AAPL Apple Inc

By Tripp Mickle 

Apple Inc. will give a partial refund to some customers who paid full price for iPhone battery replacements in 2017, its latest benefit to placate owners since disclosing it began curbing the performance of some of its smartphones last year to preserve battery life.

The technology giant Wednesday said it would give a $50 credit to customers who replaced the battery in an iPhone 6 or older model between Jan. 1 and Dec. 28, 2017. The refund will reduce the cost of the battery replacement from $79 to $29, the rate Apple began offering in late December.

Apple said it would contact eligible customers by email over the next two months with instructions for obtaining the credit. It said it would transfer funds electronically, or issue a credit on the credit card used for the replacement battery.

The refund offer comes more than two months after Apple wrote a letter to Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, saying it would consider providing rebates to customers. Mr. Thune had asked Apple about the possibilities of a rebate in a letter in January.

In December, Apple said a software update introduced in early 2017 had suppressed the performance of some older iPhones to prevent devices from automatically powering off because of weak batteries. The disclosure came within days of a blog post by the computer-performance outfit Geekbench that illustrated the slower computing performance of older iPhones.

Since then, Apple has been hit with dozens of lawsuits accusing it of slowing iPhones to spur people to buy new devices. The company has said it would never intentionally shorten the life of its products. It recently released a software update that includes new tools to monitor iPhone battery health.

Before Wednesday's refund announcement, Barclays estimated the controversy -- and Apple's $29 battery offer -- could cost the company $10.29 billion in revenue this year because customers could choose to replace batteries instead of their iPhones.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 23, 2018 15:19 ET (19:19 GMT)

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