Apple drops battery cost by ₹4,000 after apologising for slowing old iPhones

Apple on Monday updated its battery replacement programme for India after apologising to users for deliberately slowing down iPhones with worn-out batteries.

Apple will now charge ₹2,000 (plus taxes) for any user with an iPhone 6 or later, whose battery needs to be replaced. This is down from approximately ₹6,000 (plus taxes) the company charged earlier.

Apart from slashing the battery replacement prices, Apple has promised to be more transparent about how it handles power optimisation of iPhones. The company will roll out an iOS software update in early 2018 to give users more "visibility into the health of their iPhone's battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance".

"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. 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," said Apple.

Apple disclosed that it had introduced the power optimisation through iOS 10.2.1 update in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE.

"With the update, iOS dynamically manages the maximum performance of some system components when needed to prevent a shutdown. While these changes may go unnoticed, in some cases users may experience longer launch times for apps and other reductions in performance," Apple added.

Earlier, Apple faced major backlash from users after the revelation of deliberately slowing down iPhones.

Many users interpreted the move as part of the company's effort to propel demand for newer iPhone models, a conspiracy theory that has been doing the rounds on the internet for a very long time. Meanwhile, Apple has been hit with multiple lawsuits, including one in Israel for allegedly breaching consumers' trust.