Apple admits the more people knew about battery replacements, the less people bought new iPhones

Let's take a closer look at what Apple is saying here because this is important. Tim Cook is actively blaming slower iPhone sales on customers' raised awareness about the fact that a simple (and cheap) battery replacement could fix a slowing older iPhone. Let us remind you that cheaper battery replacements (down to $30 from an original price of $80) were a program that Apple ran throughout most of 2018 and ended with end of the year as a part of an apology to customers for its lack of transparency about the throttling of iPhones that it implemented in iOS 10.2.1.

This latest explanation by Tim Cook basically tells investors that users who realized they can replace the battery on their older iPhone and maintain a good performance on their phone that would otherwise be artificially throttled simply chose to continue using that phone. Which raises all sorts of questions including the big one: so, Tim... was the way that Apple handled battery aging before the whole throttling scandal actually a tactic of planned obsolescence? Is it that people switched less to newer iPhones because of the simple realization about the connection between battery health and performance? And are you saying Apple made a mistake by telling customers about battery replacements? That would be an extremely embarrassing admission and it is certainly one way to look at that.

So... what is it exactly that you are blaming in this letter?