Apple apologises for slowing old iPhones, offers battery discounts
Company also claims it has "never – and would never – do anything to intentionally shorten" the life of its products.
Apple has apologised for slowing down older iPhones and cut the price of battery replacements, although claimed it has "never – and would never – do anything to intentionally shorten" the life of its products.
The tech giant is facing a number of legal challenges since last week revealing that a software update slows down the iPhone 6, 6s, 7 and SE models when their batteries wear down over time.
In a letter, Apple says it's aware some of its customers "feel Apple has let you down" and has apologised.
Users have long suspected Apple slows down older iPhones but the company admitted it last week when a tester found performance slowing down when a battery degrades.
While Apple says it does this to make the phones last longer, consumers have claimed it is a tactic to encourage upgrades, and have criticised the company for not coming clean about it.
In its letter, Apple says there's "been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue," adding that it had not been seeking to "degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades."
Instead Apple claims its batteries become "less effective" as they chemically aged and this reduces their ability to hold a charge. This could be affected by the time and number of times a battery had been charged as well as the temperature of the environment in which an iPhone is being charged.
However, in order to "regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted Apple’s intentions", Apple says it has decided to reduce the price of out-of-warranty battery replacements from $US79 to US29 and will also be introducing new software features to allow users to track their battery performance better.
These changes will take place next year. Meanwhile, the number of lawsuits filed against Apple is mounting, the most recent being criminal claims in France.
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Nevil Gibson
Fri, 29 Dec 2017
Fri, 29 Dec 2017
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
Apple apologises for slowing old iPhones, offers battery discounts
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