The iPhone 7's lithium battery, which generally performs better than its predecessor, has been having some difficulties with the cold winter weather.
In fact, it's running into a problem the previous models also faced.
More and more customers have been reporting a glitch that causes iPhone's to suddenly die in cold weather with as much as 30 percent battery left.
If this has been happening to you, your phone isn't broken — it's just too cold.
Orchard — a site that deals in used iPhones — helps solve the mystery for us.
They point out how lithium-ion batteries carry a lot of advantages compared to other batteries (pretty much all smartphones are using lithium now). For one, they charge faster and don't need to completely run out before changing again.
On the other hand, they encounter difficulties when it comes to the cold.
According to Battery University, an organization that tests batteries (I know, the world is full of weirdly specific things), a lithium-ion battery may perform at 50 percent capacity in 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
Global News did an experiment last winter during the polar vortex, showing that an iPhone left outside for 30 minutes lost 14 percent battery, compared to the 1 percent battery lost inside.
Joe Tersigni, a managing partner of Cell Phone Repair, explained the issue like this:
The [battery] material was made out of lithium and in extreme temperatures, hot or cold, there are changes in the chemical. It's a chemical reaction. So the battery will work harder trying to retain the temperature of the phone.
So, yeah, it has to be pretty cold (or hot) for this to happen, but for those of you who live in the North, this is why your phones might be acting up.
So how do you avoid the cold's effect on your phone?
Answer: Keep it warm.
I know, pretty mind blowing answer there right? Well, look, not every life hack has to be complicated.
Cases are an option to help keep phones warm, or just keeping it in your warmest inside pocket.
Or, you know, anything else you can think of. You get it.
Citations: Orchard, Battery University, Global News
