U.S., French Officials Question Apple Over iPhone Battery Slowdowns
January 09 2018 - 8:52PM
Dow Jones News
By Tripp Mickle and John D. McKinnon
Apple Inc. is facing new questions from government officials in
the U.S. and France about its handling of battery-related
performance issues on iPhones, a sign that controversy over the
problem continues despite the technology giant's apology last
month.
On Tuesday, Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), chairman of the Senate
Commerce Committee, pressed Apple for answers to a series of
questions about how the company decided to throttle back iPhone
processing performance in phones with older batteries.
In a letter to Chief Executive Tim Cook, a copy of which was
viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Thune asked how Apple has
tracked customer complaints of processing performance and if Apple
has explored offering rebates to customers who paid full price for
a battery replacement before the company offered discounted rates
last month.
In France, the Paris prosecutor's office said it has opened an
investigation into Apple for potential deception and "programmed
obsolescence." The investigation -- which could lead to preliminary
charges or be dropped -- will be run by the consumer protection
agency that falls under the country's finance ministry, a spokesman
for the office said Tuesday.
Apple has been under fire since mid-December from customers and
analysts saying they had noticed a slowdown in the performance of
older iPhones.
Apple then acknowledged publicly that its software slowed
performance in iPhones as batteries aged to prevent the devices
from automatically powering off.
The company in late December said that it wouldn't do anything
to harm its customers' experience or shorten the life of its
products, but it apologized for its handling of the issue and
slashed the price of an iPhone battery replacement to $29 from $79,
hoping to win back customer goodwill.
Apple didn't immediately respond to requests for comment
Tuesday.
"Apple's proposed solutions have prompted additional criticism
from some customers, particularly its decision not to provide free
replacement batteries," wrote Mr. Thune, who requested answers by
Jan. 23.
The French investigation stems from a complaint filed in
December by a French consumer group named Stop Programmed
Obsolescence, or the French abbreviation HOP. The group alleged
that Apple pressures customers to buy new phones by timing the
release of new models with operating system upgrades that cause
older ones to perform less well.
Apple says its decision to throttle performance back on some
phones was necessary because batteries naturally lose capacity over
time, and without its software fix, iPhones with older batteries
can suddenly shut down when struggling to meet power demands. The
throttling feature has been implemented across iPhone 6, 6s, SE and
7 models, the company says.
Government scrutiny of the practice comes amid complaints from
some customers about the rollout of Apple's battery-replacement
plan. Some customers have reported having to wait a week to
schedule an appointment, while others voiced frustration that they
showed up at an Apple Store for a scheduled replacement only to be
told that the store was out of batteries.
At an Orlando-area store, John Terry, 53, arrived for a
battery-replacement appointment and was told he would get an email
when Apple had an iPhone 6 battery and he could return for a
replacement.
"I would think they should have anticipated the demand they have
had given the backlash, and they weren't prepared for it," said Mr.
Terry, a marketing consultant.
Apple has said that winning back customers' trust is paramount,
and it has created a website advising people to call Apple support
before visiting a store for a battery replacement.
Analysts say the battery issues could have a significant
financial impact for Apple. Barclay's said in a note last week that
Apple could sell 16 million fewer iPhones this year, and lose
$10.29 billion in revenue, because of customers choosing to replace
batteries instead of their iPhones.
Mr. Terry said he plans to do that. He said if his phone can get
faster for $30 that is much better than spending $1,000 on the new
iPhone X.
"Not that I don't want the new phone anyway, but I'm not rushing
out to do it," Mr. Terry said.
--Sam Schechner in Paris contributed to this article.
Write to Tripp Mickle at Tripp.Mickle@wsj.com and John D.
McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 09, 2018 20:37 ET (01:37 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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