Apple wants you to know its sorry.

The company just published a letter to apologise for a “misunderstanding", or rather, for the fact that it slows older iPhones. Apple recently admitted it pushes out an update that throttles the CPU of older iPhones in order to prevent shutdowns caused by their degraded batteries. Now, it's admitting it has let customers down, and for that, it apologises. It's also reducing the cost of battery replacements.

Apple said that batteries are “consumable components,” and that going forward, anyone with an iPhone 6 or later can get a battery replacement for $29. This new fee will go into effect starting in late January 2018 through to December 2018. That's a $50 savings - even for phones out of warranty. Apple also said it will add more information about iPhone battery health through new iOS features in early 2018.

With these features, you will know when your iPhone's battery no longer supports maximum performance. It's a stark reversal for a company that once said iPhone users would never need to replace their batteries, and for a company that has long been suspected of slowing down their products to encourage users to upgrade to newer devices. Although it claims that's not the case, the situation still odd.

Apple pushes out an update to iPhone 6, iPhone 6S, iPhone SE, and iPhone 7 models that essentially slows them down. These devices already have a slower peak performance, as their batteries can't provide as much power to the processor, and they sometimes suffer from shutdowns as a result, too. Starting with iOS 10.2.1, Apple began delivering a software fix to address these problem in older iPhones.

Older batteries can cause screens to dim, lower maximum speaker volumes, disable camera flashes, and more. Apple said it aims to "deliver the best experience for customers", and that's why it uses power management features to adjust performance and lengthen the lifespan of batteries. Still, Apple has broken its trust bond with customers - and it likely hopes this new letter will kickstart the healing process.

"We’ve always wanted our customers to be able to use their iPhones as long as possible," Apple explained, and then concluded by saying, "At Apple, our customers’ trust means everything to us. We will never stop working to earn and maintain it.'