A week ago, Apple had admitted that they were slowing down older iPhones. It was proven that older iPhones with aged batteries would be throttled significantly to retain a decent amount of battery life and to prevent unexpected shutdowns.
After public outcry and multiple lawsuits with one as high as $999 billion, Apple has finally responded with a solution.
In a statement released today, Apple apologises for letting their customers down and they emphasised that would never intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product or to degrade the user experience in order to drive customer upgrades. Their goal is to make their iPhones last as long as possible.
When Apple rolled out iOS 10.2.1, they had improved power management during peak workloads which will prevent unexpected shutdowns on the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone SE. This allows them to manage the maximum performance of some system components when needed to prevent a shutdown. These changes are said to be unnoticeable but users may experience longer launch times and reduction of performance.
Apple claims the response to iOS 10.2.1 was positive as it reduced the number of shutdowns for these iPhones. As a result, they have also extended the same support for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 11.2. As discovered by most people, you can regain normal performance if an aged battery is replaced with a new one.
To address customers’ concerns and to recognise their loyalty, Apple is offering a US$50 discount for out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement. Originally priced at US$79 (about RM321), you can get your battery replaced for only US$29 (about RM117). This will be applicable to anyone using an iPhone 6 and above beginning January 2018 until December 2018.
To make it clearer that battery replacement is due, Apple will release an iOS update which gives more visibility to the health of their iPhone battery. We are guessing this could be a new section under settings which would make it more obvious that your phone is being throttled because of an old battery.
You can read the full statement here. We’ve been told that the discounted battery replacement will be available for iPhone users in the Malaysian market and Apple will publish more details on their website soon.
