Batteries are ‘consumable components’ says Apple, as the phones get older the batteries are unable to power the performance of the processor. With newer OS upgrades the problem compounds and the way to mitigate this is by slowing it down.

After taking much heat from media and customers including lawsuits, Apple has announced it will compensate users of its older iPhones namely 6, 6S, SE and 7with a discounted battery replacement at US29 (RM120) which normally cost US79 (RM320). A far cry from previous stand when the problem was first discovered by a developer. Cupertino admitted on the slowing down of its iPhones and claimed it had to be done to keep the device operational. Having since apologised, many users have been for years complaining about the phones battery and accused the company of purposely slowing it down to push for users to upgrade to newer models.

Apple one of the first smartphone maker to offer non-replaceable battery, changed the way consumers used their phones when the market was filled with removable ones. Bold statement when it launched first the iPhone that did not require battery changing, promising to last for a very long time…early adopters can attest to this statement. The race for global domination and pressure of launching flagships year-on-year with better performance and killer application has generated a culture of engineers to take shortcuts and managements of these hi-tech company to cover up flaws. Mid last year we saw Samsung in similar situation with the Galaxy Note 7, a battery issue that got users injured which eventually led to a massive recall and top changes in the management.

While the same will not be happening at Apple, the company has this to tackle before its next big product release, it is a wonder though with all the brains in the world at its doorstep why the company allowed this to be kept hidden and more so not solved.