Apple will give $50 credit to customers who paid full price for iPhone battery replacement repairs in 2017

Apple is offering a $50 credit to iPhone customers who paid for an out-of-warranty battery replacement in 2017, who would be affected by the battery performance throttling saga but had already had their battery replaced before #batterygate happened at the end of the year.

Before the saga happened, Apple battery replacements cost $79, so a $50 credit matches the currently discounted $29 price.

This affects anyone who would be affected by performance throttling algorithms first introduced in iOS 10.2.1; this means it applies to iPhone 6 and later devices.

Apple will only distribute these partial refunds for repairs that took place at an Apple Store, an Apple Repair Center or Authorized Reseller. Obviously, this only applies to people who paid for out-of-warranty repairs, rather than free component repairs covered under AppleCare.

Apple will be contacting eligible customers by email. The emails will be sent out between today and July 27, with instructions on how to redeem the credit.

If a customer has not received an email by August, but believes they are eligible for the $50 credit, they can contact Apple themselves to chase it.

For anyone that cannot remember, Apple introduced new behavior with iOS 10.2.1 to reduce unexpected shutdowns by limiting peak power draw of the iPhone’s internal components when necessary. However, this performance management also caps the maximum CPU and GPU power, referred to as throttling.

The scandal was that Apple did this without adequately explaining to customers what was happening. It was spun into a PR mess that Apple was intentionally slowing down older devices in order to encourage sales of new devices.

Apple issued a public apology for its communication and is now offering reduced price battery replacements, just $29 for all affected iPhone models. It also rolled out a software update to allow customers to see when they were being throttled and included a toggle to disable the performance throttling.

The $50 credit is compensation for people who had already paid for battery replacements in 2017 at the higher price.

Find out more details about the credit program here. There is still no word about what will happen after December 31 2018, as Apple only promised to offer $29 battery repairs through this year.

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