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.
Instagram has launched a feature that urges teenagers to take breaks from the photo-sharing platform and announced other tools aimed at protecting young users from harmful content on the Facebook-owned service.
Refinery29 has launched their new gaming series, ‘GG,’ which features leading women and non-binary gamers through the lens of identity, entrepreneurship, wellbeing, community, self-expression, and personal beauty. Melissah Yang, entertainment director at Refinery29 joins Cheddar News to discuss the launch and how 'GG' is changing the game.
Hawaii Flooding, Beijing Boycott & Disrupting Death
New York City has become a testing ground for super-fast grocery delivery services like Gorillas, offering instant gratification in the 10 to 15 minutes.
Mercedes-Benz is bringing its first all-electric luxury vehicle brand, EQS, to the United States. Cheddar's Chloe Aiello takes a spin and reports.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
A month after Facebook changed its name to Meta, Square Inc. is changing its name to Block.
President Nayib Bukele announced last week that the Central American country plans to issue the world's first "Bitcoin bond" early next year.
Twitter says co-founder Jack Dorsey will step down as CEO of the social media platform.
The Treasury Department pushed for the requirement to help close the tax gap in the crypto industry by forcing better IRS reporting, but legislators on both sides of the aisle argue that the language is too broad and could curb innovation in the space.
