Beware the Apple Store “bait and switch” iPhone battery gambit. We faced this yesterday in Los Gatos, CA where they tried to claim a working iPhone 6s with a good screen / original owner was not eligible for their $29 battery replacement at the appointment because it had a slight bow in the frame.
Now, by this point everyone likely has some flaw in their old iPhone, whether it is a slightly dinged frame from being dropped to a minute crack or scratch under the frame. It’s normal wear and tear. And they likely didn’t have a problem replacing the battery before the discount was announced and replacements were more costly and infrequent. But now, it’s an issue.
They did offer to sell an iPhone 6s for close to $300! This is a terrible price. Don’t go for it. This is what they mean by bait and switch.
There’s a good reason why Apple doesn’t want to replace old batteries after their bungled attempt to intentionally slow down older iPhones with an OS update was discovered, but they don’t mind selling old inventory at a premium. Money.
According to Barclays’ analyst Mark Moskowitz, extending the life of old iPhones will impact Apple’s bottom line and stock price severely: “In our base case scenario, 10% of those 519M users take the $29 offer, and around 30% of them decide not to buy a new iPhone this year. This means around 16M iPhone sales could be at risk, creating ~4% downside to our current revenue estimate for C2018.”
I suppose we’re back to the maxim, “If it seems to good to be true, it is too good too be true“.
Consider your options carefully when they refuse to honor their agreement.