Generally speaking, extreme heat is worse for your iPhone than extreme cold. When it comes to iPhone battery replacement, we’ve noticed that very high temperatures are usually to blame for the battery failing before it should. Of course, it is a relatively quick and affordable exercise for us to replace the battery in these cases. But that doesn’t mean low temperatures can’t be harmful to the performance of your phone. You’ve probably noticed yourself that your phone isn’t at its best during the winter months, and here’s why.
It’s all to do with the Lithium-Ion battery used in all smartphones including iPhones. These batteries contain an electrolyte liquid that crystallises in very cold conditions. If you’ve ever kept a bottle of liquid honey in your pantry, you will notice it loses much of its fluidity in lower temperatures and doesn’t flow out of the bottle as it should. It’s much the same with the electrolyte liquid in a Lithium-Ion battery. In simple terms, this stops electricity from flowing through the battery which, in some cases, can mean the phone will cease to work altogether.
This is more of an inconvenience than a major problem. Once your phone does attain a warmer temperature, it should resume normal functionality. The key is to not turn it on straight away.
Turning on a cold device can warm it up too quickly, and this rapid temperature rise has been known to expand components and cause damage.
As we’ve said, extreme heat is far more harmful to a battery. For all that, you want your phone to continue working whatever the weather so there are a few simple steps you can take to better protect it in very cold conditions:
- Invest in a thermal case designed to withstand colder temperatures and maintain phone performance in winter months, while protecting against hot temperatures in summer.
- Keep your phone in an internal pocket of your backpack, purse, or briefcase. Even better, keep it inside a pocket in your clothing so it maintains a constant temperature through natural body warmth.
- Resist the urge to take photos or video footage in extremely low temperatures as these drain the battery even faster and will cause your phone to fail sooner.
- Activate battery-saver mode in very cold temperatures.
- Never leave the phone in the car as the temperature can plummet in a sealed space. In the same vein, don’t leave a phone in your car on a hot summer’s day.
Phone batteries have a limited life, no matter how well you look after them. We’ll happily give you further advice on how to prolong battery life in your device but when it is time for an affordable and speedy battery replacement, contact us.