I thought I only needed a new battery
I’ve had my 13 Pro since December 2021. Over the past months, especially in the last 2-3 weeks, my battery performance has dropped significantly. Battery health shows 72% capacity.
I’ve been happy with my phone, and honestly haven’t checked out the new 17 series or looked into the upcoming 18 series.
I made a Genius Bar appointment for a battery replacement, and after running a diagnostic, the tech said my phone has a system failure. It’s not just the battery that needs replacing, but the entire logic board and battery. The tech pointed out that my phone’s screen has started to bulge out, which I hadn’t ever noticed before.
That means that the $99 battery replacement was out, and the estimate to replace the logic board, battery and whatever else would be about $440.
I have no illusions of getting any moderate amount of money if/when I trade this phone in. But for nearly $500, I’d rather put that towards paying off a new phone.
As it stands now, after a full night of charging, my phone might last up anywhere from 3 - 5 hours without charging. Though not without restarting several times and jumping from 10% charge up to 65% then down to 10% for an hours before it dies again.
What recommendations do you have? Buy and start walking around with a MagSafe battery backup? I haven’t looked too deeply into it, but I’ve seen reports that one of the 17 series (not sure which) isn’t worth upgrading to.
UPDATE: I did find a phone repair shop nearby. I never mention that I had gone to Apple, and the tech never asked. I told them about the battery degrading recently and showed him how it started to bulge out. After a quick visual inspection, he told me he could change the battery. I’m sure it wasn’t an official Apple battery. But 30 minutes and about $115 later I have a new battery that will be me some more time before upgrading to a new phone altogether.