Apple offers iPhone battery replacement amid slowdown scandal

Amid a fury of lawsuits which allege that Apple has been purposefully slowing down older iPhone models in an effort to spur upgrades, the Cupertino-based company today published a letter explaining its rationale for throttling CPU performance on older devices. Apple also took the opportunity to apologize to customers for what it categorized as a “misunderstanding.”

A week after admitting to intentionally slowing down older iPhones without telling customers, Apple is apologizing and slashing $50 off its normal $79 price to put a new battery into old phones.

“We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize,” the company said in announcing the change. It added that there has been “a lot of misunderstanding about this issue.”

The $29 battery replacement price will apply to any out-of-warranty iPhone 6 or later and will begin to be available in late January, Apple says. The worldwide program will continue through December 2018.  What’s more, Apple said that future iOS updates will provide users with more information as to the nature of CPU performance and battery preservation.

Apple is responding to criticisms that followed its confirmation last week of independent tests that showed processors in several models of iPhone 6 and 7 were slowed down if their owners had updated their devices’ operating system, or iOS.

Apple said it took the step to ease demands on older batteries to prevent the phones from shutting down suddenly. But many users aired their frustrations that the company would tinker with how their phones operate, saying that the admission confirmed long-held suspicions that new software was slowing down phones that were only one or two years old. Follow Spotlife Asia for the latest news and updates.