The Apple message boards are filling up as customers complain over and over again about the miserable battery performance of the newest iPhone 4S smart phone. Call center wait times exceed 30 minutes, and Apple Express Lane “we’ll call you on your schedule” appointments are not to be had.
Countless users have already returned their 4S handsets for refunds. Even more are flocking to the Genius bars and Apple stores demanding replacement phones only to find that the problem persists with the replacement devices.
The general consensus of speculation is that Apple is working feverishly to identify a software bug that is causing the battery drain and that a patch to iOS 5 will be coming soon. My personal experience calling tech support was that I was put through a barrage of questions regarding how I have my phone configured and when I notice the most battery drain. The representative, clearly reading from a script, was taking my information down in an effort to find commonalities across the complaints, I assume, in order to try to narrow down the issue.
Many customers are already drawing parallels between this post-launch faux pas to “Antenna Gate” which followed the release of the iPhone 4 wherein certain hand positions on the handset caused signal to drop or vanish completely. Apple responded to this design blunder by offering free cases to anyone who purchased an iPhone 4.
With any luck at all, Apple will be able to correct this issue with a coding fix and will not have to recall handsets for battery or board replacements (gulp)!