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

[pmau]

Just to be clear about a detail:

Apple is not slowing down iOS, Apple is probably changing the frequency scaling and scheduling of cores.

Remember that Apple proudly introduced low-power cores in recent phones.
Every CPU core has clock speed scaling based on load to control thermal load.

So, iOS does not change during updates, it's the code that controls the CPU frequency scaling and power management.
You certainly do not find this in the Frameworks themselves.

Just to clarify that iOS and its Frameworks are identical for all models.
Only the way the hardware is controlled changes. Probably based on model number and battery capacity.

People sound like Apple would constantly changes the iOS code itself, which is far too complex to maintain.

 

[Leomon84]

We need a 3rd party doing a comprehensive report on this before further commenting. So much anecdotal and speculation.

And then I don't think what Apple did is necessarily a problem. Why exactly they did it, and what they are going to do about this going forward is more the defining moment.

If they took action at least as good as what they did regarding say the Foxconn suicide scandals (which was a non-issue and another case of consumer knee jerk reaction), then I think they should be good. But they are perceived as defensive, denial and secretive, then this case is going to have a material impact on the brand.

So your okay that a car company changes the horsepower of your car without you knowing?

The CPU is very analogous to the HP of a car, its what drives your device..

 

[nviz22]

What you are talking about it a buggy phone. Maybe had some hardware issues.

An android phone with good hardware will last you and be fast for its lifetime (And if you have replaceable batteries even longer)

An apple phone with good hardware will not last you and be throttled 1 year in.

Dont compare your bad hardware experience as a knock on the overall andriod eco-system.

Apple isnt flawless either.

There are plenty of good Android manufacturers that make good phones. They will always operate at peak performance regardless of OS update or not. Infact they will all be "faster" and have "better" battery life as your update the OS

The opposite is true with Apple and now we found out why.

Samsung devices have had bad hardware as well. When did I knock against HTC, LG, Sony, OnePlus?

Samsung is one OEM I can not recommend to someone because it’s too flawed because their kitchen sink approach creates headaches. Their current FP sensor placement sucks and miss scans a lot. Older devices were bloated so much as well.

I would only recommend HTC, LG, Pixel, OnePlus, and Moto to people. Pure Android is the best version of android period. Just agree to disagree because you’re not going to get me to budge against Samsung and their crap products.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Apple should just give the option to turn off throttling in a new IOS update and make sure to leave bold disclaimer stating that if you decide to turn off throttling then you prefer a faster version of your phone that will occasionally crash.

Also add a reminder that getting your battery replaced is always an option.

This way the impacted customers will get some form of the latest and greatest IOS/app features, or at least have access, and also have the option to turn on throttling if the do not want to buy a new battery.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Where I understand Apple’s point of view, they’ve shuffled my level of trust from “bulletproof,” to “buyer beware.” I fully understand why, however the principle of the omission, their white lie, is what hits me.

Could this be why they’ve suddenly been so “helpfully vocal,” on other areas of company performance? Did they know they were going to be found out?

Even though I’ve always upgraded just to have what’s new, I’m pretty sure that ends here and now. I’m not interested in being a part of that.

Unfortunately for Apple, most will read this elsewhere on news outlets, not understand the purpose behind this event, and there will be an uproar. Maybe this will spur innovation from other companies, possibly even startups, and it should. Here’s hoping.

You DON'T understand ANYTHING; that's why you're suspicious of Apple's motives.

 

[Dllyncher]

I have 6+ and it became painfully slow in the last couple of months' updates. Same with prev-gen iPads we have in the family. Same happened to previous phones too.

Is this some kind of deliberate strategy by Apple? I mean, they made me switch to PC from iMac/nMP, now this...

P.S. Been using MBPs for a decade now, but next laptop is going to be Lenovo's P-series.
[doublepost=1513931562][/doublepost]

I'm pretty sure if you go off-roading in a 7-cm clearance roadster and damage suspension, warranty won't cover it.

Just saying.

OK fine. Not the greatest example. A better one would be a car maker saying you can't go above 60mph after 100,000 miles cause the car won't work properly if you go over. Apple doesn't say you can't, they put a limiter on so you can't.

 

[eyeseeyou]

No theoretically a CPU should be able to operate at its current state forever, its only the code that should theoretically get more efficient. So your phone should feel FASTER with future OS updates.

In theory aren't OS updates developed for the latest and greatest hardware?

 

[Leomon84]

Just to be clear about a detail:

Apple is not slowing down iOS, Apple is probably changing the frequency scaling and scheduling of cores.

Remember that Apple proudly introduced low-power cores in recent phones.
Every CPU core has clock speed scaling based on load to control thermal load.

So, iOS does not change during updates, it's the code that controls the CPU frequency scaling and power management.
You certainly do not find this in the Frameworks themselves.

Just to clarify that iOS and its Frameworks are identical for all models.
Only the way the hardware is controlled changes. Probably based on model number and battery capacity.

People sound like Apple would constantly changes the iOS code itself, which is far too complex to maintain.

Thats what has been shown so far.

I know of friends who IOS has been laggy with Iphone 4S and 5 when the OS updates. Was it all Battery? We shall see.

Samsung devices have had bad hardware as well. When did I knock against HTC, LG, Sony, OnePlus?

Samsung is one OEM I can not recommend to someone because it’s too flawed because their kitchen sink approach creates headaches. Their current FP sensor placement sucks and miss scans a lot. Older devices were bloated so much as well.

I would only recommend HTC, LG, Pixel, OnePlus, and Moto to people. Pure Android is the best version of android period. Just agree to disagree because you’re not going to get me to budge against Samsung and their crap products.

Im not tied to Samsung so I guess the convo can end here...

I just hope your bad samsung experience hasn't left a bad taste for the android system.

 

[Textime]

Yeah, that excuse can work on the 6S and below. But for those 7 users who bought their iphones just a few months ago, then get throttled down right around the same time the new phones come out, that excuse don't work. Unless lithium ions just magically lose holding power around the last quarter of the year...

God bless you for those words. I want iOS 10 back on my iPhone 7.

 

[Leomon84]

In theory aren't OS updates developed for the latest and greatest hardware?

Yes in Theory, but I see good opportunities to make the OS even better for existing hardware by making the code more efficient. If there is a feature that could prove to taxing for the older phones then remove it.

If the phone is too old than dont update the OS for that phone anymore.

Apple has no excuse, their eco system is by far the tightest with the fewest products and they could easily implement a solution like this.

 

[MrX8503]

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

Does that mean if you drop your phone, you don't want Apple to fix it? Does it also mean you don't want updates?

 

[Leomon84]

Does that mean if you drop your phone, you don't want Apple to fix it? Does it also mean you don't want updates?

Why does it have to be that Apple fixes it

When something is wrong with you car do you ONLY have the option of going to your dealership?

 

[ss2cire]

I dont normally reply but i had to based on this post.

Not buying Apple's excuse.

Why is it that iPhone 5S and all the ones before never have this problem of just turning off? Something else is going on...

I have an iPhone 5s and it indeed does shut down randomly on me still. I have iOS 11.2.1 on it. Performance is mostly ok but I do see the slow down most people are talking about.

my iPhone 6s Plus has performance issues too since iOS 10. I agree that apple should have been more transparent about what it was doing with the automatic performance tuning. I think as one poster said they should add it as an option with a disclaimer that says battery life would be shortened if not turned on for older hardware (or the software could show the option once the battery got to a certain number of cycles) but the point would be to allow users to turn it off.

I'm not sue happy like a lot of people. Am I ok with the actions taken by apple? that's 50/50 as a software dev I understand where apple is coming from but as a consumer, again without clear disclosure, shame on apple.

just my 0.0000000002 BTC

 

[gnipgnop]

The lawsuit will be thrown out and this issue has always been bogus. Note that when Apple comes out with a new A series SoC each year, it usually provides a significant benchmark jump vs. the previous year, and you always hear reviewers claiming the phones are more powerful than needed based on most apps being used. In other words, the hardware is way ahead of the software, so even if the SoC is throttled in specific situations when the battery gets old, how does that really effect software that much? Remember, most of the iOS software runs on a wide range of SoCs that represent a wide range of relative performance levels.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

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.

Prove it.

 

[bobob]

OK fine. Not the greatest example. A better one would be a car maker saying you can't go above 60mph after 100,000 miles cause the car won't work properly if you go over. Apple doesn't say you can't, they put a limiter on so you can't.

You can use the term most accurate to both sides of the analogy: if you go over 60mph the car will crash.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Other smartphone manufacturers don't seem to have implemented the throttling.

Prove it.

 

[69Mustang]

I’m an app developer. I have to know how fast some of my code runs. I just tested that code on an over 2 year old iPhone 6s after updating it to 11.2.1. My code ran as if the CPU clock was just the same as when the 6s was brand new. So the reported slow iPhones here may have some other issues other than pure processor clock slow down due to the new iOS install. Maybe something to do with temperature, memory, storage, or background processes.

You have that before and after comparison data handy? I'm sure a ton of people would be interested in your results.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Apple has no excuse, their eco system is by far the tightest with the fewest products and they could easily implement a solution like this.

I kind of feel like that's what they did with the throttling process. The only other thing they could do is provide the option to downgrade to a previous os or give the option to not to throttle.

 

[Phonephreak]

lmao this generation is a bunch of babies. Suing for what. I have a iphone 6s and i dont really care if they lower the clock speed for phone for better battery life. It doesn't affect my daily use at all, neither do it see a performance difference. I mainly browse the web, text, listen to music and play games with no performance changes at all

So because you are willing to accept a crippled phone. Everyone should. I think not.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

My iphone 6 was probably one of the worst ownership experiences I had with any iphone model. A fully charged phone would go to less than 30% in an our and then after I plugged it in it would jump to 80%. Ridiculous. Right now my Series 2 watch is significantly slower than when I first purchased it. It makes me really hesitant to install updates going forward. I used to install them as soon as they released.

Funny. My iPhone 6 Plus exhibits none of those bad habits. Perhaps yours is defective.

 

[Phonephreak]

I guess prior to the 6, phones would just stop working.

My moms 5s was bought 3 years ago and still works fine. she leaves it charging at home. Ready to go whenshe goes we out. Phones isn’t throttled. Runs pretty damn good.

 

[smitster]

Also add a reminder that getting your battery replaced is always an option.

I've always had the fat, smart case battery for my 6S hoping that it would prolong the life of the battery. Is there any data correlating a benchmark result+ios version with battery ware level? Is having a diminished battery ware level the criteria for throttling or is it strictly age of battery--so using a smart case for two years won't save the phone from throttling?

 

[DNichter]

My moms 5s was bought 3 years ago and still works fine. she leaves it charging at home. Ready to go whenshe goes we out. Phones isn’t throttled. Runs pretty damn good.

I was more so being sarcastic in that statement. I have always had good performance with my iPhone's as well, glad it was the same for your mom.

 

[eyeseeyou]

I've always had the fat, smart case battery for my 6S hoping that it would prolong the life of the battery. Is there any data correlating a benchmark result+ios version with battery ware level? Is having a diminished battery ware level the criteria for throttling or is it strictly age of battery--so using a smart case for two years won't save the phone from throttling?

I assume throttling is based off of the health of your internal battery.