Apple has offered to replace some older iPhone 5 smartphones with flawed on-off buttons.
The California-based company said a "small percentage" of iPhone 5 models manufactured through March of 2013 may have on-off buttons that stop working or work intermittently, in a posting on its support website.
"Apple will replace the sleep/wake button mechanism, free of charge, on iPhone 5 models that exhibit this issue and have a qualifying serial number," it said at the website.
The support web page contained instructions for iPhone 5 owners, along with a way to check serial numbers to determine if smartphones qualify for free repair.
The replacement process began Friday in the US and Canada and will begin in other countries on May 2, according to Apple.
