As unreliable as Apple products can be sometimes, millions of us still depend on them every day. From MacBooks to iPads, iPhones to iPods, Apple has truly dominated the technological market - but they employed some rather sneaky ways of ensuring that customers continued buying their products over the years.

Last December, the tech giant publicly admitted that they used underhand tactics in keeping their clientele by giving their iPhones "built-in obsolescence". In basic terms: Apple had been lowering the performance of older phones through updates in order to encourage users to upgrade to the newer models.

Originally, they claimed they had done this in order to preserve the battery life on older phones, but users didn't buy that excuse. Instead, they demanded compensation from the company, and Apple obliged... sort of.

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In an open letter to customers, Apple acknowledged "that some of you [customers] feel Apple has let you down."

"First and foremost, we have never - and would never - do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades," they said. "Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that."

They later went on to say:

"Over the course of this fall, we began to receive feedback from some users who were seeing slower performance in certain situations. Based on our experience, we initially thought this was due to a combination of two factors: a normal, temporary performance impact when upgrading the operating system as iPhone installs new software and updates apps, and minor bugs in the initial release which have since been fixed.

"We now believe that another contributor to these user experiences is the continued chemical aging of the batteries in older iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices, many of which are still running on their original batteries."

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And this is the solution they offered:

"Apple is reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 - from $79 to $29 - for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced, available worldwide through December 2018."

So, if you have an iPhone 6 or later, now is the time to head to your nearest Apple store and get it replaced. In some cases, the store will accept fault and replace the battery for free if it has reached a certain point of degradation. Otherwise, you may still be asked to cough up for a replacement - at the reduced price, of course.

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Even if you haven't been affected by this issue, it is worth keeping in mind that Apple - and other tech companies, of course - sometimes manipulate buyers into investing in new products needlessly. The latest models might have a slightly better camera or some cool face recognition software, buuut they might also omit the headphone jack so you have to buy new earbuds, or change the shape of the charger so you're forced to invest in a bunch of new cables, too.

If you consider it worth the investment, that's fine - but sometimes it pays off to wait a while before upgrading straight away.

It's a theory that many of us have harbored for a long time, and it turns out that it's true. If like me, you're an avid user of Apple products (AKA a sheep), you will know that your iPhone seems to slow down the moment a newer model comes out. For the majority of us who cannot afford the latest iPhone, seeing as it's selling for over a grand, this characteristic of the older models is incredibly annoying. However, while it was easy to believe that it was simply just you being a conspiracy theorist, and that the company wouldn't actually do something so cruel, it turns out that they would. Apple has confirmed that older iPhones do slow down and have offered a fairly flimsy explanation for the reason why. According to the tech giant, older batteries may have a lower peak performance because the makers have limited how much an iPhone processor can draw. Apple says that there is a perfectly good reason for this limited performance. The global tech firm has claimed that it has something to do with preventing the old phones from shutting down unexpectedly. In a statement provided to Business Insider, Apple said: "Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. "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. "Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6S and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We've now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future." To put that in more simple terms, if an iPhone battery tries to draw more power than it is physically able to do, it will shut down. Apple claims that by reducing the amount of power that battery can draw over time and slowing down the performance of the phone, they are preventing it from failing abruptly. Essentially, Apple is slowly killing our phones. The company were forced to issue the statement after GeekBench released a set of charts based on data that showed older iPhones weren't performing as quickly as they did when they were initially released. Apple's honesty on the subject may be admirable, but in all honesty, it has left the majority of iPhone fans feeling pretty annoyed about the whole ordeal. Marco Arment, a blogger and iPhone developer took to Twitter last night to convey his dismay at the statement. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/943574888106942464]] "For years, we've reassured people that no, Apple doesn't secretly slow down their older iPhones to make them buy new ones," he said in a tweet on Wednesday. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/943575253728538625]] In a follow-up post, he added: "The reputation damage from secretly slowing down old iPhones, regardless of the reason, will likely linger for a decade." To be honest, I don't buy the excuse that Apple is offering. Let's be real here, the reason they slow down older iPhones is simply so that we buy the new, expensive models.

Ever since Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in 2007, the technological world has never quite been the same. Irrespective of whether you're even a user of the Apple device, you'll undoubtedly keep up with all the speculation over what fancy new feature the new iteration will boast, and many iPhone veterans have spent entire summers saving up their pennies, eagerly awaiting the new update. Certainly, regardless of where you fall in the iPhone versus Android debate, I think we can all attest to the fact that we do care about what Tim Cook and his dream team have managed to conjure up. And this is mainly because almost everything that the tech company has produced to date has been deemed "revolutionary". The now-modest iPhone 3G is credited for an impressive array of things, including the fact that it was the first mobile device to literally put the internet into people's pockets.  Yes, that means that we may not have had social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter if Steve Jobs didn't have his lightbulb moment. Frightening, eh? The recently released iPhone X has been the most coveted smartphone in Apple's history to date, however, we have been hearing more tales of woe than delight, as it appears that clumsy iPhone users keep dropping and destroying the things. For once, it appears that it's a better idea to save your money and forego purchasing the new iPhone, as more and more videos are appearing of people dropping and destroying their shiny new iPhone X's. Footage of excited customers dropping and smashing their new purchases hit Twitter earlier this week, and it's certainly going to lessen some of that FOMO you've been feeling about not being able to afford the new Apple product. I mean, just check out this epic fail...as the uploader appropriately captioned the video, "it's painful to watch". [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/trustedreviews/status/926406742191345664]] And yes, the damage here is rather "catastrophic". [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/Merrily13NEWS/status/926396380888825856]] The new iPhone, like other models, features a glass front to back. What sets it apart, however, is it's edge-to-edge screen which can be unlocked using facial recognition. The iPhone X is available to purchase for $999 in the USA, and rather bizarrely for £999 in the UK, which means that us poor brits are having to fork out substantially more for the same exact product. And unfortunately, the bad news doesn't end there. According to the Mirror, if you've smashed your edge-to-edge screen, you'll have to pay around £286.44 (that is, $376.05) to get it fixed. But that's not all, if you damage other parts of the pricey model, like the speaker or microphone it could set you back an eye-watering £419 ($549). Well, if you're considering getting an iPhone X, you better get that thing insured, stat. I mean, you really do not want to be forking out that kind of money, given how much it costs to purchase one in the first place.

Last week, news broke that Apple had been deliberately allowing older iPhone models to slow down through iOS updates - a practice that is commonly described as planned obsolescence. As any iPhone user will know, the smartphones don't tend to maintain their original high-speed functionality for very long, and usually have to be replaced after a matter of years because they become too slow to use. According to Apple, this is a necessary feature of the iPhone, as "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." As a result, the company built their phones in a manner which prevents these shutdowns - but ends up slowing the phone over time as a result. Sounds like a pretty disingenuous way of getting people to fork out hundreds of dollars for a new phone, right? Well, it is. And now Apple are facing a ton of lawsuits. At least nine class-action lawsuits have been filed against the company across California, New York and Illinois, with people claiming that Apple's failure to disclose information about the phones forced them into making unnecessary - and expensive - purchases, rather than just replacing the battery. The Illinois lawsuit implies that slowing the phones was deliberate and malicious, saying "Apple's decision to purposefully ... throttle down these devices was undertaken to fraudulently induce consumers to purchase the latest [iPhone model]". Another of the suits is asking for $999billion (yes, billion), on the basis that users were essentially cheated out of their money by the technology giant. The lawsuit, which was filed by Violetta Mailyan in California, that “each member of the Class had to buy a newer iPhone model because the performance of their older iPhone model had slowed down as a result of Defendant’s purposeful conduct.” Basically, what they did amounts to fraud - or, at the very least, misrepresentation - and millions of customers have been forced to pay out as a result. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/943574888106942464]] And it's not as if Apple employees were mentioning the battery solution on a case-by-case basis, either. Kirk Pedelty, another plaintiff involved in the Illinois lawsuit, claims that he had directly contacted the company when his iPhone 7 began to slow - but nobody prompted him to change the battery. "Nobody from Apple customer support suggested that he replace his battery to improve the performance of his iPhone," the lawsuit says. "Frustrated by slowdowns and intermittent shutdowns of his iPhone 7, Pedelty purchased an iPhone 8." Clearly, in this case, the iPhone user was deliberately misled by omission, and could have saved a significant chunk of his paycheck if he had just been told to purchase a $10 battery replacement. “If it turns out that consumers would have replaced their battery instead of buying new iPhones had they known the true nature of Apple’s upgrades, you might start to have a better case for some sort of misrepresentation or fraud,” said Rory Van Loo, a Boston University professor who specializes in consumer technology law. And, from what many complainants have said so far, that does seem to be the case. Personally, I'm now on my third iPhone in about six years - and I definitely wouldn't have coughed up more than half my rent each time for a new one if I had known I could have just spent a few dollars on a new battery. I'd like to think that I'll see a little bit of that $999 billion coming my way very soon, but I won't hold out any hope.

Apple has announced that from next year, customers will be able to order iPhone parts and repair instructions so they can fix their own cell phones.

The new Self Service Repair Scheme marks a monumental shift in the tech giant's attitude to home repairs, which they have historically prevented and claimed to be dangerous for the device and user.

But from next year, they'll be taking the first step towards helping customers do just this by releasing over 200 parts and tools.

"Self Service Repair will be available early next year in the US and expand to additional countries throughout 2022,” the iPhone manufacturers said in a press release.

They also explained that parts and instructions will be "available first for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups, and soon to be followed by Mac computers featuring M1 chips."

Credit: Leszek Kobusinski / Alamy

The initial focus will be on providing parts and instructions to fix screens, batteries, and cameras, but this will expand next year.

Customers will be able to order replacement parts and tools from a new Self Service Repair Online Store, also set to be launched by Apple in 2022. There will also be the chance to earn credit towards your purchase by returning used parts for recycling.

"Creating greater access to Apple genuine parts gives our customers even more choice if a repair is needed," said Apple's chief operating officer Jeff Williams in the press release.

“In the past three years, Apple has nearly doubled the number of service locations with access to Apple genuine parts, tools, and training, and now we’re providing an option for those who wish to complete their own repairs.”

The announcement is something of a U-turn for Apple, which has long sought to retain a repair monopoly on their products. In 2019 their Vice President of Corporate Law told congress that at-home repairs could result in injury. They also initially disabled Face ID on iPhone 13s with independently repaired screens.

Very few phone manufacturers sell parts and tools for at-home repairs. While it may seem like good news, Apple's announcement has been met with cynicism by many on social media.

"Can’t wait for ppl to do their own repairs then the settings app and Face ID not work," commented one person.

"Apple is going to push this hard and cheap so repair stores close down, then pull the program so you have to go back to the Genius Bar," tweeted another.

Featured Image Credit: Nicklas / Alamy Stock Photo