Dubai: The launch on Apple’s battery replacement programme marks the second time Apple has had to replace a defective battery.
The batteries in iPhone 5 also had to be replaced in the US following issues with short battery life. The affected iPhone 5 devices were sold between September 2012 and January 2013.
While Apple announced its global battery replacement plan globally on November 30, Monday’s announcement from the Ministry of Economy comes 6 months after the global recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. That recall affected about 2.5 million devices, and was a public relations fiasco for Samsung. The Note’s batteries caused explosions and the Korean tech giant was unable to fix it. This resulted in the phone being banned on commercial airplanes.
Apple to replace 88,770 defective iPhone 6s batteries in UAE
But the biggest recall in history was by Nokia in 2007. Nokia recalled 46 million batteries due to fears that they could overheat and cause the phones to short-circuit.
The recall applied to all Nokia-branded BL-5C batteries that were manufactured by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006. It powered 55 different Nokia phones and accessories, including Nokia N70, the Nokia 6230i and the Nokia 6820 phones.
Apple said on its website that this is not a safety issue and only affects devices within a limited serial number range.
To find out the serial number of an iPhone go to Settings/General/About and look for the device’s serial number.
“If you have experienced this issue, please use the serial number checker below to see if your iPhone 6s is eligible for a battery replacement, free of charge,” Apple said.
According to Japanese blog Macotakara, with a good track record on Apple reports, states that the company is also considering to recall the defective units of iPhone 6. Apple did not respond to Gulf News queries at press time.
From a vendor’s perspective, Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner, told Gulf News that there is a serious call to look into sourcing of the components from third parties. They need to ensure that the components used in their products are quality checked.
“Both Apple and Samsung, at some place, have failed in their efforts to track these kind of issues. If you look deeper into the technology to know what is causing the lithium-ion batteries to explode, I am not the right person,” he said.
“If these kind of issues are recurring, then it will impact the sales, and we have seen it with Samsung,” he said.
Samsung lost its crown as the world’s top smart phone seller last year in the fourth quarter to Apple as a result of its Note 7 battery fiasco, but overall for the full year, Samsung retained its number one status. Gupta said that it is difficult to comment on Apple’s case as the US company hasn’t given more details about its batteries. Apple sold 13 million alone in the first three days of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus launch. Qatar’s Ministry of Economy and Commerce issued similar statement on the iPhone 6s on January 24.
