Apple Addresses Alleged Throttling of iPhones With Degraded Batteries

[ChrisChaval]

This is actually very good news

With the throttling issue out in the open things will have to change

I am looking forward to using my idevices for a couple of years longer than expected

 

[Count Blah]

Maybe you can explain exactly the “fantasies “ that were ruined. But hey - great job on the hyperbole.

Rather easy ...

Fanboi: Apple did nothing wrong
Reality: Apple created a device that cannot sustain itself, in many cases, upto and beyond 1 year. Look at the graph for the iPhone 7 - LOTS of examples of throttling, WAY more than to account for all iPhone 7s purchases on day 1 and have magically just exceeded the 1 year mark. ALL done without letting people know about the throttling.

Fanboi: Just replace the battery
Reality: The person I quoted tried doing that. Took their phone to the Apple store, as the device was shutting down with 30-40% battery life left. Apple's magical battery checker said everything was A-OK - Battery replacement denied. hey deny it whether it's under warranty or not, as long as the magical battery checker says the battery is good. So no, simply saying "replace the battery" is not good enough. It took a team from Reddit and the co-founder of geekbench to determine what was going on, so spare me the "Well it's obvious you should have just replaced the battery", that the fanbois are spewing all over the place now.

Combine the two, and you have a HELL of incentive to upgrade you iPhone. NO benefit to apple at all there, right?

 

[I7guy]

Rather easy ...

Fanboi: Apple did nothing wrong
Reality: Apple created a device that cannot sustain itself, in many cases, upto and beyond 1 year. Look at the graph for the iPhone 7 - LOTS of examples of throttling, WAY more than to account for all iPhone 7s purchases on day 1 and have magically just exceeded the 1 year mark. ALL done without letting people know about the throttling.

Fanboi: Just replace the battery
Reality: The person I quoted tried doing that. Took their phone to the Apple store, as the device was shutting down with 30-40% battery life left. Apple's magical battery checker said everything was A-OK - Battery replacement denied. hey deny it whether it's under warranty or not, as long as the magical battery checker says the battery is good. So no, simply saying "replace the battery" is not good enough.

Combine the two, and you have a HELL of incentive to upgrade you iPhone. NO benefit to apple at all there, right?

The only fantasies that probably will be ruined are those who believe apple will lose in court. (of course, it's imo, they will prevail with a solution that works best for customers; something class action lawsuits almost never do)

 

[clauzzz203]

The only fantasies that probably will be ruined are those who believe apple will lose in court. (of course, it's imo, they will prevail with a solution that works best for customers; something class action lawsuits almost never do)

Are you paid by Apple? All (and dozens) of your last posts are defending them unconditionally.

 

[I7guy]

Are you paid by Apple? All (and dozens) of your last posts are defending them unconditionally.

I think this is overblown, IMO as apple needed a way to deal with marginal batteries outside of warranty, even though my phone got the battery replaced and technically should have been power managed...I never noticed it.

But to your point, we should automatically "bash" apple. That's a better response? Right?

 

[clauzzz203]

I think this is overblown, IMO as apple needed a way to deal with marginal batteries outside of warranty, even though my phone got the battery replaced and technically should have been power managed...I never noticed it.

But to your point, we should automatically "bash" apple. That's a better response? Right?

So you got shafted and it is still ok?
My 4S with 6 years old battery still has peak performance. 100% CPU frequency and no shutdowns even with the battery health at 45%.

The newer phones are faulty and badly designed and Apple is shafting us to cover it up.

 

[I7guy]

So you got shafted and it is still ok?
My 4S with 6 years old battery still has peak performance. 100% CPU frequency and no shutdowns even with the battery health at 45%.

The newer phones are faulty and badly designed and Apple is shafting us to cover it up.

This is coming to all iphones in the future. What I don't get is why iphone 7 released in 2016 and now a year old is being power managed. Did apple have a bad run on batteries? Or are these batteries supposed to really be viable for only one year?

 

[Bawstun]

Most ethical companies take the PR hit and issue a recall or admit fault.

If this wasn't found out, they would continue throttling your CPUs without your knowledge.

They are acting in the best interest of themselves and not you by not TELLING YOU. GET IT??

Oh, I get it. I fully expect them to be sued and a class-action lawsuit settlement, perhaps one of the largest of all time. All iPhone buyers will be reimbursed through retro checks. It'll take a few years, but they will most assuredly lose the suit. What there done is illegal to the tune of billions and billions.
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This is coming to all iphones in the future. What I don't get is why iphone 7 released in 2016 and now a year old is being power managed. Did apple have a bad run on batteries? Or are these batteries supposed to really be viable for only one year?

Their batteries fail, or the CPU fails in response to the battery. Doesn't really matter the reason. A iPhone 5S from 2012 shouldn't be out-benchmarking a 6S, but they do. Apple absolutely padded their sales and pockets by forcing user ls to upgrade without notifying them of the hardware defect causing them to manually slow down the processors. They'll be sued and lose, bigtime.

 

[Act3]

This is coming to all iphones in the future. What I don't get is why iphone 7 released in 2016 and now a year old is being power managed. Did apple have a bad run on batteries? Or are these batteries supposed to really be viable for only one year?

good points, We most likely will never know what really happened or is going on.

if the battery is really only good for a year, I am fine with that. If disclosed from the beginning and if they made the battery more user changeable. I live pretty far from closest Apple store and really dont want to be without a phone for a few days if I mail it in.

 

[USAFA2008]

So in other words: they are selling devices that after a couple of weeks deliver app. 50% of the promised power and call that a feature...

But it is a feature a feature that forces you to buy a new phone. If any other phone manufacture did this they would be in deep ****.

 

[Contra1971]

remember when batteries were replaceable by removing the back of the phone?

they need to do that to the iPhone

 

[dgdosen]

So - I read that this isn’t an issue with iPads because they have bigger batteries - but then is stands to reason that Apple would have done this with all ‘small battery’ devices which would include, if the phone battery size is a judge:

- watch
- earpods
- trackpads
- keyboards
- ???

Is Apple already crippling these devices? if so, they should have told us already. If not, why the inconsistency?

 

[I7guy]

Their batteries fail, or the CPU fails in response to the battery. Doesn't really matter the reason. A iPhone 5S from 2012 shouldn't be out-benchmarking a 6S, but they do. Apple absolutely padded their sales and pockets by forcing user ls to upgrade without notifying them of the hardware defect causing them to manually slow down the processors. They'll be sued and lose, bigtime.

Apple won't lose because you can't get into the mindset of why someone upgraded. I upgraded twice, and I suppose I could lie about the reasons I upgraded and say it was due to a slow phone, but it seems to me all circumstantial. Obviously we won't know how this all plays out for a while.

 

[ChrisChaval]

So - I read that this isn’t an issue with iPads because they have bigger batteries - but then is stands to reason that Apple would have done this with all ‘small battery’ devices which would include, if the phone battery size is a judge:

- watch
- earpods
- trackpads
- keyboards
- ???

Is Apple already crippling these devices? if so, they should have told us already. If not, why the inconsistency?

Wouldn’t be so sure about the iPad ...

Except for the watch , no cpus in the devices you listed (just the w chip in the EarPods) so no throttling there , just the effects of normal battery wear and tear

 

[clauzzz203]

So - I read that this isn’t an issue with iPads because they have bigger batteries - but then is stands to reason that Apple would have done this with all ‘small battery’ devices which would include, if the phone battery size is a judge:

- watch
- earpods
- trackpads
- keyboards
- ???

Is Apple already crippling these devices? if so, they should have told us already. If not, why the inconsistency?

It is likely the other devices are also throttled but there is no way to check them. We got lucky there was an app for the iPhone which exposed this scam.

 

[Bawstun]

Apple won't lose because you can't get into the mindset of why someone upgraded. I upgraded twice, and I suppose I could lie about the reasons I upgraded and say it was due to a slow phone, but it seems to me all circumstantial. Obviously we won't know how this all plays out for a while.

I am not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure you don't have to prove why you upgraded, just that Apple was being deceptive, and that will be easy to do.

 

[I7guy]

I am not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure you don't have to prove why you upgraded, just that Apple was being deceptive, and that will be easy to do.

Well I'm no lawyer either, but being deceptive vs. a power management algorithm you don't like are two different things. If it comes down to I want my money back because my phone "was slow" and I bought a new iphone...how can a this be proved? It can't.

 

[Leomon84]

remember when batteries were replaceable by removing the back of the phone?

they need to do that to the iPhone

Never

Apple likes the sales and the additional repair costs..

They keep making all glass/aluminum phones

Do you know how many shattered phones I see? Its unbearable...

Engineering wise a user replacable battery makes the most sense.

But apple isnt in it to make good products.
They are in it to make the most money by convincing you to buy their brand/products.
(This is true for all phone manufacturers. Enough with the dedication to the brand, its all marketing)

 

[Baymowe335]

And when Apple refuses to replace a battery. At my cost. Then what?

Then you can replace it yourself or move to android and see what I’m talking about firsthand. Sorry dude, not everything in life is free or perfect.

At least throttling won’t impact you with a good battery. It’s like $80 to change your battery.
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The headlines and negative press against Apple in the media today is unprecedented. I've never seen such a backlash against a tech company like this before.

Apple are in a lot of trouble. The one thing you can never do in business is lose the confidence of your customers.

Lol, Apple isn’t in trouble based on this. Give me a break. I bet the majority don’t even think or know about this.

People have always thought their phone slows down when a new one comes out, about all manufacturers. There is somewhat of a built in skepticism in consumers.

 

[Act3]

Then you can replace it yourself or move to android and see what I’m talking about firsthand. Sorry dude, not everything in life is free or perfect.

At least throttling won’t impact you with a good battery. It’s like $80 to change your battery.
[doublepost=1513968985][/doublepost]
Lol, Apple isn’t in trouble based on this. Give me a break. I bet the majority don’t even think or know about this.

People have always thought their phone slows down when a new one comes out, about all manufacturers. There is somewhat of a built in skepticism in consumers.

based on CPUDasherX being in the top ten paid iOS apps right now, I'm gonna take a guess and say there are quite a few people interested in this

 

[NT1440]

based on CPUDasherX being in the top ten paid iOS apps right now, I'm gonna take a guess and say there are quite a few people interested in this

You....you understand how viral news works whether it's legit or not right?

 

[Act3]

You....you understand how viral news works whether it's legit or not right?

if people didn't care if their phone was affected, they wouldn't be purchasing an app to see its cpu frequency

you do know this "news" is legit , right?

 

[kaneda]

Why are you struggling with this concept?

If the phone shuts down randomly, you're mad.

If you have to replace the battery, you're mad.

If you have to buy a new phone, you're mad.

If Apple adds power management to prevent this, you're mad because a benchmark that artificially triggers a throttle down makes performance less.

Come on over to Android. I had this EXACT problem with my Note, and guess what? No update from Samsung. Phone shut itself off constantly. In fact, in 3 years of ownership, I NEVER received an update from Samsung. Ever. Same OS as it shipped with originally.

You'll say Apple should make better batteries. Well, we aren't there yet. This IS an issue with lithium ion batteries and until that changes, this is the next best solution. At least Apple supports their older devices to give them a better experience. The throttle down in performance is probably not even noticeable unless it's very heavy workload, like a benchmark.

Battery and the phone are not the issues here. The problem is they didn't tell the consumer "this is the next best solution." They did it in code. My phone was fine when I was using iOS10, and updating iOS11. Battery started failing.

 

[ThatSandWyrm]

The comments for this story should be good. There is going to be lots of rage for something that actually seems logical. All batteries degrade at some point. So you can't expect hardware that relies on the power from that battery to still function the same.

Yes, it seems logical... Except for the part where the user doesn't have any way of knowing if they actually need a new iPhone, or just a new battery. Plus Apple's refusal to replace batteries that they (and they alone) decide are not worn-out or defective.

I also believe that they must have been doing some kind of power-throttling for longer than they've admitted to thus far. This update they're referring to may just be a feature-tweak of a longer running throttling system. The ONLY reason my wife and I are not still using an iPhone 4c's is because an OS update slowed it to a crawl. Now our 6s's are crawling, and only now do we understand what's been going on under the hood. At the very least, there should be a power option that prioritizes performance over battery life, and a decent built-in battery info app that lets you know when it's time for a replacement.

 

[Aydy]

I think your taking this a bit too seriously? Communism? It’s just a phone ...

Did you read the post? Clearly, the tone was tongue in cheek. I thought it quite humorous myself.