Apple killed the option to leave product reviews on its site just as holiday buying starts
- Apple quietly removed the "Ratings and Reviews" section from its online store, meaning shoppers can no longer see online reviews of Apple products before they buy.
- The removal comes just as Apple heads into the all-important holiday season. The iPhone maker tends to see a major sales bump through the last three months of the year thanks to people buying holiday gifts.
- First reported by Apple Insider, the move appears to have come into force on the US, UK and Australian version of Apple's website.
- Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
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Apple has removed all customer reviews of its products from its website, without apparent explanation.
The removal was first reported by Apple Insider on Thursday. Specifically, the tech giant has removed the "Ratings and Reviews" section from all product pages on the US, UK and Australian versions of its site.
Notably, the Ratings and Reviews section of Apple's site houses the thousands of product reviews published by customers. Shoppers were able to leave reviews and a star rating, and read reviews based on recency or usefulness. These reviews are no longer visible.
Business Insider confirmed that reviews have disappeared for products listed in the UK. We compared the current online listing in the UK for the Apple Pencil 2 with an archived version of the same page. Here's a captured version of the current listing, which doesn't show a "ratings and reviews" section. And here's a capture of the same page from October, which does show the reviews section.
As with any company, the reviews of Apple's products were a mix of positive and negative.
The Verge noted there were over 700 one-star reviews of the Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter published on Apple's site before the section was removed. An archived version of the page shows hundreds of one-star reviews from customers in India, Australia, and the US.
AppleInsider posted archived screengrabs of the product page for the first-gen Apple Pencil as it appeared on November 16 and November 17. The "Ratings and Reviews" section was visible on November 16 but not on November 17.
Apple has not, at the time of writing, released any sort of explanation or public statement on the section's removal.
Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.