You’re probably right as that happened with my first AirPods Pro. Complained early about a problem and then eventually they did replacement program.

Similar thing happened earlier with the iPhone 6 battery problem. I had severe battery degradation not even 12 months in and it was shutting down. Apple said unless it was under 80% they wouldn’t change it. Eventually changed the battery myself then after two years they did a battery replacement program for it

My current iPhone 14 pro is having similar kind of problem. Not even 12 months in and I’m down to 87% battery …… and I’m sure the usual reply will be you are using your phone too much. No I’m not the phone was at 100%for months then I had an update and ever since then I’ve watched the battery lose percentage points each week.