the world continue to add new defenses to the growing rise of cyber threats and attacks. CyCognito co-founder and CEO Rob Gurzeev joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, faced withering questions on Capitol Hill about the reports the social media app was aware of the severe mental health impacts it was having on teenage girls. Karen Kornbluh, the director of digital innovation and democracy for the German Marshall Fund, joined Cheddar to discuss the rare show of bipartisan outrage on display at the Senate hearing. "The senators came really loaded for bear on both sides of the aisle," she said. Kornbluh explained how senators like Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) set up fake Instagram accounts with teen girl profiles in order to research the effects firsthand.
A mental health crisis among young people is looming, and a large part of it is online. Cheddar News speaks with digital policy expert Karen Kornbluh on the issue.
Roshan Jhunja, head of retail at Square, joined Cheddar to talk about the financial services company's second annual Future of Retail report. Square expects the massive shift to e-commerce to continue into 2022 as more consumers get used to the online shopping experience. For Square, soon-to-be renamed Block, which began predominantly as a digital payment platform, Jhunja said the company is also helping sellers with automation amid ongoing labor shortages.
Facebook is undergoing more than a name change. The company, now known as Meta, has also seen an exodus of executives this year. While the timing of some of these resignations came before whistleblower allegations, it's undeniable the tech giant is undergoing big changes. Doug Astrop, Managing Partner at Exponential Investment Partners, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss Facebook's current state, possible regulatory scrutiny, the impact of Instagram chief Adam Mosseri's Congressional testimony, and more.
Fast AF, a premiere quick commerce retailer for products and brands just announced the close of its Series A investment round. That round puts the value of the company at $200 million. The company gets items to customers ranging from masks to sneakers and is now launching its own in-house delivery service. Lee Hnetinka, founder and CEO of FastAF joins Cheddar News to discuss the announcement.
Carolina Navas, Snap's head of AR product strategy and product marketing, joins Cheddar News to discuss how Snapchat's augmented reality is changing the shopping game this holiday season.
Instagram Chief Executive Adam Mosseri is set to testify before Congress for the first time. Mosseri’s appearance follows reports that showed Facebook and Instagram are aware of the harms their apps and services cause, including to teen mental health. Nicole Gill, co-founder and executive director of Accountable Tech joins Cheddar News to preview the hearing.
