Tech giant Apple on Friday apologised to customers vexed over the involuntary slowing down of old models of the iPhone. The company had previously said that it was done to conserve charge on phones with old batteries after migrating to the latest iteration of its operating system. Apple also slashed the price for battery replacements to $29.
In India, users of the iPhone 6 (or later) can get their out-of-warranty batteries replaced for ₹2,000 (plus taxes), compared to about ₹6,500 previously. The Cupertino-based firm will also update its software to give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery.
Apple has been facing consumer uproar and a slew of lawsuits after it admitted to reducing performance of older iPhones to prevent unexpected shutdowns.
”...We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down.We apologise. 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,” Apple said in a lengthy apology note on its website.
Apple further said it has “never - and would never - do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades.
Apple is offering a replacement of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery for $29 (compared to $79 earlier) for users of iPhone 6 or later. This will commence from late January and will be available worldwide through December 2018.
In its note, Apple explained that “continued chemical aging” of batteries in older generation iPhones contributed to the performance issues after a software update about a year ago.
“We’ve always wanted our customers to be able to use their iPhones as long as possible. We’re proud that Apple products are known for their durability, and for holding their value longer than our competitors’ devices,” it said.