Apple Plans Software Update to Improve Battery on IPhones

November 02, 2011, 8:31 PM EDT

(Adds battery life complaints in fourth paragraph)

Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. is working on a software update that improves battery life on iPhones running its newest iOS operating system after some customers complained.

“A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices,” Natalie Harrison, a spokeswoman for Apple, said in a statement. “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.”

Harrison declined to comment further about what may be causing the problem. The statement comes after users took to message boards and discussion forums to complain about weak battery life after downloading the new iOS 5 mobile operating software that was released last month with the iPhone 4S.

The glitch is the second consecutive iPhone release in which Apple has had to issue a fix. Last year, Apple released a software update and gave away free cases after some customers complained that the handset would drop calls if gripped a certain way.

“I am experiencing very very poor battery life on iPhone 4 since installing iOS 5,” said one person on Apple’s discussion forum.

“I upgraded to iOS 5 last night and I noticed that my battery only lasts about 5 hours from full charge,” said another.

The battery complaints haven’t harmed Apple’s stock price, which rose 90 cents to $397.41 in U.S. trading today. The shares have gained 23 percent this year. The company sold more than 4 million of the new iPhone 4S in its opening weekend last month.

--Editors: Jillian Ward, Donna Alvarado.