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Yesterday my MacBook shut down, a few seconds after I turned it on, and showed this screen when I wanted to turn it on again:

Mac low battery screen icon

When I plugged in my Mac, the battery level was at 100%!

The same scenario happened today when I turned on my Mac, it was showing around 20% battery left and a few seconds after I logged in, it shut down and was showing the same low battery screen.

I have a MacBook Pro mid-2015 with macOS Sierra.

About This Mac

Here is some information about the battery (while Mac charging):

  Informations sur la charge :
      Charge restante (mAh) :             3113
      Charge complète :                   Non
      En cours de chargement :            Oui
      Capacité de charge complète (mAh) : 7496
  Informations sur la santé :
      Comptage de cycles : 451
      Conditions :         Normal
  Batterie installée :        Oui
  Intensité de courant (mA) : 4590
  Tension (mV) :              12269

Has anyone ever experienced this?

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Your battery is failing; it's not holding a charge It's time to have it replaced.

The symptoms you've described is indicative of one or more failed cells. Your battery is going to "report" back to the SMC that it has:

  • 7496 milliampe hours at full charge
  • 3113 milliampe hours remaining (calculated value)
  • 451 charge cycles
  • it's putting out approximately 12.3 volts (measured value)

As much as it can measure at a single point in time, it cannot "look into" the battery to see if there's capacity to hold a charge - in other words, there's no "dipstick" to measure capacity within the cells themselves.

When there's a bad cell, your charge will go from "good" to "bad" with no warning (i.e. 20% to nothing) because it cannot account for the missing capacity.

Also, given the age of the MacBook (3+ years) it's well within it's lifespan of 3 to 5 years.

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  • Thank you very much for your answer! My MacBook is 2 years old by the way. Regarding the number of cycles (out of the maximum cycle count (1000)) it may makes sense to me that the battery would begin to show some malfunction. I will consider replacing my battery then.
    – Maël
    Nov 14, 2018 at 21:12
  • Cycles isn't the only thing, it also age. I've had batteries last only 18 months and some last the better part of a decade and everything in between. That said, age and number of cycles don't discount manufacturing defects. Remember, these are chemical reaction based products - there's going to be variances.
    – Allan
    Nov 14, 2018 at 21:14
  • I was about to ask if cycles were the main problem here ; is it more like an accumulation of normal deterioration due to usage?
    – Maël
    Nov 14, 2018 at 21:18
  • Most likely, it's nothing you've done (unless you're using it in super harsh conditions like the desert or the arctic) it's a combination of cycles, age and manufacturing. See this post for a more detailed answer: apple.stackexchange.com/a/238125/119271https://…
    – Allan
    Nov 14, 2018 at 21:32

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