Jim Rossman: When is a new battery better than a new phone?

A few weeks ago, a friend asked if he should replace the battery in his iPhone SE. He’d noticed the phone needed to be topped off before the end of the day and asked if I thought he should replace the battery or just buy a new phone.

I started out asking if he was happy with the performance of the phone. Did it do everything he needed it to do?

Yes, he was otherwise happy with it.

I asked if there were any issues with the screen or buttons that were causing any problems?

He said the hardware was fine.

I asked if he was OK with the size of the phone. The SE has a 4.7-inch screen, which is pretty small. Any new iPhone he bought would certainly be bigger. Also, the SE was the last iPhone to have a home button with a fingerprint reader.

All new iPhones have dropped the home button and use facial recognition.

He was just fine with the smaller phone.

All indications were pointing toward replacing the battery.

What can the phone tell us about the state of the battery?

If you go into the phone’s Settings and select Battery, you’ll see the battery information, including a list of recently used apps and how much of your battery those apps are using.

There will be a section called Battery Health, where you’ll see the battery’s stats, including its maximum capacity, which is the percentage of life left in the battery.

If you’ve been using your phone regularly for years, I’d expect that maximum capacity to be down to 80% or even lower.

Rechargeable batteries lose their capacity over time, and Apple suggests replacing the battery if the maximum capacity drops below 80%.

My friend’s iPhone SE showed a max capacity of 78%, so a new battery would certainly help.

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