From The Verge:

Apple has developed an unexpected workaround to prevent the iPhone 18 Pro Max from being hit by shipping restrictions on big batteries. There’s a “battery-firmware solution” in place on the new iPhones, according to Apple’s support page, which keeps capacity below the 20Wh limit for single-cell batteries set by international shipping regulations — but this firmware lock automatically removes itself when the device is booted up for the first time. […]

If the user needs to send off their phone for repair or resale, the charging limitation can be restored using the “Prepare to Ship” feature, which caps charging to 80 percent for 14 days.

This is interesting, and reminds me of a category that should be present on Unsung more often – software fixing the sins of hardware.