iPhone 5 battery replacement offered by Apple

Customers who bought their iPhone 5 between September 2012 and January 2013 may be eligible for a free replacement device

Does your iPhone 5 run out of battery faster than you can reach a charger? If so Apple might have some bad (and good) news for you.

The bad: Apple has determined that “a very small percentage” of iPhone 5 smartphones sold between September 2012 and January 2013 were shipped with a faulty battery. The good: Apple is replacing them for free.

Customers who think their phone might be affected can simply plug their serial number (found Settings > General > About) into this form to check, and if it’s a match, they can arrange a consultation with a local Apple store or ‘authorized service provider’.

There are plenty of caveats though: the replacement service doesn’t cover the iPhone 5s and 5c; owners will have to pay to fix any cracked screens before getting their battery replaced; and although the replacement service has started in the US and China, other countries (including those in Europe) will have to wait till August 29.

It's not the first time this has happened, with Apple confessing to similar battery problems with the iPhone 5s back in October last year (a few thousand devices were affected) but if your iPhone is still cursed with limited juice we recommend you check out our tips to keeping your battery going.

Unfortunately, for most of us bad battery life is just an unfortunate consequence of asking more of our smartphones without any equivalent leaps forward in battery design and for all the excitement surrounding features in Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6, a two-day battery isn’t likely to be announced on the day.