I finally got an answer back from Retroid about the bloated battery issue, and it was pretty much what I expected. They won’t send just the battery, which makes sense since shipping loose batteries is a hassle with most carriers. I did mention that someone on Discord told me they had a similar problem with a Lenovo tablet, and the seller solved it by sending a dummy shell with the battery glued inside. I shared that idea with Retroid, but they weren’t interested. Fair enough, even if it’s a bit disappointing.

Their official solution is to have me send the whole device back to China and pay a repair fee. The problem is that shipping makes it really expensive. The cheapest quote I got was from FedEx at $85, and once you add the repair fee and return shipping, the total creeps close to $120. For a handheld that currently doesn't cost much more than that to begin with, it’s just not worth it.

Because of that, I decided not to send the device back. Instead, I’m checking with local phone and electronics repair shops to see if they can source a compatible replacement battery. It might not be the original part, but if it works, at least I get to keep the handheld alive without sinking more money into it.

So for anyone else with an RP4 or RP4 Pro worried about battery issues: Retroid will fix it if you’re willing to pay and ship it back. They did mention they’d need to check their warehouse to confirm if they still have spare parts for this model, so it’s definitely not a long-term solution. For context, I’m not in the US or EU, which adds some extra complications with shipping. I expect that if you are from those regions, you will likely have less of a issue with the shipping costs.   
  
[Original Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/SBCGaming/comments/1n8ovir/it_was_a_good_run_retroid_pocket_4_pro_batteyr/)

Update - It was a good run (Retroid Pocket 4 Pro battery bloated).