14 DAY TRIAL // A growing number of iPhone X users complain that their devices are getting closer to the critical battery degradation limit when battery servicing is required.
Announced in September 2017, iPhone X aligns with Apple’s iPhone battery and performance guidelines, which indicate that the device is projected to lose some 20% of its battery capacity after 500 charging cycles. Apple explains:
“A normal battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles when operating under normal conditions. The one-year warranty includes service coverage for a defective battery. If it is out of warranty, Apple offers battery service for a charge.”
Posts on reddit (1, 2, 3) and on Apple’s support forums (1, 2, 3) indicate that more and more iPhone X units approach the 80% critical limit which would require a battery replacement on the device.
Two-year-old smartphone
While iPhones will continue to work after this limit is reached, a degraded battery limits not only the battery life per charge, but could also impact device performance because of Apple’s performance management system. Once this system kicks in, you should see the following warning under Settings > Battery > Battery Health:
“This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery was unable to deliver the necessary peak power. Performance management has been applied to help prevent this from happening again.”
As for why this is happening, it’s worth keeping in mind the iPhone X is a two-year-old device, so reaching the 500 complete charge cycles limit makes sense, especially with a one charge per day basis. Most people charge their devices during the night, and after two years, the 500 charges limit would be obviously be surpassed.
The recommended step, in this case, is replacing the battery with a new one from the Apple Store. Despite two newer models already launched, iPhone X continues to be a very capable smartphone, so getting a new battery should make it good to go without any hiccup in terms of battery life per charge or performance.