On Wednesday Apple finally confirmed that it had identified a few bugs causing some iPhone customers to experience less-than-optimum battery life while running the latest iOS 5 software. The company said that a fix is forthcoming.
“A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices,” Apple said in a statement to AllThingsD. “We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks.”
Apple did not elaborate on an exact date for the software update, but did make sure to be careful in claiming that just "A" small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life" which is difficult to confirm as an outsider.
Apple support forums have been blowing up with postings on the battery issue. My inquiry with an Apple store genius concerning my own battery drain problems on iPhone 4S was met with skepticism and eventually blamed on my usage habits, although I had made all the necessary adjustments to reduce drain.
One report is confirming that Apple has already seeded iOS 5.0.1 Beta to developers which should fix battery life along with other bugs including the iPad 2 Smart Cover hack. It will be released to consumers after testing in the next two weeks.
Despite complaints of battery issues, AT&T has reported record sales of iPhone 4S since it launched on October 14th. Apple's pre-order sales of iPhone 4S sold out in 24 hours.
