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Apple blames air for iPhone 6S's narcolepsy

Battery woes blamed on indecent exposure during manufacturing

Apple says a defect caused during manufacturing is to blame for some iPhones randomly shutting themselves down.

The Cupertino giant said in a support article that some iPhone 6S handsets have batteries that degrade much faster than expected and tend to shut themselves off when the batt is at 30 per cent charge.

"We found that a small number of iPhone 6s devices made in September and October 2015 contained a battery component that was exposed to controlled ambient air longer than it should have been before being assembled into battery packs," Apple said.

"As a result, these batteries degrade faster than a normal battery and cause unexpected shutdowns to occur. It's important to note, this is not a safety issue."

This after users had reported to the iTunes goliath that their iPhone 6S handsets were randomly turning off, particularly around times that the battery was at around one-third of its full charge level. Other units are not affected.

Having traced the problems back to the battery hardware, Apple is now offering to replace the defective packs free of charge. iPhone 6S owners are being asked to visit Apple's support site to enter their iPhone's serial number and check if it is eligible for the repairs before sending it back to Apple.

Finally, Apple wants to remind users that not every unexpected shutdown is the result of a defect in the phone.

"We also want our customers to know that an iPhone is actually designed to shut down automatically under certain conditions, such as extremely cold temperature," said the Silicon Valley titan that once blamed its hardware failures on grip placement.

"To an iPhone user, some of those shutdowns might seem unexpected, but they are designed to protect the device’s electronics from low voltage." ®

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