Apple apologizes for inadequately communicating battery management practices that slowed down iPhones with older batteries, will offer $29 battery replacements
but supplies are limited Chance Miller / 9to5Mac : PSA: Apple is making its $29 battery replacement pricing effective immediately Jerri-Lynn Scofield / naked capitalism : Apple Battery Debacle: Yet Another Reason to Support a Right to Repair Jon Fingas / Engadget : Apple's $29 iPhone battery replacements are available a month early Gani Mohamed Waseem / International Business Times : You can get your old iPhone's battery replaced for a discounted price starting today Ians / Firstpost : Samsung and LG claim that their smartphones don't slow down with old batteries Adam Westlake / SlashGear : Apple makes $29 iPhone battery replacements available immediately Michael Allison / MSPoweruser : Apple's iPhone battery replacements are now live Marius Nestor / Softpedia News : Apple's Promised $29 iPhone Battery Replacements Are Already Here, Get Yours Now Rene Ritchie / iMore : How to fix a slow or frozen iPhone or iPad Tom McKay / Gizmodo : Apple's iPhone Throttling Apology Tour Continues With Slash in Battery Replacement Price Joe Rossignol / MacRumors : Apple Makes $29 Battery Replacements Available Immediately for iPhone 6 and Newer David Z. Morris / Fortune : Apple, Responding to iPhone Battery Controversy, Cuts Replacement Cost to $29 Michael Nuñez / Mashable : Apple announces $29 battery replacements starting today Rajesh Pandey / iPhone Hacks : 6 iPhone Features Apple's Controversial Power Management Does Not Impact Chris Smith / BGR : The most annoying things about Apple's apology for slowing down iPhones Ians / BGR India : We don't slow phones with old batteries like Samsung, LG Kif Leswing / Business Insider : Tim Cook needs to take responsibility for Apple's battery scandal Tyler Lee / Ubergizmo : iFixit Reduces iPhone Battery Replacement Kits To $29 CNBC : Apple apologizes for iPhone slowdowns and offers $29 battery replacements Cohen Coberly / TechSpot : iFixit offers $29 DIY iPhone battery replacement kits, calls Apple's solution a “temporary” fix Brent Dirks / AppAdvice.com : Apple is Now Offering $29 iPhone Battery Replacements Evan Selleck / PhoneDog.com : iPhone owners, are you happy with Apple right now? BeauHD / Slashdot : Slashdot Asks: How Should Apple Have Responded To the Battery Controversy? 2 Bryan Chaffin / The Mac Observer : iFixit Drops DIY iPhone Battery Replacement Kits to $29, Matching Apple's Apology Price Charlie Sorrel / Cult of Mac : How to squeeze the longest life from your iPhone battery Cody Lee / iDownloadBlog.com : In wake of iPhone throttling drama, iFixit drops prices on battery replacement kits John Keefer / Neowin : iFixit matches Apple's $29 battery swap deal, adds older iPhones, as well Kyle Wiens / iFixit : Apple apologizes, but continues to fight against Right to Repair Patrick Lucas Austin / Lifehacker : How to Check Your iPhone's Battery Life Gary Ng / iPhone in Canada Blog : iPhone Battery Replacements in Canada Now $35 for Out-Of-Warranty: Apple Stephanie Mlot / Geek.com : Apple Sued for Throttling iPhones Without User Consent Michael Harthorne / Newser : Apology Could ‘Fundamentally Change’ Apple Hayley Tsukayama / Washington Post : Could Apple's battery program encourage people to upgrade less often? PYMNTS.com : Apple Offers Apology For “BatteryGate” Bill Roberson / Digital Trends : As pressure builds, Apple says sorry and offers $29 battery replacements Eric Jhonsa / TheStreet : Apple's ‘Batterygate’ Controversy Highlights Its Weaknesses — and Its Strengths Mike Snider / USA Today : Is your iPhone battery causing your smartphone to run slowly? Here's what to do Michael Simon / Macworld : Why the $29 iPhone battery replacement is Apple's best move of the year Paul Thurrott / Petri : Paul Thurrott's Short Takes: December 29 DSLreports : Apple Offers $29 Battery Replacements After PR Disaster Evan Schuman / Computerworld : Apple makes its intent on the battery fiasco clear. And not in the way it wanted. Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer.com : Apple Apologizes Over iOS Slowdown and Discounts Future Battery Replacements Mitchel Broussard / MacRumors : iFixit Reduces Price of All DIY iPhone Battery Replacement Kits to $29 or Less Apple Support : Apple posts explainer of its device battery power management practices and their noticeable effects for users, like longer app launch times, slower scrolling Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac : Class action lawsuits against Apple for intentionally slowing iPhones now 15 and counting Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac : iFixit matches or beats Apple's $29 replacement battery deal for devices too old to qualify Luke Stangel / Silicon Valley Business Journal : Apple apologizes for ‘misunderstanding’ over Batterygate, offers to replace old batteries for $29 MacDailyNews : 15 class action lawsuits filed against Apple for throttling iPhones with aging batteries Nilay Patel / The Verge : Apple says it will issue an iOS software update in early 2018 with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone's battery Rajesh Pandey / iPhone Hacks : iFixit Drops Prices of Its DIY iPhone Battery Replacement Kits to $29 or Lower Bryan M. Wolfe / AppAdvice.com : After Apology, Battery-Related Class Action Lawsuits Against Apple Grow Bryan Chaffin / The Mac Observer : Apple Apologizes for Throttling Controversy, Offers $29 Battery Upgrades Nina Godlewski / International Business Times : Apple Offers $29 Battery Replacement As Apology For Intentionally Slowing Older iPhones Vincent Lanaria / Tech Times : Apple Wants To Make The iPhone Slowdown Controversy Right With $29 Battery Replacements Joel Hruska / ExtremeTech : Apple Cuts Battery Replacement Costs, But Won't Stop Throttling iPhone Performance Philip Elmer-DeWitt : Apple's come a long way from 'you're holding it wrong' Tweets: Horace Dediu / @asymco : Apple apologizes for chemistry. http://www.apple.com/... Ben Bajarin / @benbajarin : Also, we broke down customer satisfaction by iPhone model and looking at people who owned older model iPhones (owned them for two years or more) still had very high customer satisfaction. Suggests they didn't feel the performance slowdown as widespread as one may believe. Babygirl / @its_liyaj : I don't want cheaper batteries, I want a check http://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The apology caps a week in which Apple's disclosure of its power-management practices triggered at least 15 class action lawsuits alleging it throttled iPhones with aging batteries without telling users. Samsung and LG immediately moved to distance themselves, claiming their phones don't slow down with old batteries.
Apple is now trying to convert damage control into retention: alongside the $29 replacement price made effective immediately rather than in late January, it has committed to an early-2018 iOS update that gives users visibility into their battery's health — an acknowledgment that opacity, not throttling itself, was the core failure.
First-order effects
- Owners of iPhones with degraded batteries get a steeply discounted $29 replacement starting now instead of late January, though Apple warns initial supplies of some batteries may be limited.
- iFixit has cut its DIY battery kit pricing to $29 or less to match Apple's offer, competing directly for the same repair demand.
Second-order effects
- Samsung and LG are exploiting the trust gap, publicly asserting their devices don't throttle with old batteries — turning Apple's crisis into a marketing wedge at the premium end of the market.
- The lawsuit exposure plus the discounted replacements raise the cost of opaque device management, pressuring Apple to make battery health transparency a shipped feature rather than a concession.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, smartphone vendors face structural pressure toward user-visible hardware health reporting and cheaper official repairs, as right-to-repair advocates gain a concrete grievance to legislate against.
- The episode establishes that undisclosed software trade-offs on sold hardware carry legal and reputational costs comparable to hardware defects, changing how vendors communicate performance management.
The trend: Smartphone vendors are being pushed from opaque device management toward disclosed battery health and cheaper repair paths, with litigation and rivals' messaging accelerating the shift.