About this replacement
Apple MacBook Pro 13" Late 2013 Retina — 11.34V Li-Polymer Replacement Battery (A1493)
This is an 11.34V, 6300mAh (71.44Wh) Li-Polymer battery for the Apple MacBook Pro 13" Retina Late 2013 lineup, covering A1502 chassis units across Core i5 2.4, 2.6, Core i7 2.8, and related Late 2013 configurations. It replaces OEM part numbers A1493, 020-8146, and 020-8148. The cell fits directly into the A1502 lower case and connects to the original SMC-controlled power circuit.
- Late 2013 A1502 platform fit: All Late 2013 13" Retina variants share the same A1502 chassis, the same 7-pin battery connector, and the same SMC power path. That shared architecture is why one cell covers the full Core i5 and Core i7 Late 2013 range without modification.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this cell on an A1502 board and confirmed the SMC recognised the battery, accepted a full charge cycle, and released current correctly under display-plus-CPU load without triggering a BMS cutoff event.
- SMC battery learn cycle after install: After fitting this cell, discharge the MacBook normally until it hibernates on its own, then charge uninterrupted to 100% without waking the machine. This gives the SMC a clean reference curve against the new cell and clears the inaccurate health warning that appears in System Information after every cell swap.
Why macOS reports poor battery health immediately after a Late 2013 cell swap
The SMC on A1502 boards stores charge cycle count and capacity history in EEPROM tied to the old cell. When a new cell goes in, the SMC reads that stale data and flags the battery as degraded before a single cycle has run. This is not a fault with the replacement cell — it is the SMC comparing new cell behaviour against an old reference baseline. Running one full discharge-to-hibernate followed by an uninterrupted charge to 100% forces the SMC to write a fresh baseline. After one or two full cycles the health indicator in System Information and coconutBattery will update to reflect the actual cell condition.
MacBook Pro A1502 shutting down at 20–30% charge shown
This happens when the fuel gauge IC's stored capacity model no longer matches the actual cell chemistry — a common mismatch after a cell swap. Under combined CPU and Retina display load, the draw spikes sharply enough that a miscalibrated fuel gauge hits its voltage floor before the displayed percentage reaches zero, triggering an immediate shutdown. The cell itself still holds charge; the IC simply predicts empty too early. Fix it by letting the machine discharge fully to hibernate-level cutoff, then charge to 100% without interruption — the fuel gauge IC recalibrates its model against the real cell curve and the premature shutdown stops.