Apple is scrambling to make things right after “battery-gate”. The tech giant on Thursday apologized to customers after admitting it deliberately slowed down older iPhone models to offset battery wear, and said it will slash the price of replacement iPhone batteries to $29. In a letter published Thursday, the tech giant said it wanted to clear up a “misunderstanding” about the mea culpa, which has spurred at least eight federal class-action suits from angry customers nationwide since last week.
“We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize,” the letter states. “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.”
The company acknowledged last week that operating system updates released since “last year” for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE and iPhone 7 included a feature “to smooth out” power supply from older batteries that are cold or low on charge.
Some Apple critics saw it as vindication of a long-running conspiracy theory that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company slows down older phones to coerce iPhone owners to buy new phones.
In its letter, Apple said it recognizes it needs to “regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted [its] intentions, and will be reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement from $79 to $29. The iPhone maker also said it will be issuing an iOS software update in early 2018 that will give iPhone owners more information about their battery’s health.
Apple is currently facing class-action suits filed in US District Courts in California, New York and Illinois — including one for $999 billion.
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