Changing iPhone 4 Battery Yourself

My three years old iPhone has been surprisingly going very strong. While some of my colleagues with the same phone has already transitioned to other devices (mostly due to button failures), mine has served me very well. Until recently, where it started to mysteriously shutdown by itself. So what happened? Here were my clues:

1. I never installed anything new or did anything with the software over the past month.
2. Sometimes after a shutdown, I am unable to turn it on and the phone says I need to recharge it (even though I had over 50% charge left).
3. It never shutdown when I kept it plugged in the charger.

With a high percentage of certainty that this was a battery problem, I headed out to find a replacement. Here's my story of how I did it.

I searched a number of local phone shops to find out the prices of a replacement battery. What I got was to me cut-throat prices of about RM80 including installation. Online, I was able to find for battery alone the cost of around RM40. Hence I decided it was it to DIM (do-it-myself)!

First of all, I needed to find out how to do it. It was solved very simply with a YouTube video which had a lady do it. Wow, what excuse do I have not do replace it myself now? 

I managed to buy the battery and the pentalobe screwdriver at RM55 from a shop in Pertama Complex after looking at Mudah. They gave me a warranty of one week (most give one to three months. One shop even gave lifetime warranty, but was located in Subang), but I was desperate so I took it anyway. The following are some photos I took from my operation. The battery I bought was claimed to be "original", or from the same factory that made the original battery. I will never be sure, but I did take a photo of the old and new battery for comparison.

Original one on the left. New one on the right.

Step 1: Power off your phone.
Step 2: Remove two bottom screws.

Step 3: Slide back cover upwards and open the cover.

Step 4: Unscrew one philips screw on the bottom right.

Step 5: Remove the little metal thing that sits between the battery connector.

Step 6: Pry open the battery. The original battery was stuck with strong double sided tape, so be careful and do it gently.

Step 7: Put everything back together. Your new battery terminals may need a little bending to fit back into the connector.

Step 8: Turn it on again!

And that's all there is to it. I saved RM25 in the process and now have the tool and knowledge to open any iPhones out there. :)