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Apple Offers $29 Battery Replacements in Response to iPhone Slowdown Scandal
Apple posted a response to iPhone battery and performance concerns on Dec. 28. From the "Addressing customer concerns" section:
We've always wanted our customers to be able to use their iPhones as long as possible. We're proud that Apple products are known for their durability, and for holding their value longer than our competitors' devices.
To address our customers' concerns, to recognize their loyalty and to regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted Apple's intentions, we've decided to take the following steps:
- Apple is reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 — from $79 to $29 — for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced, starting in late January and available worldwide through December 2018. Details will be provided soon on apple.com.
- Early in 2018, we will issue an iOS software update with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone's battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance.
- As always, our team is working on ways to make the user experience even better, including improving how we manage performance and avoid unexpected shutdowns as batteries age.
At Apple, our customers' trust means everything to us. We will never stop working to earn and maintain it. We are able to do the work we love only because of your faith and support — and we will never forget that or take it for granted.
Some have found the response annoying. Others have praised the "good vibes".
iFixit has in turn cut the price of its own battery replacement kits to $29 or less.
Previously: Eight Lawsuits Filed Against Apple Over iPhone Slowdowns
Apple apologizes for iPhone slowdown drama, offers $29 battery replacements
Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Apple just published a letter to customers apologizing for the "misunderstanding" around older iPhones being slowed down.[...] "We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down," says the company. "We apologize."
Source: Apple apologizes for iPhone slowdown drama, will offer $29 battery replacements for a year
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 29 2017, @09:51PM
So what do we have?
Shiny things that have a good brand, but increasingly shitty aspects. They're supposed to be desirable for the cognoscenti, but Microsoft has the smell of blood in the water, and is making a serious push for creatives - supposedly Apple's key audience.
Even Linux is increasingly viable for video, graphics, music and these days even gaming.
Apple have a record of playing rough in their walled garden, and publically annoying key people (remember the Taylor Swift debacle?) or large crowds of their fans (remember the U2 debacle?) or key elements of their key audience (remember the James Pinkstone debacle?) and now they're capping this bad behaviour by unilaterally deciding what their users want, and what their users desire as a fix.
In the customer service industry, we euphemistically refer to this sort of thing as "negative customer service experience". A more realistic description would be "tone-deaf willful blindness and customer hostile choices".