Apple Says Some iPhone 6s Shut Down Prematurely Due to Air in Batteries

Apple has recently started a recall of iPhone 6s units manufactured between September and October 2015, as it publicly acknowledged that these models come with a faulty battery causing devices to shut down unexpectedly even with 50 percent battery left.

In an advisory posted online today, Apple explains what exactly is happening with these phones, pointing out that this is not a safety issue that could lead to more serious incidents, such as fire.

“It's important to note, this is not a safety issue,” Apple explains in its statement, clearly trying to make sure that this recall doesn’t lead to a new global craze over exploding batteries, as it was the case with rival Samsung.

“Too much air”

Specifically, Apple says that batteries cause an unexpected shutdown because of what it describes as too much air in batteries, pointing out that this leads to premature degradation that eventually causes the iPhones to turn off despite the indicator that shows there’s still nearly half of battery left.

“We found that a small number of iPhone 6s devices made in September and October 2015 contained a battery component that was exposed to controlled ambient air longer than it should have been before being assembled into battery packs. As a result, these batteries degrade faster than a normal battery and cause unexpected shutdowns to occur,” Apple says in its statement, which you can read in full at the end of the article.

Apple goes on to explain that the iPhone is anyway configured to shut down automatically at very low temperatures because this prevents damage caused by low voltage that could impact other parts as well.

The firm emphasizes that it already looked into other factors that could cause such an unexpected shutdown and points out that, beside the faulty batteries and the low-temperature protection, no new factors have been identified.

If you’re not sure if your iPhone is eligible for a battery replacement or not, head over to this Apple Support page and input your iPhone serial number, which you can find in Settings > General > About.