Shutterstock
Earlier this week Apple issued a public apology for purposely slowing down iPhones. The intentional throttling of older iPhone models through iOS updates was revealed by a 17-year-old high school student and now Apple is in a world of hurt. Besides the dreadful press, Apple could face multiple class-action lawsuits from millions of customers which could cost the tech giant billions of dollars. The catastrophic news for Apple was music to the competitions’ ears. Samsung, LG, HTC, and Motorola used Apple’s newfound woes to promote their own brands.
Apple revealed that they intentionally decrease performance on older model iPhones to ensure that the batteries don’t have outages. Skeptical customers believe Apple throttles older phones so they are more enticed to purchase a speedier and newer model iPhone. Smartphone manufacturers Samsung, LG, HTC, and Motorola went on the record to let their customers know that they do not practice intentional slowing down of phones like Apple does.
“Never have, never will! We care what our customers think,” LG said. Meanwhile, Apple’s main competitor, Samsung, said. “We do not reduce CPU performance through software updates over the lifecycles of the phone.” HTC and Motorola also announced that they do not purposely slow down the performance of their phones. All of the companies wisely used the opportunity to get a free marketing opportunity while taking their shot at Apple while it was dealing with this public relations nightmare.
Initially, Apple announced that they would offer a discounted out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement for the price of $29 and it would be available starting in late January. On Saturday, Apple announced that the discounted batteries would be available immediately. Early in 2018, Apple will issue an iOS software update that allows users to see the health of their iPhone’s battery. This way users can see for themselves if the battery is causing reduced performance.
[TheVerge]