Skip to main content

Apple confirms iPhone 5s battery life affected by manufacturing issues in some units

J3YieQBINxYUBLR3.large

<a href="http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+5s+Teardown/17383">Image via iFixit</a>

Apple has confirmed to The New York Times that a “very limited” number of iPhone 5s units could experience shortened battery life as the result of a manufacturing problem.

“We recently discovered a manufacturing issue affecting a very limited number of iPhone 5S devices that could cause the battery to take longer to charge or result in reduced battery life,” said Teresa Brewer, an Apple spokeswoman. “We are reaching out to customers with affected phones and will provide them with a replacement phone.”

The exact number of affected units is not clear, but the statement is said to imply that the number is in the few thousands range. Apple sold 9 million iPhones total over its opening weekend. The NYT notes that a manufacturing problem does not equal a defective battery, so it is unclear what the actual source of the issue is.

Affected users can expect to be contacted by Apple soon and will be issued a replacement phone.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

  1. Rahul Rana (@iRahulRana) - 10 years ago

    I’ll take a defective gold 32GB iPhone 5s, please.

  2. William - 10 years ago

    Reblogged this on William's iBlog and commented:
    Oh. For a second I thought Apple was talking about compass problems.

  3. Ryan Dombroski - 10 years ago

    According to Apple Support the information is false and if that were the case it would be listed to the public on the website (Apple’s Website)

  4. Truffol (@Truffol) - 10 years ago

    It’s refreshing to see manufacturers admitting to product defects. Samsung has bigger issues with the Galaxy and never admitted to them until they were publicly bashed by China’s state-owned TV station.

  5. NQZ (@surgesoda) - 10 years ago

    If anyone gets an email can you please post a link to it? Or ask Apple if you can identify the problem by the device’s serial number? I have been worried my 5S has had battery issues since I first started using it about two weeks ago.

  6. James Gardner - 10 years ago

    I noticed a significant difference in battery life and the time it takes to charge when I upgraded my iPhone 4 to a 5s on launch day and haven’t heard anything from Apple.

  7. Gavin Barrie - 10 years ago

    Already affected by a battery life issue, already had my iPhone 5s replaced – fine now.
    Diagnostics at the Apple store showed the iPhone was never going into sleep, it was running 100% load all the time, even with the screen off, so the battery life was about 5-7 hours at most

    • Vikas Dudhe - 10 years ago

      Hi Gavin,
      When you says diagnostic at apple store, does it mean the same diagnostic which they can do online, or they connected your phone to some sort of tool to diagnosis it. I am having similar issue and i opened my ticket 2 weeks ago, they tossed me from online support to their store, and at store i was told it is expected as it have faster processor, it sounded like BS to me, so i came back home, and called customer care again, they asked me to change some settings on phone, and asked to call back after 48 hours, i did called them and left voice message, and no reply yet. Still waiting, never though Apple will have worst customer service.
      Vikas

  8. Eldian Aguilar - 10 years ago

    I dont know but my touch id is starting to get annoying, it is taking me up to like 5 tries with a clean touch id face, I had to re input my prints like 4 times already for it to work.