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https://www.ifixit.com/News/apple-is-locking-batteries-to-iphones-now
By activating a dormant software lock on their newest iPhones, Apple is effectively announcing a drastic new policy: only Apple batteries can go in iPhones, and only they can install them.
If you replace the battery in the newest iPhones, a message indicating you need to service your battery appears in Settings > Battery, next to Battery Health. The "Service" message is normally an indication that the battery is degraded and needs to be replaced. The message still shows up when you put in a brand new battery, however. Here's the bigger problem: our lab tests confirmed that even when you swap in a genuine Apple battery, the phone will still display the "Service" message.
It's not a bug; it's a feature Apple wants. Unless an Apple Genius or an Apple Authorized Service Provider authenticates a battery to the phone, that phone will never show its battery health and always report a vague, ominous problem.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Immerman on Thursday August 08 2019, @03:54PM
>Why do people put up with this shit?
Brand loyalty, in part. Augmented by platform lock-in, and marketting and design departments that have managed to convert tools as into fashion accessories. And fashion has always been a stupid waste of money, in any medium.
I've never especially cared for Apple, but they haven't always been so service-hostile - and in fact have occasionally set the bar on user serviceability - such as with the pre-intel Mac Pro where the whole motherboard folded out when you opened the case - a pinnacle of serviceable case design, and it's a pure tragedy that there have been so few cases to follow that lead.
They also deliver a very polished, well-tested, and well-integrated user experience... provided you are content with their very limited software ecosystem. But then how many people do you know that really only ever use a web browser, media library, and *maybe* some office software? Most of them, in my experience. And of course a great deal of professional design software was born on Apple, and continue to treat it as a high-priority platform. And of course their decision to build OSX on top of Unix has given them access to a vast library of more technical professional software. It's really only the home power-user and PC-centric office scenarios where they're severely lacking. Which pretty firmly excludes me, but I can appreciate the appeal for those for who the weaknesses are irrelevant and the premium if affordable. The thriving second-hand market doesn't hurt either, and greatly reduces the actual impact of those premiums - I wish my old PCs and phones retained their value half so well as Apple products.
These days... Well, I've always thought of them as primarily targeting the "computer as an appliance" crowd - it doesn't do much, but it does it really well, and in a slick package. Ever since the success of the iPod and then iPhone though Apple has seemed to be sliding from "serviceability is an afterthought" to actually service-hostile. Presumably because they've realized just how profitable disposable tech culture can be. And sadly they seem to be luring many of the major PC/Android /etc. manufacturers into testing those waters as well. Me, I refuse to participate in that kind of waste, but then I refuse to participate in a lot of popular insanity.