Apple’s iPhone battery replacement programme in India expires today

iPhone battery replacement: Apple is replacing batteries of older iPhones for ₹2,000 (plus taxes).

Today is the last day for Apple’s discounted iPhone battery replacement services (AFP)

Apple earlier this year introduced a new battery replacement programme after the company admitted it had been deliberately slowing down older iPhones. Under the battery replacement programme, Apple offered a new battery for ₹2,000 (plus taxes) to any user with an iPhone 6 or later. The programme expires on December 31, 2018.

Starting January 1, 2019, Apple is expected to revert to older ₹6,000 (plus taxes) for the battery replacement. The smartphones eligible for Apple's battery programme are iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

The scheme is separate from Apple's iPhone out-of-warranty battery replacement credit programme which was available earlier this year.

Apple had launched battery replacement programme after the company was caught deliberately throttling speed of older iPhones. The company said it had to slow down performance of the phones to compensate for the worn out batteries.

"Last year, we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks, only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We've now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future," the company had then said.

Following backlash from users, Apple promised to roll out a new software update to fix the problem and also give users to manually control the battery performance. Back in March this year, Apple released iOS 11.3 update to show battery health of an iPhone or iPad and recommend if a battery needs to be serviced. You can check health of your iPhone battery by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health.