Apple is cutting the price of its out-of-warranty battery replacement program for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later down to £25.
The decision follows claims the company deliberately slowed down older models’ performance with a software update – something it flatly denies.
However, Apple did issue an apology to customers for the way it communicated the issues surrounding older iPhones.
Normally it would cost £79 to replace an iPhone battery, but Apple says the new price is an effort to “regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted Apple’s intentions.”
What’s more, Apple will replace the battery even if it passes the Genius Bar diagnostic test available at any Apple Store.
“We’ve always wanted our customers to be able to use their iPhones for as long as possible. We’re proud that Apple products are known for their durability, and for holding their value longer than our competitors’ devices,” the company said.
It also revealed it will issue a further software update in early 2018 to give users more visibility about the health of their batteries.
Apple blames the slowing down of older models on components of the rechargeable batteries chemically ageing – and their ability to hold a charge diminishing over time.
The company has even published a detailed support page that contains more information about batteries and how they age.
Apple insists in its statement that it took precautions using software updates about a year ago “to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s , iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE”.
This has since been extended to users of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in the update iOS 11 .2, Apple says.
So it was surprised therefore, it says, that it had received reports in recent months of iPhones slowing down and other battery issues from users.
The statement says: “Over the course of this fall, we began to receive feedback from some users who were seeing slower performance in certain situations.
“Based on our experience, we initially thought this was due to a combination of two factors: a normal, temporary performance impact when upgrading the operating system as iPhone installs new software and updates apps, and minor bugs in the initial release which have since been fixed.
“We now believe that another contributor to these user experiences is the continued chemical aging of the batteries in older iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices, many of which are still running on their original batteries.”
Earlier models, such as the iPhone 5, 5S and 5C are not covered by the reduced price for a battery replacement.
Additionally, Apple says the cut price is only available to customers until December 2018.
Source:www.mirror.co.uk