Some Apple users are claiming a new bug is shutting off their iPhones with 30% power left
You can see a sample of the complaints in this 13-page thread in the Apple forums (via News.com.au), but the gist of it is that, after updating to iOS 10.1 (or iOS 10.1.1), certain iPhone models are shutting down as if they are completely devoid of battery, even while their battery indicators say they have around 30% juice left.
Then, when these iPhones are plugged back in, they quickly jump back to that 30% mark.
Users at Hacker News and Reddit have cited similar issues, with some claiming the update has also resulted in rapid battery drain, as well as miscalculations in Apple's Battery Usage table.
Anecdotally, two of my colleagues at Business Insider have also started suffering from the issue after updating to iOS 10.1.1, which released in late October.
The conditions of the issue seem to vary. The complaints suggest the point of shutdown could be slightly higher or lower than 30%, and that the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, and iPhone 5s have been affected (at least).
Earlier in November, Apple announced a free battery replacement program for users experiencing "unexpected shutdown issues," but said that the problem only affected "a very small number of iPhone 6s devices" manufactured between September and October 2015.
It's worth remembering that grumbles over an iOS update causing iPhone battery issues are nothing new. There's an endless array of factors that could cause a phone's battery to behave strangely, from buggy apps to hardware stress to basic user neglect. Some users have reported similar unexpected shutdown issues with iOS 8 and iOS 9 updates in the past, too.
Still, while the problem does not appear to be widespread, iOS 10 has not been immune to bugs since its public release in September, and there at least seems to be some smoke worth noting here.
Apple did not respond to request for comment.
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