Accused of Slowing Old iPhones, Apple Offers Battery Discounts
In its statement on Thursday, Apple denied that it had ever — or would ever — “do anything to intentionally
shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades.”
Still, Apple apologized for what it called a “misunderstanding”
and promised it would cut the price of out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacements to $29 from $79 for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later model beginning in late January; the company said the service would be available worldwide through December 2018
The company’s mea culpa came just eight days after Apple said it had released a feature about a year ago meant
to help prevent older devices — such as iPhone 6 models and iPhone SE — from unexpectedly shutting down.
Facing a barrage of criticism after acknowledging the existence of a feature
that can reduce the processing power of old iPhones, Apple said Thursday that it would reduce the price of battery replacements to regain customers’ trust.