MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Late 2012 Battery Replacement
Featured Guide
This guide has been found to be exceptionally cool by the iFixit staff.
Replace the Battery in your MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Late 2012.
- Author: Walter Galan
- Difficulty: Difficult
The battery is made up of six distinct cells, four of which are adhered to the upper case. Use great care in prying these four cells up from the case—bending or puncturing them can damage their performance, and may release hazardous chemicals. Only use plastic tools when prying.
Sections
- Lower Case 3 steps
- Battery Connector 5 steps
- Battery Contact Board 1 step
- I/O Board Data Cable 3 steps
- Right Speaker 4 steps
- Left Speaker 4 steps
- SSD Assembly 2 steps
- Battery 16 steps
Tools
Shop these parts and toolsTools (continued)
Relevant Parts
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Remove the following ten screws securing the lower case to the upper case:
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Two 2.3 mm P5 Pentalobe screws
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Eight 3.0 mm P5 Pentalobe screws
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Wedge your fingers between the upper case and the lower case.
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Gently pull the lower case away from the upper case.
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Remove the lower case and set it aside.
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Remove the following screws securing the battery connector board to the logic board:
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Two 2.8 mm T6 Torx screws
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One 7.0 mm T7 Torx shouldered screw
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Use tweezers to remove the small plastic cover located near the bottom right of the battery connector board.
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Remove the wide head 6.4 mm T6 Torx screw securing the battery connector to the logic board assembly.
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Carefully lift the battery connector board up off the logic board.
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It is recommended to bend the battery cables just slightly, to keep the board suspended up above the logic board and out of the way.
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Grasp the battery contact board with tweezers.
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Lift the battery contact board up off the logic board and remove it.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the right side of the I/O board data cable connector up off its socket on the I/O board.
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Wedge the flat end of a spudger beneath the left side of the I/O board data cable connector.
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Gently twist the spudger to disconnect the I/O board data cable connector from its socket on the logic board.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the SSD cable connector up from its socket on the logic board.
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Move the SSD cable connector out of the way.
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Wedge the flat end of a spudger beneath the right speaker cable connector.
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Gently pry the right speaker cable connector up off from its socket on the logic board.
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Remove the following screws securing the right speaker to the upper case:
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One 6.8 mm T5 Torx screw
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Two 6.3 mm T5 Torx screws
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the headphone jack cable connector straight up off its socket on the logic board.
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Wedge the tip of a spudger beneath the left speaker cable connector.
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Gently pry the left speaker cable connector up off from its socket on the logic board.
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Remove the following screws securing the left speaker to the upper case:
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One 6.8 mm T5 Torx screw (top right)
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Two 6.3 mm T5 Torx screws
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Use your thumb or finger to bend the plastic spring bar on the SSD tray, freeing the two clips at the front side of the device.
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While holding the spring bar depressed, tilt the SSD assembly up out of its cavity.
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Remove three 2.2 mm T5 Torx screws from each side of the battery (six screws total).
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Wedge the spudger underneath the leftmost battery cell.
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Run the spudger along the bottom perimeter of the battery cell to release the adhesive.
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Wedge the spudger underneath the battery cell once again, but this time slightly lift the battery cell.
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Insert the spudger along the left side of the leftmost battery cell.
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Run the spudger up along the left side of the leftmost battery cell.
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Slightly pry the leftmost battery cell to release it from the adhesive.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to release the top portion of the leftmost battery cell.
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Wedge the flat end of a spudger underneath the top portion of the leftmost battery cell.
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Run the spudger down along the leftmost battery cell.
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Insert the flat end of a spudger underneath the larger leftmost battery cell.
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Carefully wedge the spudger inwards, being careful to not damage the battery cells.
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Pry the larger leftmost battery cell up off the upper case.
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Grasp the battery cells and gently move, but do not remove, them from their recess in the upper case.
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Leave the battery cells resting on top of the upper case as highlighted in the third picture.
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Run the spudger to the left along the bottom portion of the rightmost battery cell.
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Wedge the flat end of a spudger underneath the bottom portion of the rightmost battery cell.
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Insert the flat end of a spudger near the bottom right corner of the rightmost battery cell.
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Run the spudger up along the right side of the rightmost battery cell to release the adhesive.
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Wedge the flat end of a spudger underneath the right side of the rightmost battery cell and the upper case.
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Pry the spudger downwards to release the adhesive near the top portion of the rightmost battery cell.
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Wedge the flat end of a spudger underneath the larger right battery cell.
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Run the spudger down along the right side of the larger right battery cell.
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Insert the spudger near the bottom right corner of the larger right battery cell.
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Slightly pry the bottom right corner up off the upper case to release the adhesive.
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Insert the flat end of a spudger underneath the larger rightmost battery cell.
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Carefully wedge the spudger inwards, being careful to not damage the battery cells.
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Pry the larger right battery cell up off the upper case.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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14 Comments
Guide
Hi where can u buy the battery for these
Kevin Higgins - Reply
Did you find out where to buy?
Uli -
There is a much easier way to get the batteries out. If you look at the 2 cells on either side (left and right), you will notice that they put them in an area that is slightly lowered. This is by design. To remove the batteries, pour a small amount of 90% isopropyl alcohol on both sides and let it sit for about 30 to 45 mins. It will dissolve the glue and you can gently then lift out the batteries without any prying. After you remove the batteries, simply wipe up any remaining alcohol, let it dry, buff it clean, and insert the new battery. Considerably easier and safer than potentially damaging the battery packs. If you are putting the same battery pack back, just use double sided tape. IMPORTANT NOTE: ALWAYS BE SAFE USING ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL AROUND FLAMES OR ANYTHING THAT MIGHT MAKE IT BURN. ALSO, NEVER ATTEMPT TO PRY THE BATTERIES IN ANY WAY IF ANY ALCOHOL IS STILL POTENTIALLY PRESENT!! WAIT UNTIL IT IS EVAPORATED!!
jimhoffa69 - Reply
Thank You for the hint with the alcohol, but where can I buy a spare battery?
Uli -
looks like they run for $100 on ebay
bluto20 - Reply
They are on amazon for around $60-$70.
Noah -
Prying the battery out is HARD! and VERY dangerous. I tried using a flat head screwdriver, put it under the battery and twisting the thing out. DO NOT DO THAT!! as it can punch a hole in the battery if you twist it too hard. I had a small smoke coming off by doing that and was lucky enough it didn't burn. Using isopropyl would be an ideal solution. But to bad I can't find that around here :(.
[DO THIS ON YOUR OWN RISK] What I ended up doing is using the screwdriver to gouge the underlying glue out as much as I can on the side (about 10%) and use fingers to pry it up. Good luck!
Hlung - Reply
Perfect! not as difficult as it looked first, especially with the proper tools. To take the batteries out the alcohol (I used ethanol used for cleaning purposes) works like charm. I put a few ml in nearby the batteries, waited maybe 20min and was able to pry them out easily. Tried before without the alocohol and nothing moved. I ordered the battery on ebay for 70€ and it has the same numbers and text as the original it says apple japan as well. My old battery had more than a thousand cycles after 3 years and did not last vey long. Now the software shows 0 cycles and it is charging starting at 15% and will be fully charged in 2:45h. I think apple charges 249€ for the job here in Gernany. It took me about 1 hour to replace it (with waiting).
Olaf Querhammer - Reply
How much ethanol was necessary to remove the battery? Did you use a spudger or similar to pry it out? I just put about 3 ml of Isopropanol nearby the battery and waited for about 30 minutes. Unfortunately I couldn't remove it though. It still was firmly glued.
Tim Bo -
Thanks for the excellent instructions. They were easy to follow and the new battery is working. I purchased my battery on Amazon from Brtong for $49.99. I just installed it so I don't know how long it will last but it was new and the cheapest price. It came with two tools to remove all the screws.
derrymatheson - Reply
This is a great resource. Thanks to all that contributed to this. I was able to replace my battery today and all went well. I had a very hard time removing the old battery. The spudger broke on me and I was afraid to use alcohol so I used a screw driver and sure enough, sparks flew removing the old battery. But got it done.
Thanks again to all and ifixit.com
aljimenez - Reply
Thanks for the guide! Perfectly presented. Took me about an hour following the steps.
Todor Lirkov - Reply
t's very important to keep organized during this replacement for ease of reassembly as there may be different size/length screws in the same step.
Someone else had mentioned using isopropyl alcohol to remove the adhesive from the batteries which is truly a great idea.
In my specific case, isopropyl alcohol was not something I had on hand. As a substitute, I used my wife's nail polish remover since Acetone evaporates fairly well (yay high school science class FTW) and sure enough, they came loose no problem. This method is NOT guaranteed, but to the careful DIYer can work great in a pinch.
Daniel Conley - Reply
Step 24
This is the most difficult step. The tip of my spudger got bended and the aluminum case damaged it.
Ahmed Almulhim - Reply