Unable to verify this iPhone has a genuine Apple battery.

Hi Marcial,

I've been keeping an eye on the subject of iPhones and serialized components, and here's my understanding of the current state for iPhone 12 Pro Max batteries.

First off, the battery is now serialized to the motherboard. Apple uses a proprietary encryption algorithm so only Apple can re-serialize a battery. The current workaround for this issue is to cut the BMS, or Battery Management System board off the original battery and spot weld it onto a new battery cell without a BMS.

That gets rid of the genuine battery warning, but the problem is it will still have the old battery statistics; specifically the health percentage and the cycle count. On batteries prior to the iPhone 11, you could reprogram those numbers with a QianLi or JC programmer, but after that Apple has continued their anti-repair program by encrypting that information so it can no longer be reprogrammed.

Once again, the aftermarket industry has jumped into the fray with what they're calling a tag-on flex cable. Basically, it's a tiny circuit that plugs in between the battery and the logic board. It intercepts the request for the battery data and allows existing programmers to access it. So with the tag-on board, you can once again reprogram the battery stats, resetting them as appropriate for a new battery. The tag-on board is then sealed in with the battery and stays in the phone permanently.

As you've already surmised, the only other alternative is to buy a genuine Apple battery directly from Apple and either have them install it or utilize the self-repair program to do it yourself. You'll save a little bit of money, but you'll have to rent the equipment from Apple and run their "calibration" software afterwards to serialize the battery to the phone.

That's my understanding of the current state of the batteries for your phone. You cannot get rid of the non-genuine message with just a programmer, but you will need one to reset the battery statistics in conjunction with using a tag-on board to allow you to program them.

So yeah, I'm hating on Apple for their chicanery; I'm looking at the iPhone X as about the last one where things like screen and battery replacements were straight-forward. If you want to skip the use of a device programmer altogether, you've got to go back to the iPhone 7 before True Tone was introduced.

Oh, by the way, you'll get that same message whether you use a genuine Apple battery or not if it wasn't replaced by Apple or one of their authorized service providers. Without the original battery, you won't be able to get rid of the message or see the battery health information without going to Apple.