Yes thats right it's £64 to have a battery replaced officially via Apple on an iPhone.

They are soaking folks dry!

I just bought a genuine replacement battery for my Samsung Galaxy S from a reliable vendor on Amazon for £7.50 delivered. No problem to install it as it's user changeable. Compatable batteries (which are perhaps just as good according to many reviews on Amazon are about £4).

So taking account of the VAT which is £1.50 and the cost of delivery £0.60, the vendor margin (25%?) £1.35 or thereabouts you are left with £4.05 which includes manufacturing cost, manufacturing profit margin and shipping costs. Bottom line is that the battery is probably coming off the line in China for around £1.

So what is so different about the Apple battery? I'm confident Apple are paying no more than Samsung to have batteries manufactured and the one in the Galaxy S is of a similar spec to the one in the iPhone.

So why the £64 charge? Lets just say it's a £5 battery (generous), then it's £8 shipping back and forth to Apple for replacement and £5 for the time to execute the replacement at a central point (probably a lot less). That is £18 in total plus VAT at 20% (on £64) so around £29.50 leaving a whopping £34.50 which can only be sheer profit and I am positive the figure will be much higher in reality.

Apple charge premium prices for their products but when it comes to accessories and replacement parts they pile on the agony big time.

There is no way anyone can justify a £64 charge to replace a common Chinese manufactured rechargable battery, that's more than a decent ZTE or Huawei clone Blackberry costs (ZTE Orange Rio 2 3G Brand new - delivered with £10 credit = £59.00). So a new 3G phone with lots of bells and whistles with £10 calling credit is £5 less than replacing the battery in an iPhone!

You could not make it up!