Apple cops to battery repair job
Apple will offer a $90 discount to New Zealand customers needing to replace the battery on an iPhone 6 or later following recent performance problems.
From late January, an out-ofwarranty iPhone battery replacement will cost $49, down from the normal $139.
Yesterday, the tech giant apologised to customers frustrated at recent performance issues with some iPhone batteries. Sort of.
In a statement posted to its US site it apologised to customers who felt let down but maintained it hadn’t done anything to deliberately shorten battery life.
It did, however, promise a software update early in the new year to ‘‘give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance’’.
Prices for out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacements will also be cut for 2018, Apple said.
In its statement, Apple said it apologised to customers who felt the company had let them down.
‘‘There’s been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue, so we would like to clarify and let you know about some changes we’re making.
‘‘First and foremost, we have never – and would never – do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades.’’
Before Christmas, iPhone owners discovered that replacing the battery in an old phone could boost its speed, suggesting that Apple was limiting the processing speed on phones with older batteries. The issues appeared after Apple’s iOS 10.2.1 update release.
Apple confirmed the finding then but said it was not slowing down older iPhones to get them to upgrade but to prevent unexpected shutdowns.
The company stuck to that line yesterday outlining reasons for reduced battery performance, including high temperatures, chemical ageing and device use.
IPhone owners from several states in the United States have sued Apple for not disclosing sooner its software updates deliberately slowed older-model phones so ageing batteries lasted longer.
The iPhone users claim Apple’s silence led them to wrongly conclude that their only option was to buy newer, more expensive iPhones.
The allegations were in a lawsuit filed in Chicago federal court on behalf of five iPhone owners from Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and North Carolina.
All the plaintiffs say they never would have bought new iPhones had Apple told them that simply replacing the batteries would have sped up their old ones. The lawsuit alleges Apple violated consumer fraud laws.
New Zealand iPhone owners may be able to join in a planned Australian class action suit but local commentators and advocates said it would be hard to prove.