Huawei South Africa (though it’s not the only part of the world offering this) has announced a new battery replacement program for a whole range of its older smartphones and tablets. It’s paid-for, of course. Batteries cost money. But it could give your ageing Android a new lease on life.
The Chinese company is offering users “…the chance to obtain a genuine battery replacement tailored to their specific device model at a remarkably low price”. That low price isn’t fully detailed — you’ll have to query for that — but pricing will start at R150.
Huawei gonna do this?
Usually, the first thing to go when a smartphone fails is the battery. Unless you’ve drowned a device without a waterproof rating or smashed the screen to bits, of course. Those catastrophes aside, smartphone batteries are a weak point. This program has the potential to keep vast numbers of Huawei devices running in the country. Provided their owners love them enough to give them an upgrade.
Doing so is easy enough. Replacements are done at the company’s official Service Centres. There are, unfortunately, a limited number of these but anyone in major centres should find it easy enough to find a place to take that old P30 Pro they just can’t let go of.
The list of Huawei devices eligible for battery replacement is an extensive one for South Africa. One thing that stands out is just how many of these phones are from the company’s previous era. You know, before proper Android was marked off-limits for the company. The company’s not saying it, but this is one way to keep fans who haven’t been thrilled with Huawei Mobile Services (as opposed to Google’s offering) happy.