Apple Responds to Batterygate: 100% iPad Recharge is “By Design”

Apple has finally addressed the Batterygate issues that arose late last month about its new iPad. Ray Soneira, who is DisplayMate Technologies Corporation's President, tinkered with his iPad and made the discovery that the latest version of Apple's tablet continued to charge, even though its battery icon shows it to be completely charged.

Apple's VP, Michael Tchao, laid the issue to rest in an interview he gave with All Things D. Tchao explained that Apple intended for the iPad to show that it was "100%" charged just before the device is completely charged. At that point, it will go on to charge to completion, then discharge for a short period of time, before charging back up to 100 percent. This process repeats until the users unplugs the device from the charger.

That circuitry is designed so you can keep your device plugged in as long as you would like. It's a great feature that's always been in iOS.

-- Michael Tchao, Apple VP

Tchao added that users can expect their devices to give them the 10 hours of battery life, as Apple indicated in their tech specs. Soneira was kept in the loop with these updates, although he was not pleased with the tech giant's response.

My point that the iPad is not 100% charged when it says so. It's not the full admission that I would have liked, but it is actually more than I expected Apple would admit to.

Besides, if this is 'normal' for the iPad family then why did an Apple representative tell CNBC that "If you charge it more than [100%], you could actually harm the longevity of the battery? If we take this statement at face value, it unfortunately implies that the new iPad is damaging its own battery.

-- Ray Soneira, President of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation

I doubt Apple will bother responding to these comments, but I have to say that Ray definitely raised some fine arguments here.

Article by Hazel Chua
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