Apple is sorry for slowing down your iPhone. On Thursday, the company issued a lengthy letter addressing the controversial practice, which is designed to offset errors caused by the aging batteries inside.
"We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize," Apple said.
The company admitted to the iPhone slowdowns last week, setting off a fury of consumer complaints over why Apple kept the practice secret.
The issue affects older models including the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE, and iPhone 7.
On Thursday, Apple said it's been hearing the feedback. "First and foremost, we have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades," it said.
"We've always wanted our customers to be able to use their iPhones as long as possible," Apple added.
To prove its point, the company is slashing the cost of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement from $79 to $29. By replacing the old battery with a new one, you can restore the device's original performance.
The discount will start rolling out late next month and apply to iPhone 6 models or later.
Apple is also getting more transparent. Starting early next year, an update to iOS will show you the health of your iPhone's battery, and how its condition is affecting the processor's performance.
The company announced the changes as it's facing a growing number of lawsuits claiming that the iPhone slowdowns misled consumers into buying newer models.
In its defense, Apple has said the processor-throttling is designed to prevent an iPhone from randomly crashing. As the battery inside ages, it can struggle to meet the peak energy demands, triggering the iPhone to shut down.
To solve the problem, Apple decided to crank down the devices' computing power, but only when needed. The fix was introduced via an iOS update, and it's been designed to calibrate certain system components including the CPU and GPU to prevent quick spikes in the phone's performance.
Why Apple kept this practice secret isn't clear, but the company may have taken an unconventional approach to solving the battery problem.
On Thursday, Android smartphone vendors HTC and Motorola both reportedly said they had never employed a similar practice.
John Poole, a developer behind benchmarking software Geekbench, also hasn't found vendor-induced slowdown issues in other Android phones.
"We haven't done an exhaustive analysis yet, but in our preliminary work we haven't found a similar slowdown with Android flagship handsets (e.g., Samsung Galaxy S6)," he said in an email.
Some experts have also said Apple was probably well aware their iPhone batteries would give out over time.
"It is true that batteries degrade somewhat and that this can cause limitations in the current that can be drawn. But all of this is predictable," said Gerbrand Ceder, a University of California, Berkeley professor in materials science.
He explained that batteries are built with a trade-off between high initial performance and longevity, which is well understood by scientists. In designing the iPhone's battery, Apple probably focused on performance, by increasing its charge voltage and reducing the thickness of certain components. However, all of this can shorten a battery's lifespan.
"The damning thing for Apple is that this is so well understood, so Apple cannot claim that this need to slow down the phone is unexpected," Ceder said.
On Thursday, Apple explained in a support document how the processor-throttling can affect an older iPhone. Some user might not notice any change, Apple claimed. But in more extreme cases, the slowdowns can lead to longer app launch times, lower frame rates while scrolling and decreases in the speaker volume.