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.
Joel Flory, CEO of the photo editing app VSCO, discussed the VSCO girl trend and the acquisition of camera and app company, Rylo, in a sitdown with Cheddar.
Cheddar looks back at the high-profile product failures of the year.
The middle-of-the-night moves on Capitol Hill blindsided the solar sector. The industry had launched an ambitious lobbying effort this summer to extend the industry's tax credit and until last night had believed that an extension would be included in the tax packages.
1-800 Contacts, the private-equity-owned online contact lens retailer, is buying 6over6 Vision, an Israeli startup that has pioneered a way for customers to bypass eye doctors and complete in-home eye tests via their smartphones.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, December 17, 2019.
The company’s stock fell Monday after a morning report from the newspaper said Boeing would likely make an announcement today. Boeing’s board met Sunday and Monday to determine the future of the plane.
CEO Roei Ganzarski said the excitement of the moment the first electric-powered commercial flight took off felt like the birth of another child.
The U.S. residential solar market posted its biggest quarter on record in Q3 2019, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie Power and Renewables.
Robinhood, the popular single-stock trading app, now allows users to invest in fractions of stocks or funds. The new feature, launched Thursday, is the next step for the fintech unicorn in becoming “the best place for first time and new investors,” Abhishek Fatehpuria, a product manager, told Cheddar.
Wayv seeks to provide an Amazon-like, end-to-end service that includes financing, wholesale, and logistics for cannabis retailers, growers, manufacturers, and distributors.
