Apple offers battery service free of charge with AppleCare+ coverage. For Mac laptops that are out of warranty, there’s a fee of U.S. $199 to have the battery replaced.
However, due to a constraint of top case assemblies with integrated batteries, Apple has informed its Genius Bar employees and Apple Authorized Service Providers that it’s currently unable to service the batteries of 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display models released in mid-2012 and early 2013, according to MacRumors.
The solution (albeit a temporary one)? Customers may choose to delay battery service until inventory becomes available, in exchange for Apple covering the cost of the repair. Or, to avoid a delay, an internal Apple directive obtained by MacRumors says customers may exchange the MacBook Pro for a functionally equivalent model.
