After admitting to slowing down iPhones with degraded batteries, Apple is now trying to make amends with customers over how it handled the entire thing. Beginning in late January 2018 Starting immediately, replacement batteries will be available for iPhone 6…
After admitting to slowing down iPhones with degraded batteries, Apple is now trying to make amends with customers over how it handled the entire thing. Beginning in late January 2018 Starting immediately, replacement batteries will be available for iPhone 6 and newer devices for $29 instead of the $79 that Apple regularly charges. Apple has reacted a second time in the same week to offer those affordable battery replacements right away instead of waiting until late January. The change appears justified given the evident backlash.
In addition to offering discounted battery replacements, new software updates will be incoming to indicate whether a degraded battery is causing throttling to occur. This way, users can check for themselves to see if it is worth buying a new battery to help regain the lost performance they once had.
Apple still maintains that throttling processor performance needs to be done on iPhones with aging batteries to prevent unexpected shutdowns. Affected users may “experience longer launch times for apps and other reductions in performance.” A replacement battery is said to fully correct any performance problems associated with an aging or damaged battery.
Furthermore, Apple adamantly denies any wrongdoing and claims that no decisions have been made to coerce users into upgrading early and more often.
“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.”
With more lawsuits piling up, Apple is trying to make it very clear that they are not engaging in planned obsolescence or other deceptive tactics to part consumers with more of their money.
Further details of how to obtain a discounted battery replacement will be available from Apple at a later date. The discounted replacement program will remain in effect throughout all of 2018 and will apply to the iPhone 6, iPhone 6S, iPhone 7, iPhone SE, and the Plus-sized variants.
While we’re on it, a picture is worth a thousand words (meme from TechSpot’s Instagram):
Editor’s Note: Updated on Dec. 30 to indicate that battery replacements will be made available immediately.
