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Apple Apologizes For iPhone Slowdown Drama, Will Offer $29 Battery Replacements (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Apple just published a letter to customers apologizing for the "misunderstanding" around older iPhones being slowed down, following its recent admission that it was, in fact, slowing down older phones in order to compensate for degrading batteries. "We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down," says the company. "We apologize." Apple says in its letter that batteries are "consumable components," and is offering anyone with an iPhone 6 or later a battery replacement for $29 starting in late January through December 2018 -- a discount of $50 from the usual replacement cost. Apple's also promising to add features to iOS that provide more information about the battery health in early 2018, so that users are aware of when their batteries are no longer capable of supporting maximum phone performance.
It's not as much bullshit as you think. When Lithium ion batteries age, they are no longer able to handle peak loads while maintaining the rated voltage. Apple was not lying about old batteries causing phones to mysteriously shut down for no apparent reason.
I've seen the same thing happen in other phones -- the battery indicator says you have adequate charge, then you do something computationally intense and your phone shuts down without warning.
Having an indication that your battery is in this condition is very useful. Otherwise, it's not clear what's wrong with your phone.