Last year lots of Apple users decided that there was no reason to buy a new phone because the new range didn't offer anything new. They, logically, thought that if something went wrong they could repair it. 

To fix this issue Apple is raising the price of battery replacements on older iPhone models from March 1 by $20. 

Apple didn't tell anyone about the price hike, it was first noticed by 9To5Mac which appears to have greeted the news enthusiastically because the iPhone 14 line-up will not be affected. Face it if you need a replacement battery from the new range of phones there is something significantly wrong with your less-than-a-year old phone. 

However, the iPhone 14 line-up is not affected by the new prices because Apple already charges $99 to replace the battery on these models.

The iPhone 13, iPhone 12, iPhone 11, and iPhone X currently cost $69 but will go up to $89. Models such as the iPhone SE, iPhone 8 and other earlier models currently cost $49 to get a battery replacement but this will jump to $69.

The batteries cost less than $29 because that was the cost of battery replacements a couple of years ago as a result of the iPhone throttling controversy. Prices were then raised to current levels at the start of 2019.  At this rate, a replacement battery will cost you more than the phone.