If Memory Shortages Last, Tech Companies Should Offer Cheap Battery Replacements

Apple has done it before, and it can do it again.

Billy Steele for Engadget

Due to "sharply inflated" memory costs, global smartphone prices are up an estimated 20 percent since the start of the year, which phone makers are passing on to consumers. Accordingly, people are holding on to their devices for longer, or turning to refurbished phones. Maybe that should have been the case all along, but there's still one major barrier to handset thriftiness: tech companies largely…