Apple apologizes over iPhones
Company says it’s sorry for slowing them down.
Starting in late January, the price of a replacement battery will be $29, down from the usual $79.
SAN FRANCISCO – Apple posted a letter to consumers Thursday that both apologized for slowing down older iPhones and offered a large reduction in the price of replacement batteries from $79 to $29.
The public mea culpa follows days of social media grumblings about the poor performance of older iPhones as well as a slew of lawsuits filed by consumers who felt the Cupertino, Calif., smartphone giant was deliberately sabotaging older products in order to generate new sales.
“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,” the letter read. “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.”
In its letter, Apple explained that a year ago, it delivered a software update aimed at improving power management during peak workloads “to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE. ... While these changes may go unnoticed, in some cases users may experience longer launch times for apps and other reductions in performance.”
Apple said at first it believed such performance loss was due to a combination of factors, including “a normal, temporary performance impact” when upgrading the operating system and minor bugs.
“We now believe that another contributor to these user experiences is the continued chemical aging of the batteries in older iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices, many of which are still running on their original batteries,” the letter said.
Apple added that to address user concerns and “to regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted Apple’s intentions,” it plans to:
Reduce the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 — from $79 to $29 — for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced, starting in late January and available worldwide through December 2018. Details will be provided soon on apple.com.
Early in 2018, “we will issue an iOS software update with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance.”
The older iPhone performance issue drew ire and legal maneuverings against a company that typically enjoys a rabid fan base. In the latest of a number of lawsuits filed in the U.S. and overseas, iPhone owners contended that Apple’s failure to notify iPhone users of the practice and not promoting the ability to replace the batteries in their older devices amounts to fraud, deception and breach of contract.