Life Expectancy of Cellular Phone "Permanent" Batteries?

[JTK]

The iPhones in our family seem to get really lame in terms of battery life after about a year of how my bride and kids use them. Local apple store will swap batteries for you for ~$40 IIRC.

My cheapo Moto e5 supra has amazing battery life after a year, but I don't quite use it hard.

 

[JGmazda]

Originally Posted by KrisZ
I recently replaced a "sealed" battery on an old iPhone 5s for about $11 or $12 off of Amazon. It was actually a kit that included the apple proprietary screw driver and some prying tools to get the screen off.
Yes, it wasn't as easy as lifting the back cover and popping off the battery, like it was on most older smartphones, but it was also not some daunting task, requiring advanced skill set and tools.

The new flagships that are water and dust resistant are tougher because everything is glued shut, but again, not impossible for the DIY types like me. For those that are afraid to DIY things like this, yes, stay away from these phones or be prepared to replace the entire phone once the battery dies.


Also, to extend battery life, avoid fast charging on regular basis. For this very purpose I keep some old charging bricks and use them to charge my S8 overnight. I only use fast charging when needed, which is quite rare since my S8 can easily last a full day.


Good points and practice!

 

[PandaBear]

3-5 years typically for me. These days you can't use till they are dead because phone will slow down when battery is low.

 

[spasm3]

I've

The life of Li-Ion batteries is not really a matter of how old, but how many charging cycles they have gone through. A rule of thumb is about 1000 charging cycles for quality batteries, which equates to about 3 years for most people who charge their battery once a day.

I've heard that it's better to not fully charge or discharge phone/lithium batteries. I can't remember where I read that the 40% to 90% charge range offered the best life.

For the battery experts, any truth to this?

 

[vavavroom]

3-5 years typically for me. These days you can't use till they are dead because phone will slow down when battery is low.

Maybe I misunderstand your meaning of "the phone will slow down." Do you mean your internet connection speed, call range and call quality diminish as the battery reaches the shutdown point?

 

[ripcord]

Maybe I misunderstand your meaning of "the phone will slow down." Do you mean your internet connection speed, call range and call quality diminish as the battery reaches the shutdown point?

What he's talking about is that modern phones will detect when the battery loses capacity below a certain point and then it will start to throttle the CPU speed in order not not demand too much juice from the battery.

Weak battery equals slower phone.

 

[ripcord]

I've

I've heard that it's better to not fully charge or discharge phone/lithium batteries. I can't remember where I read that the 40% to 90% charge range offered the best life.

For the battery experts, any truth to this?

This is totally true. If you don't charge over 80 or 90 percent, the battery will last multiples of years longer than if you charge it to 100% all the time. One of the easiest things to do to prolong the battery life is to not plug in your phone at night.

 

[vavavroom]

What he's talking about is that modern phones will detect when the battery loses capacity below a certain point and then it will start to throttle the CPU speed in order not not demand too much juice from the battery.

Weak battery equals slower phone.

I have not noticed anything slowing down on the rare occasion I have managed to run the battery down to the point when the phone shuts off. It shuts off between 2 and 3% of capacity.

 

[mk378]

That is an Apple thing. When iOS detects that the storage capacity of the battery has deteriorated, it reduces the maximum CPU speed to extend run time, albeit at lower performance. This is done "permanently" (until the battery is replaced) based on a battery aging metric-- not the immediate charge in the battery.

Apple was of course sued over this.

 

[350Rocket]

So I have a Moto X2 which I bought new and put into service January 2016. It does not feature a removable battery. I believe there are some DIY guides on how to replace the battery but it involves disassembly and possibly fine soldering equipment, and I would imagine a fine solder vacuum too.

So I am beginning to have battery glitches and issues and figure that the phone's days are numbered. It will be showing, say, 49% charge but power itself off and upon powering it back up it will show 20% or less charge and refuse to boot until connected to charging cord. The other evening it charged to only 49% overnight. I did a procedure that resets the battery "meter" or whatever on the Moto X phones, which is with it plugged into charging cord you hold power button for at least 7 seconds and it reboots, and a status led at top above the ear speaker flashes green momentarily before boot-up screens are displayed. Supposedly that signals that battery calibration mode has been triggered and you then leave it on charger until 100% charge is achieved. It worked and so far the phone is behaving again. But clearly the battery is beginning to exhibit some aging issues.

I am on Republic Wireless's legacy refund plan and typical monthly bill is $14 - 20 never higher, that's with 1 gig LTE cellular data which I rarely exhaust since most data use on the phone happens when connected to WiFi, which is just how I roll.

I can bring any unlocked android phone to Republic and use it but I'd lose the legacy refund plan and have to transition to their current plan which would raise monthly to around $25 - 30 for the same 1 gig LTE data limit. You can buy much more LTE data as needed. Republic utilizes Sprint/T-Mobile and the coverage is fine for my usage.

So is 3 and a half to 4 years about the limit for lithium cell phone batteries?

They are not usually soldered. The connectors just click in. Hardest part for me was usually getting the screen out.

I have a 3 year old OnePlus 5, original battery is at over 80% capacity still. Last longer than new (possibly due to software updates). My friend had a 2013 Moto x up until this spring. He never replaced that battery.

My girlfriend's iPhone 6s needed a new battery after like 2 years. Some will last year's, others 2 or less. Luckily they are repairable whether you choose to do it yourself or pay a repair shop.

 

[twouvakind]

If you do opt to do a youtube guided battery replacement, shop wisely for a good battery. There are a zillion questionable quality...promise you the moon claims out there. You really don't want to do it again because of a bum cell.

 

[PandaBear]

That is an Apple thing. When iOS detects that the storage capacity of the battery has deteriorated, it reduces the maximum CPU speed to extend run time, albeit at lower performance. This is done "permanently" (until the battery is replaced) based on a battery aging metric-- not the immediate charge in the battery.

Apple was of course sued over this.

Yup. Basically it is really more of a voltage / current reason. They updated the processor's voltage and frequency profile and it no longer works for an aged battery in all situations, so they have to either slow down the phone or trigger a shut down due to low voltage. This is more on the older phone that got upgraded to a new iOS and people complained about sudden shutdown, so they decided to slow down the speed. They will get sued either way.

Still, you need to replace the batteries these days because battery aging impacts performance now.

 

[PandaBear]

I've

I've heard that it's better to not fully charge or discharge phone/lithium batteries. I can't remember where I read that the 40% to 90% charge range offered the best life.

For the battery experts, any truth to this?

Just like EV batteries, you don't want the extreme on either empty or full. Staying closer to the middle helps extend its life significantly.

 

[Wolf359]

Way to bring back and old thread. Yeah, the older the phone the cheaper the battery replacement seems to be. Since Apple got sued, the battery replacement prices have been more reasonable and that has put pressure on the price of a battery replacement in general. I'm somewhat following the model of getting a new phone every 2 years around black friday. The Samsung ones are almost 1/2 off and 1 years later, you can still get close to 1/2 the price of it new. I should probably do it every year but it's a hassle to switch phones. My Samsung S10 is still worth around $350-$400 and I only paid $450 for it last year. Another year and it'll probably just drop $100 in value.

 

[ripcord]

Phones, like PC's, are all so fast now relative to several years ago that the replacement curve can't help but flatten out. I mean how much horsepower do you need just to browse BITOG?

 

[Wolf359]

Phones, like PC's, are all so fast now relative to several years ago that the replacement curve can't help but flatten out. I mean how much horsepower do you need just to browse BITOG?

You need Quantum Supremacy! But it's going to be a long time before you have a quantum computer in your phone. Maybe never as it requires a lot more hardware and super cooled qubits to work now.

 

[vavavroom]

That is an Apple thing. When iOS detects that the storage capacity of the battery has deteriorated, it reduces the maximum CPU speed to extend run time, albeit at lower performance. This is done "permanently" (until the battery is replaced) based on a battery aging metric-- not the immediate charge in the battery.

Apple was of course sued over this.

In that case I haven't noticed it since I haven't had an iphone for the last 10 years.

 

[Andrew1972]

I understand it is charging cycles (usually 1000). So likely about 3 years if you charge daily. I you don't use phone much/charge much then that extends.

 

[mrsilv04]

I carried a 64GB Motorola Droid Turbo for 5 1/2 years. Finally had to give it up, I noticed that it was randomly rebooting itself. I assumed that couldn't be a good sign for the future. Never replaced the battery and still could get a full day's use out of it, even to the end.

 

[Ignatius]

I had a Samsung S7 Active from 2016-2018, which when it was new was touted as having the best battery in the business, that started into its death throes about six months before I got rid of it at the end of my two year contract. It worked great until it didn't.

Since then I have had a LG V40 that has a battery that has not degraded at all in over two years of ownership. It charges quickly and lasts a long time. I have been incredibly happy with this smartphone in every way.