Apple tells congress it’s considering offering full-price iPhone battery rebates

Apple is exploring the possibility of offering rebates to customer that purchased full-priced iPhone batteries, following the controversy surrounding the company slowing down older iPhones in order to maintain stability.

Back in December a group of engineers discovered that Apple was throttling the performance of iPhones with older batteries. The tech giant then came out and admitted that it was slowing down devices and launched an offer that provided replacement batteries at a discounted rate. Specifically, Apple cut the price tag from $35 CAD down from the standard $99. The company also recently launched a new ‘Reserve a Battery‘ wait list system in Canada.

Senator John Thune, a U.S. republican law maker that leads the Commerce Committee, requested an inquiry into what’s set to happen to customers who purchased replacement batteries at an earlier date for their full price tag.

“Has Apple explored whether consumers who paid the full, non-discounted price for a replacement batter in an effort to restore performance should be allowed to seek a rebate for some of the purchase price?,” said Thune in his January letter.

Now, Cynthia Hogan, Apple’s vice president of public policy in the Americas, has responded to the request with the following statement: “Yes, we are exploring this and will update you accordingly.”

It’s unclear exactly what course of action Apple intends to take, but it looks like the company has at least been pressured into revisiting the situation.

Source: The Verge