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

[MH01]

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...anding-an-insane-999-billi.html#disqus_thread

Latest lawsuit coming in at an insane 999 billion dollars.

If you somehow manage to come off as being way more greedy than the company you are suing, I say that you have pretty much lost all sympathy in my eyes and I hope the people suing Apple in this case lose, and lose horribly.

I lost all sympathy at the Apple v Samsung lawsuit.... its jokes all round , with the consumer the looser .
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Nor will any class action $ ever be paid out. It will be summarily dismissed as a frivolous law suit... which it is.

My point is that the responsibility does not land at the CEOs door steps . Lawsuit.... win or loose, the damage is already done to the brand and trust with this going viral.

 

[chriz74]

...based on benchmarks?

No, it's based on cpu clock. It's constantly set at less than max. everyone affected can check and report this with Cpu Dahser X or Cpu Dasher 64. For example a friend's iPhone with 43% battery wear was constantly underclocked at 600 Mhz. After a new battery clock was constantly back at 1848 Mhz.

 

[NewdestinyX]

My point is that the responsibility does not land at the CEOs door steps . Lawsuit.... win or loose, the damage is already done to the brand and trust with this going viral.

Nope. None of these frivolous lawsuits have ever hurt Apple’s brand even a little bit. This will blow over as just more crank “ ....-gate” user nonsense.

 

[MH01]

Nope. None of these frivolous lawsuits have ever hurt Apple’s brand even a little bit. This will blow over as just more crank “ ....-gate” user nonsense.

Ummmm forget about the lawsuit. Really no one cares about it.

You did see every major news network run stories about Apple slowing down thier devices ?

P.s the damage has already been done in the media, this lawsuit is irrelevant .....

Do you understand the issue? To call it user nonsense, given Apple has responded ....

 

[eyeseeyou]

How Apple has handled this “issue” has potentially, permanently damaged the brand imo.

“Apple purposely slows down their phones” is a really really bad look regardless of the reason why.

 

[NewdestinyX]

Ummmm forget about the lawsuit. Really no one cares about it.

You did see every major news network run stories about Apple slowing down thier devices ?

P.s the damage has already been done in the media, this lawsuit is irrelevant .....

Do you understand the issue? To call it user nonsense, given Apple has responded ....

I have followed the case carefully. Antenna-gate and Bend-gate both went viral and through the media too. ZERO long term effect on Apple. Chip-gate with 6S was more internal to the community - less in the large media - but still - a big zero.

Apple is so large - and negative targeting is going to have 'some' (ultimately negligible) effect.. but only with marginal fence sitters - living between Apple & Android as a choice. What makes Apple strong is its base. And its base will not be swayed at all by this. And Apple's base gives it its billions more per year.

All this ^ = no brand hurt of any kind. History is our best teacher, gang.

 

[firewood]

Nor will any class action $ ever be paid out. It will be summarily dismissed as a frivolous law suit... which it is.

Often a pay-out is made, as paying a medium-sized legal blackmail ransom is a lot cheaper than the cost of continuing legal preparations for defending a court case. The lawyers get the bulk, and each plaintiff maybe gets a coupon for a taco or equivalent, if they spend time (more time than worth at minimum wage to do said taco preparation) to fill in the paperwork.
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That's what AAPL share holding posters are obviously hoping for and doing their best posting all sorts of nonsense.

On the flip side, those posting nonsense bashing Apple could be shorting AAPL, or have sold some call options.

 

[Klyster]

Apple does have $ 800 billion though. So...

So asking for more than they have is obviously a bit tongue in cheek....

 

[MH01]

I have followed the case carefully. Antenna-gate and Bend-gate both went viral and through the media too. ZERO long term effect on Apple. Chip-gate with 6S was more internal to the community - less in the large media - but still - a big zero.

Apple is so large - and negative targeting is going to have 'some' (ultimately negligible) effect.. but only with marginal fence sitters - living between Apple & Android as a choice. What makes Apple strong is its base. And its base will not be swayed at all by this. And Apple's base gives it its billions more per year.

All this ^ = no brand hurt of any kind. History is our best teacher, gang.

In which case do you see a difference beteeen antennaegate / bend gate and this ?

We looked past those two as Apple did not release those "gates" on purpose .

As a consumer , you have no concern that a $1K unit will be slowed down on purpose within a year?

You say history , if you can prove apple designed defective antenna and bending case on purpose , sure, you can look back on history.

It amazes me how people can forgo thier consumer rights , and Apple can do no wrong.... as a consumer , one should at least question this practice .

 

[macaddict1983]

... and if your phone shut down periodically you would be complaning about that. What Apple is doing is smart. Where they failed is being transparaent.

Come on, Apple is the one who started trend for not putting in user replaceable and now almost every one goes that route. If they just had easy battery replacement option instead of jumping hoops and making it so expensive users would easily replace battery when they feel its gone bad

 

[aknabi]

Snooze. This will go nowhere as usual.

Hitting snooze, like on the nightstand, doesn't stop reality from continuing... this has merit and legs...

Just because you don't like it doesn't mean the law works that way... there are multiple grounds for action. The solution itself was decent, how they (didn't) informed the consumer... which easily can be demonstrated as deceptive by a first year law student is going to bite them.

I'd say some heads at Apple Marketing, Legal and PR should roll over this one

 

[Fugitivo8]

IMHO, what Apple should do is the following. Revert the software that throttles the devices. If the devices start failing and have random shutdowns, either replace the battery at no cost for the user or replace the phone for the same new or refurbished equivalent phone.
Never attempt to throttle the devices again. As it is one of the main features of each device.

On a side note, from now on whenever they announce a new chip and it is X times faster than the previous, one should ask, those are before or after throttling the previous chip?

 

[Puddled]

Well if we can't agree on the reasoning behind the cause of this argument, we can look to see the effects of it.

My partner this morning:

"My iphone (6) is really really slow. I might change it. My friend has a 6S+ for sale as she got a new iphone 8. I'll be getting a faster iphone and my friend told me the only difference she sees between the two is the Bluetooth earphones on the 8...."

And here i am with my S6 which is as fast (faster actually) as the day i bought it (same month as my partner got her Iphone 6.)
My battery is at ~90% health after 2.5 years.

The upshot of all that.

A) My S6 is fine. I wont be changing it.
B) My partners i6 isn't fine and she will be changing it.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

I’m not actually referring to this issue. Five years of throwing more and more code at a processor is probably too long even if you replace the battery every two years.

Who's said it should be done retroactively after "Five years of throwing more and more code at a processor"; it should have been done day one right from the start.

 

[I7guy]

In which case do you see a difference beteeen antennaegate / bend gate and this ?

We looked past those two as Apple did not release those "gates" on purpose .

As a consumer , you have no concern that a $1K unit will be slowed down on purpose within a year?

You say history , if you can prove apple designed defective antenna and bending case on purpose , sure, you can look back on history.

It amazes me how people can forgo thier consumer rights , and Apple can do no wrong.... as a consumer , one should at least question this practice .

What you refer to as “bendgate” wasn’t a thing. However you can’t prove antenna-gate wasn’t known before hand and released anyway. However the point stands there was no fix for antenna gate other than, your holding it wrong.

To respond to your musings, Many I’m sure questioned “this practice “ and I am among them, but I decided I’m ok for now.

 

[Smartass]

Nope. None of these frivolous lawsuits have ever hurt Apple’s brand even a little bit. This will blow over as just more crank “ ....-gate” user nonsense.

No it wont. Previously, older iphones were slowed down just so you would randomly see some little lag and just enough so you would know it's time to buy a new phone. But nothing drastic and people reaally didnt care all that much. But with this new throttling that Apple is utilizing, people are seeing their phones becoming more or less useless when it comes to even the most basic tasks like taking a phone call or opening a camera. So why exactly would somebody throw 1200€ for a new iPhone x, when he knows there's a great possibility that the phone will be throttled as early as one year after purchasing it (like a lot of iphones 7 right now)? Majority of iphones in the wild are still 6s and 7 so just think how many angry people are out there.

 

[Phonephreak]

It’s a simple choice really, slow the phone or have it shut off.

As someone who’s phone shut off every. Single. Time. I went for a walk in the winter I’m now happily able to listen to my podcasts on my walks where I couldn’t before.

That’s not “because Apple said so”.

So your happy with a phone that performs at half speed. I’m happy for you. I’m not happy about it. And Apple won’t replace thr battery, after all it tests good. It’s not good

 

[NewdestinyX]

In which case do you see a difference beteeen antennaegate / bend gate and this ?

We looked past those two as Apple did not release those "gates" on purpose .

As a consumer , you have no concern that a $1K unit will be slowed down on purpose within a year?

You say history , if you can prove apple designed defective antenna and bending case on purpose , sure, you can look back on history.

It amazes me how people can forgo thier consumer rights , and Apple can do no wrong.... as a consumer , one should at least question this practice .

You don’t remember your history well, MH.. or you are trying to rewrite it to make your point. Antenna-gate was widely publicized in the media. So much so that they even offered a bumper case for free to mitigate the situation. Still - no harm done to Apple’s brand. They ‘paid us off’ if you will... with a bumper case. Couldn’t have been a larger public admission.

 

[Phonephreak]

Well, public sentiment seems to be gradually shifting to “Okay, maybe Apple did have the best of intentions, but their communication still sucks”. Apple will still need to answer for this, but they just might be able to walk away from this one unscathed.

Why do you care so much. They are a business that takes your money. They don’t care about you.
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If replacing the battery fixes it, then it’s safe to say that’s the cheaper option.

But they won’t.
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Let’s be real, though. It’d probably be better if Apple didn’t push updates so long. It sounds great, but the software is becoming more bloated and the phone is usually really slow at year five.

Year 5. Really. Try year 2. For all smart phones

 

[Fugitivo8]

It’s a simple choice really, slow the phone or have it shut off.

As someone who’s phone shut off every. Single. Time. I went for a walk in the winter I’m now happily able to listen to my podcasts on my walks where I couldn’t before.

That’s not “because Apple said so”.

I don't get it. How are you happy that they found a workaround for your case instead of addressing the real issue and for example refund you, fix the damn real problem with the battery or simply give you another phone?
I simply don't get how are you satisfied with a solution that isn't in the customer best interest, on top of that the customer has no responsibility of what was happening and wasn't even warned about the trade-off.

I also don't get how... you spent X amount of money to buy a iPhone 6 or 6S, and because of Apple incompetence to address the real issue, you are now stuck with the guts of an iPhone 5 on an iPhone 6/6S shell when you paid full price for a full guts and shell of an iPhone 6/6S, and you are still happy with it.
I am sorry but I don't get it.

 

[qawes]

Doesn't mean they can't offer the option and give the user, who knows the history of the battery, the choice. That right there is the problem people thinking Apple knows more than the user.

You have a fair point there and I would like that option myself, but I really don't mind it as opposed to the privacy hell that is Google.
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Apple offers an upgrade program for year-old phones. It is implicit and pretty explicit that the phones need to be replaced after a year if a user wants to have a device that runs at full spec.

If users don't understand this, don't understand that batteries (and other components) degrade, and don't understand that performance will drop with or without a software update, they are being particularly obtuse ... but user stupidity isn't grounds for a case against Apple.

How about we all sue because the shoes we bought last year and wore all day, every day have worn down at the heels?

I can't believe some people think Apple did this on the sly without thinking it would ever be made known, given that there are millions of phones out there that people can test (exactly as they have done). Apple will have made sure it was on solid legal ground before releasing this feature. If it wasn't, Tim would already have gone by now.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. Storm in a teacup. The internet going mad. Lynch-mob mentality over something as trivial as a freaking battery and a few degrees of performance.

This is one of the best posts that I've read on this forum this year.

You, sir, deserve a beer.
Cheers!

 

[deferredAnon]

We just want our phones returned back to normal speed and if any battery issues, we want Apple to give us a discounted battery change. I think this is reasonable.

I checked with Battery Life+ app on our iPhone 6 and it was showing 88% health. So, the phone's battery is supposedly healthy after three years, but phone was still throttled.

 

[apolloa]

I have followed the case carefully. Antenna-gate and Bend-gate both went viral and through the media too. ZERO long term effect on Apple. Chip-gate with 6S was more internal to the community - less in the large media - but still - a big zero.

Apple is so large - and negative targeting is going to have 'some' (ultimately negligible) effect.. but only with marginal fence sitters - living between Apple & Android as a choice. What makes Apple strong is its base. And its base will not be swayed at all by this. And Apple's base gives it its billions more per year.

All this ^ = no brand hurt of any kind. History is our best teacher, gang.

Steve Jobs held a big press inference to specifically talk about the iPhone 4 antenna issue, they then gave free bumpers to everyone to fix their design flaw. It didn’t damage them much because they fixed it.

This slowing down of iPhones will damage them unless they publically discuss it and remove the software... so far all they’ve done is been caught doing it, and due to the evidence, released a press statement..

This is in a way will test the board and Cook without Jobs.

 

[H2SO4]

Nope. None of these frivolous lawsuits have ever hurt Apple’s brand even a little bit. This will blow over as just more crank “ ....-gate” user nonsense.

What on earth are you talking about? The Macbook Pro graphics scandal(s) have prevented me from buying a new one I can tell you that.

 

[Delgibbons]

IMHO, what Apple should do is the following. Revert the software that throttles the devices. If the devices start failing and have random shutdowns, either replace the battery at no cost for the user or replace the phone for the same new or refurbished equivalent phone.
Never attempt to throttle the devices again. As it is one of the main features of each device.

On a side note, from now on whenever they announce a new chip and it is X times faster than the previous, one should ask, those are before or after throttling the previous chip?

Damn right. No more trumpeting how powerful their chips are when they get slowed beyond all recognition after a year. False advertising.