Apple Recalls Mid-2015 15-inch "Retina" MacBook Pro Laptops For Battery Safety Issue
by Anton Shilov on June 20, 2019 7:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Apple
- MacBook Pro
- Recall
- Battery
Apple has initiated a voluntary recall for their mid-2015 15-inch "Retina" MacBook Pros over a potential safety issue with their integrated batteries. The manufacturer says that some of these batteries can overheat, which poses a safety risk.
Apple claims that a limited number of the 15-inch MacBook Pros sold between September 2015 and February 2017 use a battery that pose potential safety risk as they can overheat. Notably, this is the final generation of "Retina" MacBook Pros, and the issue does not affect either earlier (pre-2015) or the later USB-C models. As part of the program, Apple will replace affected batteries free of charge worldwide.
Owners of mid-2015 MacBook Pros are, in turn, being asked to visit a special page on Apple’s website to submit their device's serial number in order to find out whether their notebooks are eligible for the program. Affected laptops can be taken to an Apple store, an authorized repair center, or mailed in, with Apple advising owners that the entire service process may take one to two weeks. In the meantime, owners of affected laptops should not be using them any longer than necessary to grab a fresh backup of their contents.
Meanwhile, typical for Apple, the company has not disclosed how many notebooks may be affected; though that information may show up once they submit a formal statement with the US Consumer Products Safety Commission. And while there is nothing good about an overheating battery, one of the other AnandTech editors did point out there is a silver lining to all of this: affected laptop owners are about to get a free battery replacement for laptops that are now coming up on a few years old, breathing some new life into Apple's final generation of 15-inch laptops with multiple port types and a (proper) set of function keys.
Related Reading:
- Apple Recalls "Duckhead" Power Adapters for Select Mac Laptops and iPads
- HP Recalls Over 100,000 Laptop Batteries Due to Potential Fire and Burn Hazards
- HP Recalls 50,000 Laptop Batteries Due to Fire and Burn Hazards
- HP Expands 2018 Battery Recall Program, Delayed Announcement Due To Govt Shutdown
Source: Apple
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plopke - Thursday, June 20, 2019 - link
what if you already replaced the battery if you had a bad one?casperes1996 - Thursday, June 20, 2019 - link
With past repair/replacement programs, you have always been able to get a refund.RSAUser - Friday, June 21, 2019 - link
No you haven't?Retycint - Friday, June 28, 2019 - link
You can get a refund IF you did the replacement at Apple or an authorised repair centre. Given that this is likely not the case due to Apple's ludicrous repair pricing, I'd say no, you can'y get any refund. SucksPEJUman - Thursday, June 20, 2019 - link
Is there any mention on the capacity of the replacement battery?Are they promising the replacement will have equal or greater battery capacity than the original specification?
My iphone SE battery was replaced during the CPU throttle debacle they had last year, and despite the battery capacity shown as 100% right after replacement; The rate of capacity degradation of the replacement battery is far outpacing the original one they replaced. The phone lose 12% capacity over 24+ months originally, and have lost 10% over 11 months on the 'courtesy' replacement.
GC2:CS - Friday, June 21, 2019 - link
Apple updated those battery health estimates multiple times.About 1% per month is completely normal.
PEJUman - Saturday, June 22, 2019 - link
I have never seen the official degradation stats from any phone manufacturer. 1%/month, if real, should make any normal person avoid sealed battery designs.My SE now at 89% SoH no longer last till the end of a workday on a single charge. While last year it lasted till end of the workday at 85% SoH.
I wish I can see iphone CPU powerstates to check if Apple tweaked their Pstates transitions to make it more power hungry instead of throttling. Net results are the same, I have to upgrade...
psychobriggsy - Friday, June 21, 2019 - link
What about enterprise customers who can't have their employees go two weeks without a laptop?rogantastic - Friday, June 21, 2019 - link
Don't buy an Apple laptop. That's the solutionBeany2013 - Friday, June 21, 2019 - link
An actual enterprise will have spare laptops to ensure business continuity in the event of a hardware failure.