Looking to equal or beat Apple in the aftermath of its iPhone battery apology, iFixit has dropped the price of its do-it-yourself battery swap kits to $29 or less. More significantly this includes kits for the iPhone 4S, 5, 5s, and 5c, which are excluded from Apple's discounted battery replacements.
Apple on Thursday addressed mounting criticism over the revelation that it slows down iPhones with aging batteries to prevent performance issues. In addition to apologizing, the company has also lowered the price of out-of-warranty battery replacements to $29, and will issue a software update in early 2018 to let users find out more information about the health of their device's battery.
Bad publicity for Apple is a potential opportunity for competitors to gain ground, as seen with the iPhone battery controversy compelling HTC and Motorola to issue statements, saying they do not throttle performance on phones with older batteries.
Fallout continues to grow following the discovery that Apple slows down older phones with aging batteries to prevent random shutdowns, as a new criminal lawsuit in France aims to hit Apple's pocketbook — and could even result in jail time.
The Korea Communications Commission has reportedly asked for an explanation in the wake of Apple's admission that it slows down older iPhones to prolong battery life.
Taking a different tack, another class action lawsuit — following Apple's admission that it slows down iPhones with weakened batteries — charges that the company made the change to avoid the full cost of fixing defects.
A day after Apple acknowledged slowing down iPhones with degraded batteries, a Los Angeles man is pursuing a class action lawsuit in the matter.
Apple has confirmed that it temporarily slows down processes on older iPhones with poorly functioning batteries, with a recent update able to "smooth out the instantaneous peaks" when needed to prevent device shutdown.
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Roger Fingas
Neil Hughes
Mike Wuerthele
