Apple
apologizes
for
secretly
slowing
older
iPhones By
RYAN
NAKASHIMA
APNews
SAN
FRANCISCO
- Apple
apologized
for
secretly
slowing
down
older
iPhones,
a move
it said
was
necessary
to avoid
unexpected
shutdowns
related
to
battery
fatigue.
Many
customers
had
interpreted
the move
as a way
to for
Apple to
juice
demand
for
newer
iPhone
models,
their
suspicions
fueled
by the
fact
that the
company
didn’t
initially
disclose
the
slowdowns
or its
reasons
for
them.
Apple
also
said it
will cut
the
price of
a
battery
replacement
by $50
to $29
through
next
year.
New
batteries
had
previously
cost $79
for
those
who
didn’t
purchase
the
Apple
Care
maintenance
plan.
“We
apologize,”
the
company
said on
its
website
. “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.”
The
replacement
plan
begins
in late
January
for
anyone
with an
iPhone 6
or later
that
requires
a new
battery.
Apple
said it
will
also
issue an
update
to its
operating
system
early
next
year to
give
users a
better
understanding
of the
health
of their
battery,
so they
can see
if its
condition
is
affecting
performance.
Hostile
customer
reaction
was
swift
after a
report
this
month
uncovered
the
intentional
slowdown
in speed
tests.
Only
then did
Apple
acknowledge
that the
slowdown
was due
to a fix
it
rolled
out last
year.
Shares
dropped
2.5
percent
Tuesday
— also
dinged
by
analysts
predicting
lower-than-expected
demand
for the
iPhone X
— and
only
partially
recovered
by
Thursday.
At
least
five
groups
seeking
class
action
status,
involving
consumers
in
Texas,
Illinois,
California
and New
York,
have
also
sued the
company
in the
wake of
the
slowdown
revelation.
Ben
Bajarin,
an
analyst
with
Creative
Strategies,
said
Apple
found
itself
in a
tough
spot by
having
to
explain
what it
did to
cope
with the
reality
that all
lithium
ion
batteries
degrade
over
time.
“The
error —
if
anything
— was
not
being
more
transparent,”
he said.
“They
were
legitimately
trying
to make
people’s
iPhones
last
longer.”