The Justice Department and SEC is requesting documents from Apple related to the company's decision to slow down older iPhones, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The news agency said any possible investigation is still in "early stages."

Apple's stock, which was already trading lower on Tuesday, was down 1.4 percent in the afternoon.

Apple was criticized recently when users discovered that iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus units were purposefully being slowed down by the company. Apple said it made the decision to throttle the iPhone speeds in an effort to preserve aging batteries and to prevent the phones from turning off.

Apple responded by dropping the price of battery replacements for phones from $79 to $29. A battery replacement would bring the phone back up to its full speed potential.

The company has since apologized and says an update coming this spring, iOS 11.3, will allow users to turn off the speed-throttling function at the cost of battery life.

"We have received questions from some government agencies and we are responding to them," Apple said.

The SEC declined to comment. The Justice Department declined to comment.