Apple Apology Draws Accusations of 'Dishonesty,' 'Arrogance' in Twittersphere
Twitter users were largely unmoved Friday by Apple’s apology for slowing down performance of iPhone 6 models. The apology was a “sorry not sorry" move, 1patricksanders said, noting the battery price cut will be temporary when it kicks in late in January.
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Politicians and celebrities weighed in on the matter. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted that the problem isn’t just the phone. “It’s arrogance of Apple. Remotely control how phones work & admit only after getting caught.” Rubio posted a link to an article in The Washington Post on a lawsuit brought against Apple Wednesday by a French consumer rights group accusing Apple of degrading old phones to sell new ones.
Sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer tweeted: “Maybe Apple is into something by slowing down old iPhones ... might give people a chance to squeeze some sex into their lives.”
Several Twitter users blasted Apple for dishonesty over the battery issue, and others criticized the company for issuing an apology and announcing lower battery replacement prices only in response to the threat of lawsuits. By noon Friday, some 15 class-action lawsuits had been filed against Apple for intentionally slowing iPhones, tweeted 9to5mac.
A few Twitter users came to Apple’s defense. 12SecondsLater said there wasn’t full transparency about the battery slowdown, but there was no dishonesty. "Would you prefer that iPhones just shutdown unexpectedly?” VictorB123 challenged a radio station's tweet on the issue for being misleading. “They didn't ‘secretly slow down old iphones.’ Even NEW iPhones will throttle CPU when battery voltage drops. It is designed to extend phone life at the expense of app speed (throttling CPU doesn't impact voice performance) when the battery ages.”
In the letter, which Apple published Thursday, the company said it would never do anything “to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades.” Making iPhones last as long as possible is part of making products that customers love, it said.
Apple said unexpected shutdowns “are unacceptable” and its iOS 10.2.1 software update is intended to improve power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE. The update enabled iOS to dynamically manage “maximum performance of some system components when needed to prevent a shutdown,” said the company. Users “may experience longer launch times for apps and other reductions in performance,” as a result, it said.
The iOS 10.2.1 update reduced unexpected shutdowns, Apple said, and the company recently extended the same support for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in iOS 11.2.
Apple believes chemical aging of original batteries in iPhone 6 and 6s devices contributed to the slower performance, and it's cutting the price of an out-of-warranty replacement battery by $50 to $29 for users of iPhone 6 or later models “whose battery needs to be replaced.” Replacements will be made available beginning late January. The company will also issue an iOS software update with features showing battery status so users "can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance.”