Hi all. Wondering if any of the Power Users have come across a solution to this one please. I am running a MacBook Pro Retina mid 2015 and have just had my first battery replacement - OEM. I am now on my 4th (!!!) swap out. Batteries seem to ‘suddenly’ drain at around 50% to 7%. Percentage charged vs time remaining all over the place, i.e.: at 98% charge shows less than 2h remaining and then at 78% charge shows 3.5h remaining?!! Done a SMC reset. I’m also still running Mojave at the moment. There is an iFixit battery forum which talks about this exact issue in 2018/2019 from a ‘bad’ supplier batch but my last swap out is from a different supplier so I’m inclined to think this is not a battery issue but ‘something else’. PS: my machine is not eligible for the overheating battery recall - I’ve checked. Thoughts and feedback appreciated.
Disclaimer - next is a bit of rant. Hate to say it but I’m becoming more and more discouraged with Apple products - and I’m a self-professed ‘fan girl’. I’ve had a run of failing hardware which would be palatable only if I was not continuously spending a top dollar for what is marketed as ‘best quality and it just works’. If this problem with my MacBook is ‘expected’ in a 6 year old machine then I am seriously going to reconsider my approach with purchase of Apple products going forward .
Also running a 2015 15” MBP, still with the original battery, and no problems of this nature.
I certainly understand your frustration, but might I make a point: The mere fact that you and I are still able to use a 6-year old machine productively (your current issues aside) is already remarkable. Please know that the grass is not even remotely green (think desert) on the other side, in this context. The likelihood of running a PC that long, without significant degradation in the operating system functionality alone, never mind the hardware, is next to none. So whilst I can understand you being upset about this, believe me that you are very unlikely to get anything close to that over in the Windows world. At least, that’s been my experience.
But back to the battery problems — was it a battery replacement through Apple? Or where did you get it/them from?
This will very much depend what you’re doing at the time. In your example above, if you’re doing heavy processing at 98% and lighter workload at 78% this is normal. Your MBP is trying to anticipate how long your battery will last at current load.
I do remember that when those devices were released, there was a general dissatisfaction with the reporting of battery life and reporting of anticipated length.
Hi there. First battery replacement from factory. Had a new OEM version put in which was the first to show this ‘anomaly’ I have described in thread. This is the one which has now been swapped out 4 times - 3 with same supplier batteries (thinking root cause was a bad batch), then 1 more with a different supplier (to rule out a supplier batch issue). Outcome is still the same… battery drops from around the 50% mark to this ‘magic’ 7% every time.
Hi Brad, yes I am sure the ‘other side’ is no better - thanks for reminding me. Battery replacement was not through Apple and I know - probably therein lies my problem right? However, I did research this and it is not uncommon for a ‘simple’ battery swap to be done by a non-Apple local specialist.
Thanks for the feedback, I’ll keep that in mind but no high-processing going on. I am trialing a swap out from Chrome to Safari to see if that makes a difference. Chrome has been hungry lately so will check that out ‘just incase’.
Your issue sounds like a dead cell to me. My experiences with third-party batteries are not good, so I don’t use them any more. As you’ve implied in another response, you might have better luck with a genuine Apple battery. You’ve also implied that a battery swap should be doable by a non-Apple technician, and I agree. But if that’s the only way to get a reliable battery…
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- thanks for reminding me. Battery replacement was not through Apple and I know - probably therein lies my problem right? However, I did research this and it is not uncommon for a ‘simple’ battery swap to be done by a non-Apple local specialist.