Apple replaced ten times as many iPhone batteries as they expected after reducing the price of battery replacement for certain models in 2018, following allegations the company was artificially slowing down iPhones, referred to as the “Batterygate” scandal. The battery replacements could have cost Apple up to $11 billion in lost revenue as customers replaced batteries instead of upgrading phones.
“Apple may have had to replace as many as 11 million iPhone batteries under its heavily discounted $29 replacement program,” reported the Verge, Tuesday. “Apple would typically expect to perform between one and two million replacements during the same period. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently cited the program, alongside a slowdown in the Chinese economy, as one of the reasons for the company’s slashed earnings outlook for Q1 2019.”
The special battery replacement program was the result of “Batterygate,” in which Apple was accused of artificially slowing down older phones to motivate customers to upgrade to newer models. The company contends it slowed phones down in order to compensate for aging batteries which it said were incapable of running iPhones at regular speeds.
“If 11 million people replaced their iPhone’s battery for $29 rather than spending $1,000 on a new iPhone, that would roughly equate to $11 billion in lost revenue,” the Verge continued, explaining that the “discounted pricing for battery replacements was offered in light of the iPhone throttling scandal, which saw Apple degrade performance of older phones to compensate for their aging batteries.”
Last week, it was reported that Apple is reducing iPhone production due to waning demand.
CNN Business reported that Apple’s stock “has fallen 36% since October 3,” and two weeks ago, it fell “behind Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOGL) in market value,” losing “$500 billion in market value over the past three months.”
“Tim Cook has extracted every last penny out of the iPhone that Steve Jobs created, but it’s time for Apple to come up with a new plan,” CNN Business proclaimed.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, however, said the company has “never been better,” and claimed he is focusing on the “long term,” and customer happiness.
“I want the customer to be happy… We work for them,” Cook declared. “We think about the long term… And so when I look at the long-term health of the company, it has never been better.”
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington, or like his page at Facebook.
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