Apple is offering discounted batteries to owners of older iPhones.
Sarah Tew/CNETApple said Saturday it will make discounted replacement iPhone batteries available immediately, its latest move to soothe feelings after admitting it purposely slowed batteries on older handsets.
Apple said Thursday it would offer a $29 battery replacement it promised would immediately return an iPhone 6 or later model to its original performance. The offer, which cut the price of batteries’ price from their normal $79, was originally slated to be offered beginning in January.
“We expected to need more time to be ready, but we are happy to offer our customers the lower pricing right away,” Apple said in a statement to Axios. “Initial supplies of some replacement batteries may be limited.”
The company also offered an apology to affected iPhone users, a week after admitting it issued a software feature last year that makes older phones operate more slowly to offset problems with its aging lithium ion battery. As batteries get older, they don’t hold their charges as well as newer batteries, and can have worse problems when the charge is low or the temperature is cold.
That explanation wasn’t enough appease some, who accused Apple of quietly driving people to upgrade their phones to fill the company’s coffers. Lawsuits have already been filed.
To help customers learn more about iPhone’s rechargeable battery and the factors affecting its performance, CNET has posted a new support article, iPhone Battery and Performance.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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