Apple Addresses Alleged Throttling of iPhones With Degraded Batteries

[Jmausmuc]

Except that the batteries aren’t faulty here. They simply aren’t as good as they once were due to normal wear and tear.

To prove a scam, you have to prove that Apple maliciously slowed down your phones to trick users into upgrading. Apple admits they slowed down your phones to prolong the battery life, which could be interpreted as still being in the best interests of the consumer.

I do feel Apple is making the right decision here, as a slower phone is still preferable to a dead phone. A case could be made for them to be more transparent about this matter in the future, but as it stands, I am not sure if any potential lawsuit even has a leg to stand on.

I don’t agree at all.
Yes, slowing down is better than turn off but this issue is already affection iPhones 7s which are just over a year old.
These phones are 600-1000 dollars and more and you are saying everything is fine if they just run a little more than a year at their advertised speed and than slow down?

A user should not have to choose between these two evils (turn off or slow down) after just a year. If this happens after 2-3 years AND there was a notification I would not be complaining.

My 6S which I bought because I wanted a faster phone than my 6 is at less than half it’s normal speed at just 13 month old.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

Seriously, what a bunch of spoiled brats. Why are you not plotting with pitchforks to sue the flashlight companies when those batteries start to degrade and the light gets dimmer over time?
I would actually like to recognize the company for putting in who knows how many millions into research and programming to come up with a solution to keep our devices from simply posting off. And yet the masses that are doing no more than refreshing Twitter all night are complaining that their 4 year old phone, that was probably refurbished by some ****** insurance company after they dropped it in the toilet, is no longer able to clock speeds they never utilized before. A company implements a feature to extend the life of a device and everyone calls out "PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE!"
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By implementing a solution to keep your older phone running longer

If this feature was introduced to improve the user experience, and was not anything underhand.....
when someone took their phone into one of Apple's excellent service centres to complain about their phone running slow, the "genius" would have run a diagnosistic which would identify the battery issue. He would then have explained the reason for slow performance and recommended a new battery. How often has this happened?

 

[Jmausmuc]

If this feature was introduced to improve the user experience, and was not anything underhand.....
when someone took their phone into one of Apple's excellent service centres to complain about their phone running slow, the "genius" would have run a diagnosistic which would identify the battery issue. He would then have explained the reason for slow performance and recommended a new battery. How often has this happened?

 

[djbuddha]

Depends on your phone. As article explains, for various models it was introduced in an iOS 10 update. And it doesn't just apply to those models automatically, only in cases when the battery can be unstable.

Fair enough. Just knowing they introduce stuff like this makes me not want to update. I've had my phone since launch and I only plug it in when I'm down to around 10% left and my battery has only degraded around 7% (by now with my old charging habits, I'd be around 20% degraded).

This is all according to the 'battery life' app. If it's a matter of charging practices, Apple needs to educate about the best practices. (Or maybe even figure them out).

I'm not saying my way is the best way. In my experience (which isn't everybody's obviously), this yielded better performance for me. (Knock on wood, I'll check in a week and it'll be down to 35% lol).

 

[2027376]

I bought an iphone X for the sole reason that my 6 was no longer even nearly as fast as it once was. everything was slow. this is pure BS and I'm an apple fanboy (although less and less as time goes on).

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

Nope. It's pretty clear. Battery degrades. Processor pulls power. Battery can't fully provide power at peaks. Phone shuts itself off. As a consumer, I'd be pissed if my 1-1.5 year old device is powering off. Apple provides a solution to phones powering off. Thus gaining a longer lifespan. Internet explodes.

Shouldn't batteries be specified to operate for at least 2 years and if they have degraded sooner than expected, a recommendation to get a battery replacement by a suitable message when the speed is reduced.?

 

[Abazigal]

If this feature was introduced to improve the user experience, and was not anything underhand.....
when someone took their phone into one of Apple's excellent service centres to complain about their phone running slow, the "genius" would have run a diagnosistic which would identify the battery issue. He would then have explained the reason for slow performance and recommended a new battery. How often has this happened?

Is it possible that the Apple geniuses are simply not aware of this issue? They have their own set of guidelines to determine whether a battery needs replacing or not, and are simply following them to the letter. They were not briefed that the slowdowns were possibly due to a faulty battery.

 

[Radon87000]

Planned Obsolescence 101

 

[VulchR]

I'm sorry if that sounded harsh, I did not mean it to be, I guess sometimes typing and reading on a forum can sound harsher than the same statement spoken as part of a face to face conversation.

Well, it's not that harsh... Apple did make a mistake.

 

[BuddyRich]

So a couple of questions...

1. This "feature" affects a rolling list and will hit the iphone 8/8+/X next year with ios12 I assume... Why is it necessary to throttle after only a year?

2. This feature kicks in before the battery health is below 80% (Apple's criteria for a "Healthy" battery at genius bar). At what percentage does it kick in? Even if battery was able to hold 80% of its original charge that seems high to enforce a throttle. Unless of course the phone/battery is designed with thin margins for power draw such that with just slight battery degredation the phone would potentially shutoff if not throttled. That sounds more like a design defect to me.

3. This throttling happens even when on a charger. Why?

4. The throttle looks to be a good 45% not like 10-20%

 

[639051]

I bought an iphone X for the sole reason that my 6 was no longer even nearly as fast as it once was. everything was slow. this is pure BS and I'm an apple fanboy (although less and less as time goes on).

This is what I hate about this community, and many others like it. Unless you accept Apple and never question their decision you just aren't good enough.

I've enjoyed my Apple devices in the past but I am tired of these types of decisions.

 

[beowulf70]

One word for Apple. Snakes.

 

[sracer]

I completely "get" the anger and frustration being expressed in this thread. I also get why there are those who aren't bothered by the issue (though having some of those poke a stick at those upset is double-unhelpful, and the flipside, calling those who aren't upset, "trolls" is equally unhelpful).

Whether or not there is a corrective action by Apple, or a class-action lawsuit, what are those who are unhappy with this revelation going to do?

Does it end at complaining in the forums (only to buy Apple's next shiny bauble)?

How many will say that they are "captive" to the Apple ecosystem as justification for continuing on with Apple?

Who will ditch Apple for the sole reason of "making a statement"?

Will anyone develop an "exit strategy" for disengaging from the ecosystem?

To those who remain content with the experience in AppleWorld, please have a bit of consideration for those who aren't. Although there are indeed some "delicate snowflakes", a majority of those displeased with Apple have valid sober reasons.

To those who are dissatisfied with Apple, do something. Not out of spite or any emotion, but from a perspective of making purchasing decisions that you will be content with. There are some people who are not happy unless they have something to complain about. If you are one of those, a little self-awareness goes a long way. And have a bit of consideration for those who, for them, this is no big deal... and yes, there are those few for who, Apple can do no wrong. Let them be.

That is all.

 

[VulchR]

So a couple of questions...

1. This "feature" affects a rolling list and will hit the iphone 8/8+/X next year with ios12 I assume... Why is it necessary to throttle after only a year?

2. This feature kicks in before the battery health is below 80% (Apple's criteria for a "Healthy" battery at genius bar). At what percentage does it kick in? Even if battery was able to hold 80% of its original charge that seems high to enforce a throttle. Unless of course the phone/battery is designed with thin margins for power draw such that with just slight battery degredation the phone would potentially shutoff if not throttled. That sounds more like a design defect to me.

3. This throttling happens even when on a charger. Why?

4. The throttle looks to be a good 45% not like 10-20%

5. Wouldn't a higher capacity battery reduce the number of recharge cycles per unit of time and therefore degrade less quickly?

6. Isn't about time Apple stopped putting thinness at the top of its priority list and started to think about utility and value for money?

 

[opfreak]

Except that the batteries aren’t faulty here. They simply aren’t as good as they once were due to normal wear and tear.

To prove a scam, you have to prove that Apple maliciously slowed down your phones to trick users into upgrading. Apple admits they slowed down your phones to prolong the battery life, which could be interpreted as still being in the best interests of the consumer.

I do feel Apple is making the right decision here, as a slower phone is still preferable to a dead phone. A case could be made for them to be more transparent about this matter in the future, but as it stands, I am not sure if any potential lawsuit even has a leg to stand on.

A correctly working phone is what was paid for, not a phone that 1 year later runs at 25-50% of original speed.

It doesn't matter if the batteries are defective or not. Apple failed to design the iPhone 6/6s+ properly so that a year later they still run similar to when as new.

When you bought your phone did apple tell you that 1 year later it slow down by 25% or more?

 

[Abazigal]

Do not spread ********. There are two possibilites: apple put very low quality battery in premium phone or they slowdown older phone on purpose in newer ios ( I didn't have any problems on my two years old iphone6s before ios11, after update freezes, shutdowns)

I won’t say the batteries are low quality, but seeing that Apple likes to use smaller batteries where possible to save space and rely on more power efficient components to pick up the slack, my guess is that the smaller batteries are simply wearing out faster and reaching that critical threshold much more quickly.

It’s like a shoe with an extremely thin sole. It’s thinner and lighter but it is also going to wear out faster than a shoe with a much thicker sole given the same usage and that’s just the way she goes.

 

[Act3]

This throttling happens even when on a charger. Why?

Most likely the trigger is based on the health of the battery (capacity) and the software doesn't look at whether it is connected to charger. I would think some programming changes could easily fix that.

 

[samcraig]

I suggest you try to build a machine, any machine, that will have complete consistent performance over a span of years without any maintenance.

"Stupid car only goes 500 miles before I have to put more gas in it. PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE!!!"

Horrible analogy. A closer one would be that the performance of your car degrades on whether or not you have a full tank of gas or 1/4 of a tank. Do you think your car should only get up to 30mph when the gas tank is lower or should it operate as usual until there's actually no gas in there?

 

[Abazigal]

This is what I hate about this community, and many others like it. Unless you accept Apple and never question their decision you just aren't good enough.

I've enjoyed my Apple devices in the past but I am tired of these types of decisions.

Neither extreme is desirable. Always choosing to see the bad in Apple and automatically assume the worst is counterproductive as well because it can also blind you to other likely reasons behind why Apple might be doing something a certain way.

 

[one more]

I have used iPhone 3GS, 4 (still used, 7 years old now!), 5C, SE & 7 (still used, 3 months old). My use pattern remained very similar, yet I only experienced an iPhone 4 (black) high temperature shutdown in the middle of the summer, while using it as a GPS and mounted on a windshield on a sunny day. So artificially slowing down iPhone 7 which already has a fusion chip to avoid exactly this kind of problem is not on, imo. Apple can (and do) just use it as an excuse to force people to update. This feature should be an option, not an imposed decision.

 

[Delgibbons]

5. Wouldn't a higher capacity battery reduce the number of recharge cycles per unit of time and therefore degrade less quickly?

6. Isn't about time Apple stopped putting thinness at the top of its priority list and started to think about utility and value for money?

The iPhone 7 has a 1970MAh battery. The Samsung s7 edge has a 3000MAh battery.

Also the iPhone 8 has an even smaller 1821mAh battery.

Who wants to take bets on when the iPhone 7 and 8 will start slowing themselves down

They should just leave out the faster cores from the start and then that would save silicon. Keep the shareholders happy

 

[tino1970]

ok so apple are deliberately slowing down phones that were working just fine..... in order not to get slow with a battery that degraded by 20%.

what bs.

 

[boccabella]

The simple solution here is for Apple to sell replacement batteries at cost plus a reasonable installation fee.

 

[Abazigal]

Horrible analogy. A closer one would be that the performance of your car degrades on whether or not you have a full tank of gas or 1/4 of a tank. Do you think your car should only get up to 30mph when the gas tank is lower or should it operate as usual until there's actually no gas in there?

Not an apt analogy either. I would argue that it is more like the tires of a car. The more you drive, the more worn out they become. And if you don’t get them replaced, you will compensate by driving more slowly to make up for the lack of control. Else, it’s just waiting for an accident to happen. And Apple is like that nagging spouse who sits beside you and watches you like a hawk to make sure that you don’t drive any more quickly than you should.

 

[progx]

I'm perplexed people wouldn't understand this happens. Look at computers, any Windows 7 computer getting updated to Windows 10 may slow down dramatically, but that's technology. Software outpaces hardware at some point. My iMac has begun to crawl with the newest macOS, so why wouldn't a smartphone suffer from it? It is a pocket computer. It came with the latest version of OS X Mountain Lion.

I did read the article. Apple is "throttling" the phone purposefully for better power management on older devices.

Although, if you want the best performance for your device, never upgrade the operating system and leave it with its default.