Amid widespread criticism over deliberate slow down of aging iPhone models, Apple has formally apologized to the users and announced a reduction of the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50, from $79 to $29 , for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later.
The offer will be provided in late January worldwide and available throughout the year until December 2018, said the company without giving details of the exact date.
However, the company has failed to answer the slowing down of old models of iPhone, which are essentially older than the iPhone 6 version, including iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE. Instead, the Cupertino-based iPhone maker has retracted its earlier admission that the slowing down was intentional.
"First and foremost, 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," it said. Apple has also posted an in-depth article titled "iPhone Battery and Performance", in which it listed factors which age batteries in iPhone models.
Since rechargeable batteries are consumable components they tend to become less effective as they chemically age and their ability to hold a charge diminish, said the company citing other factors such as the number of times a battery has been charged to its lifespan, to leaving or charging a battery in a hot environment.
On preventing unexpected shutdowns, Apple team said that the software update delivered a year ago in iOS 10.2.1, improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE. "We recently extended the same support for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in iOS 11.2," it said. However, when a chemically aged battery is replaced with a new one, iPhone performance returns to normal, assured Apple refuting all the recent charges.
"As always, our team is working on ways to make the user experience even better, including improving how we manage performance and avoid unexpected shutdowns as batteries age," the company said in its statement.
Currently, Apple is beset with eight separate lawsuits in the US over the battery issue and had also been facing additional legal action in Israel and France.
