Common iPhone mistake can cost you hundreds and people don't know there's an easy alternative to save your cash

Phone performance naturally wears out over time, especially with all the stuff we use them for these days like streaming movies and hi-res games.

And while many of us are excited about the impressive battery life of Apple's latest iPhone 16 Pro Max - offering an insane 25 hours of power - some of us are just trying to make our current devices last.

Now obviously, the longer you hold onto a phone, the worse the battery life will get. And this can in turn reduce the phone's performance to prevent the battery from getting worse.

As a result, you're left with an older iPhone that has a solid camera and a powerful processor, but it just doesn’t hold a charge like it used to.

You can even check this number yourself by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health to see the Maximum Capacity for your iPhone.

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Depending on your iOS version and model, you can also see how many charge cycles you’ve used.

Typically, it would take around 500 full discharges for a smartphone to reach 80% of its original charge. This usually occurs after about two years of owning and regularly using your device.

The good news is you might not have to resort to forking out money for an upgrade if this happens.

You can instead swing down to an Apple store and get them to swap a battery.

Sure, it'll cost you a fee but way less than paying for a brand-new model.

In saying that, there are a couple of ways you may be able to get your replacement free of charge.

First, if you have a defective battery and are still under the one-year warranty, it’ll be covered.

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Or for those who have AppleCare+, you can get a free battery replacement if its capacity is below 80%.

Also, it's not worth swapping your battery unless its maximum capacity has dropped below 80%.

The cause of this issue lies with the phone's battery. All smartphones including iPhones and Android phones have lithium-ion batteries inside.

They're a popular choice because they’re cheap to produce, easily rechargeable, and store a decent amount of energy.

The downside is they do wear out over time, the more they are charged and used.

So, keep on top of your battery health, you might be overdue for a replacement.