Apple Being Sued for 'Purposefully Slowing Down Older iPhone Models' [Updated]

[rayward]

absolutely. THere are about 100 different better ways of handling this than what Apple did.

As I said in another post. What Apple did was the cheapest rout to hide and mask the problem to their benefit, which is highly unethical.

it was nothing more than a work-around solution for them, and not a true solution.

They will need to be held responsible for such decision. It should be pretty damn clear that Apple knew they were doing something wrong when they felt the need to lie and hide what they were doing.

The current lawsuits are only about throttling. But, in hiding this issue from consumers, there may be people who chose an iPhone over another smartphone, because Apple was hiding how badly their devices behaved once the battery inevitably started to degrade.

There's any number of advantages gained by Apple when they decided (secretly) to throttle customers' phones, and almost zero advantages to the consumers themselves. That's where the soft spot of Apple lies in this debate, and that's where they will lose.

 

[Rodney Dangerfield]

Apple yesterday confirmed that it has implemented power management features in older iPhones to improve performance and prevent unexpected shutdowns as the battery in the devices starts to degrade, and this admission has now led to a class action lawsuit, which was first noticed by TMZ.

Los Angeles residents Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas, represented by Wilshire Law Firm, this morning filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California accusing Apple of slowing down their older iPhone models when new models come out.

According to the lawsuit, Bogdanovich and Speas have owned the iPhone 7 and several older iPhone models and have noticed that their "older iPhone models slows (sic) down when new models come out." The two say they did not consent to have Apple slow down their devices, nor were they able to "choose whether they preferred to have their iPhones slower than normal."

They're seeking both California and Nationwide class action certification, which would cover all persons residing in the United States who have owned iPhone models older than the iPhone 8.

Apple yesterday addressed speculation that it throttles the performance of older iPhones with degraded batteries, confirming that there are power management features in place to attempt to prolong the life of the iPhone and its battery. Apple implemented these features last year in iOS 10.2.1.

When an iPhone's battery health starts to decline, the battery is not capable of supplying enough power to the iPhone in times of peak processor usage, which can lead to shutdowns, Apple says.The lawsuit seemingly misrepresents Apple's original statement and suggests the plaintiffs and their lawyers do not understand Apple's explanation for how iPhone power management features work and why they were implemented, given the lawsuit's suggestion that it's tied to the release of new devices. As explained by Apple, when certain iPhone models hit a peak of processor power, a degraded battery is sometimes unable to provide enough juice, leading to a shutdown. Apple says it "smooths out" these peaks by limiting the power draw from the battery or by spreading power requests over several cycles.

Lithium-ion batteries degrade over time by nature, and this eventual wearing out addressed by the power management features is unrelated to the release of new iPhone models.

Apple does not deny that iPhones with older batteries can sometimes see slower performance, but power management is a feature that Apple says has been implemented to improve overall performance by preventing an iPhone from shutting down completely rather than a feature that's been implemented to force users to upgrade by deliberately slowing devices.

As many people have suggested, Apple has done a poor job of explaining why it has implemented these power management features and how the state of the battery ultimately affects iPhone performance. More transparent information about battery health should be provided, and customers should be better informed when their batteries start to degrade so they can choose whether or not to pay for a replacement. Apple may also need to relax its policies on when customers can pay for a battery replacement, as currently, a battery can't be replaced unless in-store equipment registers it as near failing.

An iPhone's battery is designed to retain 80 percent of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles. A defective battery that does not meet those parameters can be replaced for free for customers who have AppleCare+ or who have devices still under warranty.

For out of warranty customers, Apple offers a battery replacement service, which costs $79 plus $6.95 for shipping.

The lawsuit is demanding the replacement of the old iPhone and compensation for loss of use, loss of value, the purchase of new batteries, ascertainable losses in the form of the deprivation of the value of the iPhone, and overpayments because Plaintiffs and Class Members "did not receive what they paid for" when Apple interfered with the usage of their iPhones.

Article Link: Apple Being Sued for 'Purposefully Slowing Down Older iPhone Models'

NO LONGER UPGRADING IOS!

 

[barfo]

I just had my son’s iP5s battery replaced yesterday b/c the battery was fluctuating so much it was becoming a pain in the ___! We got it replaced for $43 at cell phone repair shop and so far it’s holding a full charge. I didn’t bother to ask what type of battery it was, supposed I should’ve, but for $43, I’m alright with it...we’ll see how long this lasts. What kinda specs should I consider when getting a replacement battery?

 

[macdave91]

I just had my son’s iP5s battery replaced yesterday b/c the battery was fluctuating so much it was becoming a pain in the ___! We got it replaced for $43 at cell phone repair shop and so far it’s holding a full charge. I didn’t bother to ask what type of battery it was, supposed I should’ve, but for $43, I’m alright with it...we’ll see how long this lasts. What kinda specs should I consider when getting a replacement battery?

Just lookup the type of battery that’s supposed to be in the iPhone model and make sure that the battery you’re buying matches those specs. Usually making sure it has the same voltage, ampage, and number of watt-hours should suffice. There are also different grades of battery cells but if you’re getting a deal and the phone functions fine afterward, then don’t worry too much about the minutia. 3rd party replacements technically void the warranty also just as an FYI.

 

[rayward]

Has it been confirmed that replacing the battery stops the throttling?

 

[ani4ani]

Okay, but the thing that worries me about Android is that it's owned by Google and they do everything they can to collect data about me. (For advertising, no problem, but it seems more nefarious to me for a for-profit company to collect my information).

Are you not worried about Google practices and if not, why?

Is it any better that Apple manipulate your equipment without you knowing? We are in a connected world, Google, Uber, Amazon....and Apple; everyone collects data from us all of the time, yep google perhaps more overtly and it is easier to understand in their business model,why, but trust me they are all at it. Dont want to be snooped on, get off the internet, give up social media, stop using credit cards, stop connecting to free wifi.........

 

[christo747]

My old iPad got very slow with iOS 10.3. It's almost unusable. Even the easiest tasks take many seconds. I am wondering if that too has a bad battery and is slowed down by software.

 

[WinterWolf90]

Never assume. Lot's of sympathetic Judiciaries out there these days.

Remember when that woman who smoked back in like 2002 or so got lung cancer then sued and won? Yeah so never think just because the case sounds stupid you cant win millions from it

 

[Brian Y]

That maybe what people expect, but its not how physics works. And personally, I don't think it should last less. I'd rather have it last the same time.

Wait, so designing a battery that's able to produce a certain voltage at a certain degradation isn't how "physics" works? It's pretty much exactly how it works.

Well please explain how every other phone manufacturer manages it then .

 

[Zane Magnum]

Why not just stop buying the phones/products?
If you sue for money on these situations your are just as bad as the greedy people trying to scam you.
Sad America. Let's not become a Nanny Nation!

-No sheep allowed.

 

[USAFA2008]

The current lawsuits are only about throttling. But, in hiding this issue from consumers, there may be people who chose an iPhone over another smartphone, because Apple was hiding how badly their devices behaved once the battery inevitably started to degrade.

There's any number of advantages gained by Apple when they decided (secretly) to throttle customers' phones, and almost zero advantages to the consumers themselves. That's where the soft spot of Apple lies in this debate, and that's where they will lose.

Exactly and that is why I hope Apple loses this case.

 

[fondzilla]

Maybe Apple should offer a battery replacement for less money than an entire entry level android phone. I thought about a replacement for my old iPhone 6, than I saw the price.

an iPhone 6 battery replacement is $79...

 

[ipponrg]

Hmm. Not as if Apple is short of resources - they should do the job of supporting their hardware and software as they used to do. People on this forum constantly harp about how much money Apple is making, then moan when they might need to reinvest some of that money into the business rather than further enrich upper management/exec's.

I think resourcing is one thing, but GOOD resources is another. A fallacy is that Apple has an endless supply of good engineers whereas currently there's a supply shortage of good engineers compared to demand.

Besides that, it should be no surprise that Apple would not want to endlessly support past iOS versions.

 

[dragoon2745]

It’s not binary. The phone could also work at the advertised speed even if the battery is a little degraded.
Just like the iPhones before the iPhone 6 did.

There enough reports of people with just one year old phones (including me) that have been slowed down to half the usual speed or less.

Slowed down to half the usual speed or less? Sounds like your perception is purely based on reading the article and wanting it to apply to you rather than actually having noticed any speed difference. You're obviously looking for a free handout from Apple regardless of you having a problem or not.

 

[Tinmania]

BTW: why are so many people on here always resorting to car analogies?

Presumably, for the same reason people on car forums always resort to Apple analogies. "Yesterday after work I had an ECM fault and was forced to drive home in limp mode. Thirty minute commute turned into an hour and a half. Who the hell does Honda think they are, Apple???!!!"


Mike

 

[skinned66]

My old iPad got very slow with iOS 10.3. It's almost unusable. Even the easiest tasks take many seconds. I am wondering if that too has a bad battery and is slowed down by software.

I encountered the exact same thing. I don't think it's a coincidence; and of course we can't downgrade. Replacing the battery is such a huge pain in the ass it will likely be my last iPad.

 

[trifid]

For reference, better battery quality exists, Samsung is claiming far less degradation after 2 years:

"Where most batteries hold 80 percent of their charge after two years, this battery should be capable of 95 percent of its original capacity." said Oh Boo-keun, vice president of Samsung's mobile R&D team.

I guess this is another area where Apple is behind as usual?

 

[Cmdrx3]

I don't think it's the fact that Apple did the throttling that is pissing people off I can certainly understand the why, it's the way they did it. First they should have made clear they were doing it and why, second they should have given people the option in the software as to whether they wanted it done on their phones and the ability to disable it if not. Thirdly they should have made it clear that a change of battery would possibly solve it (with the usual disclaimers regarding no liability if it wasn't a battery problem).

I'm kind of sceptical, I think it was easier and more convenient for them just to implement it and use it as a driver for people to upgrade their phones, then when found out they can give the reasoning as an easy way out.

 

[Tinmania]

If Steve wasn't fired for anntenagate, Tim won't be fired for batterygate.

I suspect when Steve agreed to helm Apple in the '90s, after getting fired in the '80s, "getting fired" was not gonna be an option again.

That said, I'm thinking this is going to be a lot bigger than antennagate.



Mike

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

No, they don't.

My shoes aren’t going to last forever. My tv won’t last forever, neither will my car and phone. But you guys keep complaining that you have to buy new stuff every so often. It doesn’t matter to me. lol

 

[nt5672]

Interesting since I have a 2010 MacBook Pro, 2012 Macbook Air and they both run just as good as the day I bought them. Only thing I've done was replace the battery and upgrade to SSD on the MacBook Pro. You have NO clue what you are talking about.

Yep I also use a 2010 MacBook Pro daily with and SSD. But try sitting it on your lap and running someone really stressing software, like data analysis, you won't leave it on your pap for long because it gets too hot. This does not bother me because I am looking for performance, but you just made my point. The 2010 MacBook Pro was the last pro laptop Apple made. It does not throttle down the same way. I know this because it is often too hot to set on my lap. Which is exactly what I want. But it also means Apple does not know how to do thermal design. My 2010 MacBook Pro runs like crap with spinning rust. In fact on new os's it runs far worse that it ever did on the old OS's with spinning rust. This again proves my point, somehow, someway Apple is degrading the experience on old devices over time.

Also I can replace the battery in the 2010 MacPro which has happened several times. You are not able to do that with any, that is not ANY, current Apple laptop without an expensive scheduled trip to an Apple store. And even then Apple may refuse to replace your battery if it passes their flawed test suite. Again proving my point. The new Apple makes toys that need to be replaced every 2 or 3 years, not serious computing machines.

 

[Gaprofitt]

Simple. dont upgrade the software.

Of course Apple could implement a "Turn of battery management" switch, then all the complainers can complain their iphones shut down instead.

Nice try, it's a design flaw, the phone shouldn't shut off because the battery is degraded.. This will be a massive class action lawsuit in which Apple will lose.

 

[redscull]

About time. What they are doing is highly unethical. Their involvement with my property stops after payment.

If you don’t want software updates to your property, buy Android. I fully expect part of my purchase price to cover software updates which I generally do want.

 

[cfurlin]

I find this to be quite upsetting. I will not be updating to next year’s iOS. The more that I think about it, this is the kind of thing that could send me to the dark side (Android). Apple should do the right thing and replace all of the faulty batteries.

Ah, the inevitable threat of a rage quit.

*groan*

 

[barfo]

Slowed down to half the usual speed or less? Sounds like your perception is purely based on reading the article and wanting it to apply to you rather than actually having noticed any speed difference. You're obviously looking for a free handout from Apple regardless of you having a problem or not.

I don’t think he’s looking for a free handout, just a product that doesn’t peter out after 1 year of having it. Crap, my ‘99 Honda Accord, which its value is about the cost of an iPhone, has lasted for 18 years and still going strong. Ok, not a true comparison, but you get my point.