Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) addressed an official letter to its customers yesterday, apologizing for the “misunderstanding” around the practice they were using that was slowing down older iPhone models.
Starting in January, the company will offer $29 battery replacements for one year. This new initiative is set to last throughout the entire year. Customers who own phones out of warranty, including the iPhone 6 and later will be able to purchase a replacement battery in stores from $29 – $50 off the usual price.
Apple’s letter read:
“We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There’s been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue, so we would like to clarify and let you know about some changes we’re making.”
The company states it would provide more details in January about its new battery offer.
There have been two class-action lawsuits filed against the company for not disclosing this information to its customers. Earlier this month, Apple explained that it deploys its software updates to compensate for degraded batteries in older iPhone models.
The older model batteries are less capable of delivering peak energy loads, especially when they are in a low charged state. This, cause unexpected shutdowns of the phone and the battery life to drop consistently. While the company’s update solved the issue of the shutdowns, the company explained that its customers would see their phones be significantly slowed down when launching some apps and other reductions in its performance.
For weeks, the company has tried to clear speculation that they slowed down the phones in order for customers to have to purchase its new phones that just recently launched.
This new initiative by the company should smooth over some disgruntled feelings of iPhone loyalists and Apple is even planning on rolling out on iOS update in the new year that will allow its customers the option to monitor the health of their phone’s battery life.
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