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Apple may offer battery rebate in regard to Batterygate controversy

Apple reduced the price for replacement batteries. (Source: BGR)
Apple reduced the price for replacement batteries. (Source: BGR)
In a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee chairman, Apple has hinted at possibly offering a rebate to customers who bought replacement batteries at full price because of the "Batterygate" controversy. Apple reduced battery prices from $79 to $29 in an attempt to appease users who saw an iOS update throttle their devices. Users were not notified beforehand that the software would slow down performance.

It seems 2017’s “Batterygate” affair has reared its ugly head at Apple once more. The controversial choice by Apple to release software upgrades that actually throttled a device’s CPU performance to preserve battery power was supposed to deal with issues that older devices were having with degrading lithium-ion batteries. Many users felt this was a ploy by Apple to encourage iPhone owners to upgrade to a newer device, although the company still claims it was simply a power management feature.

In an attempt to stave off bad publicity in regard to the throttling issue, Apple temporarily dropped the price of batteries for the iPhone 6 from $79 to $29, starting in late January, 2018. However, it now seems that the tech giant may be considering offering rebates to customers who purchased a replacement battery at the full price.

In a letter to Senator John Thune, who is the current chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Apple has suggested it is considering the issue of iPhone owners who purchased replacement batteries before the price drop came into play. This could mean the company is looking to further smooth out the "Batterygate" controversy with customer rebates.

It will take more than price drops and potential rebates to fix the controversy for Apple, though. It is facing dozens of class action lawsuits in relation to the software update slowing down the performance on older iPhones without informing its customers beforehand.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2018 02 > Apple may offer battery rebate in regard to Batterygate controversy
Daniel R Deakin, 2018-02- 7 (Update: 2018-02- 7)