The one company that has always been on the top of tech innovation for many years is Apple Inc. Interestingly Apple has always been on the top for its controversial steps that almost never go unnoticed. The one controversy that cost Apple millions of dollars was the battery scam. The scam is also popularly known as ‘battery gate’, a name given by the general followers and critics of the company. In the scam, Apple was accused of deliberately slowing down its iPhones and later on had to address a lot of questions from the general public as well as the court.
iPhones slowed down with Updates
The scandal first seemed to come into notice in late 2016 when iOS 10.1.1 was released. Several models of iPhones need repair, more specifically, iPhone 6, 7, and SE were affected with users having battery usage issues. The main complaint from the side of the users was that their iPhones unexpectedly shut down when the battery percent reached 30% or lower. Once the complaints started piling up, Apple addressed them as either manufacturing defects or other issues. Apple also issued a statement saying that these issues will be lowered by 70-80 percent in the next iOS update.
Later on the developers of Geek bench, a benchmarking tool for processors presented a report saying that there was evidence showing intentional performance degradation in older iPhone models by way of iOS updates. The company also showed anecdotal evidence claiming that Apple degraded the battery performance intentionally as part of the planned obsolescence market strategy to encourage sales of the newer iPhones. In response to the same, Apple issued another statement saying that they aim to “deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices”, and explained that “lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components”.
Apple also issued a formal apology after their previous statement saying that it genuinely thought the battery issues to be a defect in manufacturing and confirmed that continued chemical aging is also a major factor. The gist of this is that Apple was aware and involved in the causing of the battery usage issues. They offered a discount on iPhone battery replacements as a solution. This did not sit well with consumers as well as other tech companies.
Reactions
Later on, there were many class action lawsuits from several American states against Apple. TV anchors, as well as tech personalities, also criticized Apple for such problematic and careless business ethics. Some of them said that the battery replacement should have been free. French authorities fined Apple a hefty sum of 25 million dollars. In a California court settlement, Apple had to agree to pay every Apple customer at least 25 dollars who owned iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, or 7 Plus devices. Another separate investigation compelled Apple to pay around 113 million dollars as a fine and to issue documents to assure transparency in its practices for throttling battery performance.
Conclusion
A company like Apple can never escape the eye of the people. The Apple battery scam was one of the worst and expensive scandals for Apple. The lesson learned by the tech mogul from the ‘battery gate’ scandal was to never put their goal of money making over consumers’ needs. The scam resulted in Apple not only losing goodwill but also millions of dollars by way of compensation and fines in more than one country.