Earlier in this week, Apple had confirmed that it intentionally slows down the performance of the iPhones with aging batteries in order to prevent serious problems such as unexpected shutdowns. Today, the company has not only released a statement to apologize to its users but also to confirm that it will be offering out-of-warranty battery replacements at a reduce price of $29.
Unlike new batteries, the ones that are growing old cannot hold charge for longer duration. When performance intensive tasks such as resource-hungry games or heavy webpages are carried out on a phone that includes an aging battery, the device can shutdown abruptly.
Apple had launched the iPhone 6S in 2015. In late 2016, nearly a year after its launch, its users had started experiencing unexpected shutdowns. In January 2017, the Cupertino company had released a software update to fix the issue on iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, and SE. At that time, the company did not reveal how it managed to resolve the issue through the software update. However, after installing the update, users began complaining that their iPhones were delivering slower performance.
When some Reddit users started investigating on why their iPhones were experiencing slowdown issues, it was found that the software fix that Apple had released was able to dynamically reduce the clocking speed of the CPU on the basis of the voltage of the battery. In other words, Apple was artificially reducing the performance of iPhones with older batteries to prevent them from shutting down. The benchmark scores also revealed that the iPhones on which the software fix was installed delivered lower results than before.
In the past, the Cupertino company has been accused for slowing down the performance of its iPhones in order to compel customers to purchase a new device. Now that Apple has been accused for artificially throttling the processors of its iPhones without the consent of its users, the company has apologized for it by releasing an open letter. It has also clarified that it has never tried to reduce the lifespan of any Apple device intentionally.
The letter explains how the aging process of the batteries influences the performance of the iPhone and how these problems are dealt through software changes. Apple usually provides price of out-of-warranty battery replacements for $79. However, starting from late January, it will be providing it with a significantly reduced pricing of $29 through December 2018. Also, the Cupertino company will be releasing an iOS software update with new features in early 2018 that will provide users with more information on the health of their iPhone’s battery.
Since Apple has encountered a public relations crisis, various smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung, LG, Motorola and HTC have issued statements to confirm that they do not throttle the performance of its devices.
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