So while batteries certainly can go subpar faster, they can and do last much longer sometimes.
I also babied it and rarely charged above 80 or fell below 25, which may have played a part but who knows.
And I’ve never met anyone who replaces their battery after a year and a half. At least not an iPhone.
I’ve replaced a battery once.
Maybe I’m just lucky. But I also don’t view having to charge during the day as a problem that I need to fix. Other than just charging it.
Anecdote from one person who buys lots of phones for extended family: I see no such phenomenon
500 cycles can be a lot if you mostly keep it as a standby device to stay reachable, but not that much if you actually use the phone everyday.
That's less than 2 years if you completely drain the phone at least once a day. Our kid easily goes through two full charges in a day, especially on weekends. It really depends on what you use your phone for.
Also I think some people live with a < 70% battery without really minding it much. That's IMO only viable if you don't have a winter, where the battery efficiency becomes so worse. That's the combination of weak battery + poor weather that triggered the phone shutdown for me when BatteryGate was the rage.
It's a shame, because I like the phone a lot otherwise.
Also, 3 year battery life is much more realistic to me than 1.5 years, but that's just personal experience.
On third party repairs...it's sure getting better, hopefully in other regions as well.
Ah, could be. I use iPhones intensively, but almost never for gaming.
To note, that's a regional thing. It seems to stop at gen2 for Asian countries for ex.
> Budgeting $69-99 once every 3-4 years
iPhone batteries become subpar way faster than that, especially the older models who get more strained as they bear the heavier OS. Once every year and a half looks more realistic to me.