Apple has a lot on its plate right now.
First, iPhone owners got to the bottom of why their devices are slowing down. Next, Apple confirmed it slowed them down on purpose, saying it's to avoid random shutdowns caused by worn-out batteries. After that, the company has been facing lawsuits left and right, including one that's seeking nearly $1 trillion in compensation.
Now Apple wants to end all of its problems — problems related to the iPhone throttling issue, that is — by slashing down the cost of out-of-warranty battery replacements from $79 to $29.
Apple Apologizes For 'Misunderstanding'
In an open letter to customers, Apple made an apology and called batteries "consumable components."
"We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There's been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue," the company said.
At that, it outlined how it wants to make things right: Owners of iPhone 6 and later models can get a battery replacement for $29 instead of the usual $79. Basically, a $50 discount. This offer will be up for grabs starting in late January through December 2018, and it'll be available across the globe.
Battery Health Explained
In the letter, Apple cleared everything up, from how batteries age and degrade over time to its motives behind slowing down iPhones. It even published a new support document regarding lithium-ion batteries.
Aside from that, it also promised "new features" that will let users get more detailed info about the health of their batteries, particularly whether the cells are still in good enough condition to power the iPhones and keep up with the devices at their peak performance.
On an interesting note, Apple's vice president of product marketing Greg Joswiak said before that most iPhone users will realize that they "never needed to replace their batteries," just like how most iPod users did, according to him. That may be true if users don't mind the power-management measures that the company has implemented, which comes at the cost of performance.
Long story short, Apple is changing how it approaches things, as evidenced by Joswiak's statement from before that contrasts with the recent development of offering a $50 discount for an out-of-warranty battery placement to encourage iPhone owners to go ahead with it.
"We've always wanted our customers to be able to use their iPhones as long as possible," Apple said, and that is true by all means.
