UKH

Hi there, I have a iPhone se that I quite like but is now subject to periodic crashes, presumably due to the decline in the health of the battery. It’s nearly 5 years old but otherwise in good condition. The only thing I dislike about the phone is it’s rapid battery drain in cold temperatures.  My options are to replace the battery or upgrade to a new handset, probably a newer iPhone se model. Has anyone upgraded their iPhone battery and had a positive outcome from this?

In reply to Bog ninja:

Yeah, it’s pretty easy, if a little fiddly.

Buy a kit off Amazon or wherever, watch a YT video, and you’re away.

In reply to Bog ninja:

Yep my partner did this - about £30 in one of those mobile phone technical shops.

Improved things massively.

In reply to Bog ninja:

Yep, I had an iphone battery replaced at a tech shop.  Was about £30.  Well worth doing

In reply to Bog ninja:

I broke an iPhone using one of the battery replacement kits. Turns out that two screws which look identical are very slightly different lengths. Putting them in the wrong holes bricked the phone. Entirely my own stupid fault. 

In reply to Bog ninja:

I would add that having your battery replaced by a good repair shop is a very good investment indeed. Did the same with an iPhone SE 2016 and it was a night and day difference in usability. 

Bear in mind though that generally Apple supports upgrades and security updates for about seven years so the iPhone SE 2016 is coming close to the end its serviceable lifespan. I replaced it with an iPhone 12 Mini recently for this reason. 

In reply to Bog ninja:

Remember iphone security updates will cease at about 6yrs. I'd be inclined to go for a replacement phone and hang out for another year. I am in the same boat my iphone 7 updates will stop in November.

In reply to Root1:

Apple stops offering the latest version of their iOS to older phones (around 6 to 7 year mark... indeed iOS16 launched this fall will require iPhone8 or later).

But when compared to other smartphone manufacturers, Apple is actually offering longer support. It is rahter normal that a 3 year old flagship Samsung Galaxy isn't able to get the latest Android version installed...


So next iOS is 16, oldest supported device is iPhone8 (released on 2017) that came with iOS 11. What happens in fall of 2023, iPhone8 might still be supported by iOS17 or not, we need to wait a year to hear about it. But that is already a pretty long streak. Especially considering that Apple has been making quite rapid development each year (see the actual benchmarks values here https://nanoreview.net/en/soc-compare/apple-a15-bionic-vs-apple-a11-bionic oh and note A15 is the processor available now... meaning the iPhone7s A10 should be compared to get an idea what the iOS 15 needs to support).

In reply to Bog ninja:

Hi everyone thanks for the feedback on the battery and the reminder about the software support, I do have a 1st se and it looks like the software support will terminate sometime in the autumn. I think I will look for an upgrade then

In reply to Bog ninja: Last year I replaced the battery on my iPhone 7 (2017) with a non Apple battery at a small shop in Philippines. After upgrading the operating system battery drained really quickly and frankly nearly unusable, it took 15 minutes for the shop to do it and perfect performance since. I watched and it seemed a little fiddly so I wouldn’t do it myself.  It’s now 12 months on and the charge is maintained even in v cold in Nepal over Xmas/new year. Its far exceeded expectations although will now likely go for the new SE to upgrade. 

In reply to Bog ninja:

£30 for a new battery fitted to my 1st generation iPhone SE months ago, now still operating at 100%, job done!

In reply to Bog ninja:

Would avoid the official Apple centres as they rip you off. Had an old iPhone 6 that wouldn’t hold its charge so went to the official centre with phone and purchase receipt in the box only to be told that they couldn’t change the battery as it was a ‘grey’ battery despite the fact that I’d bought the phone from them. Took the phone to a recommended repair shop who not only did the repair in 5 mins, but also charged less than the apple shop and installed a higher powered battery. Phone worked a dream until  Apple’s continual software upgrading and the requirement of various apps to only run on more recent IOS forced me to upgrade the phone

In reply to Thugitty Jugitty:

welcome to my world, I thought it was just me who had to always fix the things I'd broken fixing the broke thing.

In reply to Bog ninja:

I had my battery replaced by Apple. For once (considering it is Apple) I didn’t feel ripped off. Can’t remember the price but it could be worth asking them how much they would charge to replace it.

In reply to Bog ninja:

We had a battery replaced in an old iPhone 6 at Timpsons. Took him about 5 minutes cost was £25-30 can’t remember exactly. Been working perfectly for over  a year now.

Timpsons do all sorts of useful things.