- Kyle Chua
Batterygate? Some iPhone 14 Owners Claim That Their Battery Capacity Is Degrading
Updated: Dec 18, 2023
Almost a year after launch, some iPhone 14 owners are starting to question the longevity of the device.
According to The Verge, there's a growing number of users online complaining that their iPhone 14's battery capacities are degrading faster than they expected.
Sam Kohl of AppleTrack, a news blog devoted to Apple products, for instance, tweeted in July that his iPhone 14 Pro had already lost 10% of its total battery capacity after less than a year of use. Tech creator Andrew Clare similarly lost 10% of his iPhone 14 Pro's battery capacity, while his iPhone 13 Pro only lost 15% over two years. Columnist Joanna Stern also observed that her iPhone 14 Pro is now only showing 88% maximum battery capacity.
Battery degradation on the iPhone 14 doesn't appear to be an isolated issue, with many taking to online forums and social media to voice complaints. One commenter on The Verge, for example, said his iPhone 14 Pro's battery capacity is now only 89%, while another said his launch day iPhone 14 Pro Max is down to 86%.
Still, there are those who said their iPhone 14 models continue to reach 100% on a full charge and that they have yet to see any signs of battery degradation.
No one knows for certain yet what's causing some batteries to degrade father than others. Apple has yet to comment on the complaints, though it does note that iPhone batteries do indeed degrade over time. "Your battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles," according to Apple. The iPhone maker also notes that one charge cycle is when you've used up an amount that totals to 100% of your battery’s capacity but not necessarily all from a single charge.
iPhone 14 owners started observing battery degradation after the iPhone maker rolled out battery health monitors as part of an iOS update. That same update also added the ability to toggle performance throttling on and off, which became a much-requested feature after Apple admitted to slowing down the processors of older iPhone models to protect degrading batteries and keep them from shutting down under heavy load. Some iPhone owners, however, believe the tech giant was making older models obsolete in a bid to jack up sales of new models, a controversy dubbed as "batterygate".
Now, some iPhone 14 owners are speculating that Apple has hatched a new scheme similar to "batterygate" to get more money from customers. Apple in January raised the prices of battery replacements for the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14. A new iPhone 14 battery, for example, can set you back US$99 outside of the one-year warranty that comes with your purchase, which is almost 40% more expensive than the original price of the iPhone 13's battery.
These are, of course, merely speculations, but they do make you wonder why the batteries of older iPhone models degrade slower than the latest ones.
The new controversy surrounding the iPhone 14's battery capacity comes as Apple gears up to unveil the iPhone 15 in September.
There's a growing number of users online complaining that their iPhone 14's battery capacities are degrading faster than they expected.
One iPhone 14 owner, for instance, tweeted in July that his iPhone 14 Pro had already lost 10% of its total battery capacity after less than a year of use.
No one knows for certain yet what's causing some batteries to degrade father than others.
Apple also has yet to comment on the complaints, though it does note that iPhone batteries do indeed degrade over time.