Is Apple's New Battery Replacement Plan Bad For The Environment?

Apple Inc. AAPL will now allow AppleCare+ customers to replace their batteries after the device's capacity has fallen below 80 percent.

This option sounds great for consumers, but is it practical? Do iPhone users really need a new battery if the old one still charges to 79 percent of its original capacity?

"I do think with small batteries -- any battery that Apple's gonna take in -- my guess is they have a re-processing plan," Apple expert Sean Udall told Benzinga. "You can recycle batteries. Maybe you can rehabilitate an old battery and get it up to 100 percent status again. I do think it's a lot better if companies are taking ownership of old batteries and doing something with them -- reprocessing them."

Udall, who serves as the CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, does not expect Apple to "taint the environment." However, he said that consumers are "dumping more batteries into landfills every year."

"That's not a good thing," he said. "We'll see what happens. I think the battery thing is a big issue, but in Apple's case I don't think it will be."

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'Great Margins'

Cody Willard, chairman of Scutify and Futr, told Benzinga that AppleCare has "great margins." He said it is a very profitable endeavor and that Apple should do anything it can to increase sales.

"Who can even tell if their battery life is running at 80 percent of what other people's battery life is running at?" Willard questioned. "There might be a few phones turned in that Apple replaces because of this new offering. More to the point, there will be lots more people who will fall for this pitch and buy AppleCare+ and Apple will make lots of money on that."

Willard said this as someone who recently purchased AppleCare+ alongside his new Apple Watch.

"I'm not the average consumer," he said. "I dropped my watch in the toilet. I dropped my phone in a river. I run over my phone. I forget it on top of my car. I set my watch down and step on top of it. The average person shouldn't buy AppleCare+. The average Cody Willard should buy AppleCare+ every chance he gets."

Willard also dismissed the notion that Apple's new battery warranty will have any impact on the environment.

"They'll recycle those batteries anyway," he said.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.