Apple On Slowing iPhones: 'We Apologize'

CUPERTINO, CA — Apple has issued an apology to its customers about a recent uproar over its recent admission that it intentionally slows down older iPhones.

"We’ve been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process," the company said in a statement. "We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize."

Apple said that its treatment of older iPhones is not — as many critics long argued — an attempt to encourage or nudge users to buy a newer model. Instead, it says the slowdown comes from how the company tries to manage aging batteries. As its software balances battery efficiency and processing capability, the phone's functions do slow. But this, the company argues, is a side-effect of battery life optimization, not a nefarious plot to get users to spend more money.

"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 said. "Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that."

The statement continues to lay out concrete steps the company is taking to address users' concerns over this issue:

• 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.

Some have not been satisfied with Apple's defenses of its practices.

In a lawsuit against the company filed last week, University of Southern California law students Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas claimed they "suffered interferences to their iPhone usage due to the intentional slowdowns."

The law students also argue that because of the intentional slowdown of older phones, they "did not receive what they paid for and were overcharged by [Apple]."

Ben Feuerherd contributed to this report.

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images