Apple Faces Another iPhone Lawsuit Over 'Programmed Obsolescence'

[Tech198]

New code, better transparency, widgets and all.... ya all these resources takes CPU power... Try expanding 64MB Windows 2000 machine with all the bells and whistles of Windows 10..

Even if you could make it run with 64MB, it would not even as smooth..

Apple must be enjoying this. They get the most attention.. (not what they wanted.)

 

[ASentientBot]

If Apple just allowed downgrades (with appropriate warnings beforehand), they would've saved themselves a hell of a lot of trouble and negative publicity...

It would be an incredibly simple way to completely destroy the "planned obsolescence" arguments with near-zero effort.

 

[CrashSpyroXP]

Sometimes, it feels like this iPhone 6s battery saga has no end in sight. How viable would it be for Apple to separate security patches from the operating system, similar to Android? This way, they can offer the option to stay, downgrade or upgrade to the iOS version preferred by the user as long as it is or was supported by the device.

 

[D_J]

Wow, the arrogance and entitlement in the majority of these replies. Yeah, sue Apple for providing updates for your 6-year old phone with it's battery that's gone through 500 charge cycles and then BLAME them that your 6-year old, cracked screen, beat up phone is a piece of ****. Hold them accountable because a 3rd party app doesn't support your device any longer. Force them to switch to the Android model where you're lucky to get more than one major OS upgrade on a device you purchased. You know, the support model where your 6/6S would have been in the toilet over 3 years ago because there were no longer any updates and your apps began to stop working one by one in 2017. Put your tinfoil hat on and call it a CONSPIRACY that they provide updates for your old-ass device to keep you secure.

There's NO other smartphone manufacturer which comes close to supporting OS upgrades for their devices for the length of time which Apple does, yet you bastards think it's cool to sue them and make them stop doing it? Ever think about just disabling updates and see where that gets you? A 6 year old phone is a POS. It's going to be slow by modern standards. Your battery should have been changed 3 times at this point if you used your device an average amount. Is it worth that to you? The older process/technology processor is going to use a larger percentage of its battery compared to the same tasks on a modern phone. That's just reality. It's not planned obsolescence, it's called progress. And you're just not going to be happy until Apple simply cuts your ass off years earlier instead of providing you with the latest and greatest. Hope you enjoy reaping what you sow.

 

[anthonyondre]

iPhone 6 and 6s? Deco Proteste is years behind the eight ball on this. At some point they have to say enough is enough.

Honestly, instead of fines, they should just allow old iPhone owners to downgrade their version of iOS to the one that came with the phone. Problem solved.

A corporation only understands money. Apple needs to be fined to a point of making it painful to make it corporately memorable and thus encourage it to not occur again.

remember the bug that turned the asinine animations off entirely? It was a hokey pokey with assistive tech controls that did the trick until next reboot. The point was that the iPhone 5 was blistering fast with the goofy arse iOS PowerPointish animations turned off.

Apple is out of innovation steam and we are tired of slow “graceful” phones. Same goes for macOS. All that processing power going to waste for some Art student’s “personal satisfaction” in widget animation. iOS and macOS, bloatware.

 

[T-R-S]

I have an iPhone 3Gs - it still works...

 

[InTeCredo]

I had iPhone 6 for four years, and I started to experience the massive performance degradation after update to iOS 11. It felt like I had the ancient iPhone 3G (circa 2008) again instead of iPhone 6. When Apple announced the reduced price for battery replacement service, I took the opportunity to do so. However, Apple tested the battery and told me it was in "pristine" condition, which surprised Genuis Bar technician who had never seen four-year-old battery in a like-new status. I complained about the slow performance, and he suggested upgrading iPhone to 7, 8, or X. That incensed me the most.

I wish I could have done something about Apple's idiotic decision to use ATI Radeon 5750 GPU for my iMac 27" (Mid-2010). After Mojave was released, I found out that GPU wasn't even designed for Metal engine and that (Late 2011 and newer) had different GPU. Even the GPU in my MacBook Pro 17" (Mid-2010) could process Metal engine and have Mojave, Catalina, and Big Sur installed. I didn't want to toss out the perfectly working iMac and spend thousands of euros for new iMac. I ended up spending €300 for new GPU and a few hours of my time replacing the GPUs and reflashing the new GPU to work with macOS.

Lastly, I was shocked to see the message popping up after both of my iPad and iPhone were upgraded to iOS 11, telling me that the Apple Books app must work with macOS 12 and higher. In order to use the highlights and notes made in iOS devices, I must upgrade my iMac to Mojave, which wasn't possible due to GPU. I had no prior warning about this change.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

If Apple just allowed downgrades (with appropriate warnings beforehand), they would've saved themselves a hell of a lot of trouble and negative publicity...

It would be an incredibly simple way to completely destroy the "planned obsolescence" arguments with near-zero effort.

You’ll never completely destroy the “planned obsolescence” arguments for the same reason you’ll never completely destroy “flat earth” arguments. As long as “a thing becomes obsolete” (which will always be true) it will be up to the person analyzing the situation on whether that obsolescence was planned or not.

So, it would always be better to spend time and effort on making the things and providing the services the majority of your customers want. I mean, even WITH the negative publicity, they sold a ton of phones last year and will again this year. And that’s with not providing a downgrade path, not offering alternative App Stores, etc.

It must be painful for some to use a device that they see as having SO many inherent shortcomings but also knowing that there’s NOTHING in the world that they’d want more than this lacking device.

 

[the_prof]

Some regulation needs to happen to protect people who still want to use older devices. There's nothing wrong with this and it's good for the environment. I personally believe that Apple should be forced to produce an open-source version of their OS for older hardware, which can be serviced by the community with its own App Store. I also believe it should be a choice to use this Open Source version with new hardware too.

 

[deevey]

I personally believe that Apple should be forced to produce an open-source version of their OS for older hardware

Why not just force devs into only supporting older OS's ?

 

[I7guy]

A corporation only understands money. Apple needs to be fined to a point of making it painful to make it corporately memorable and thus encourage it to not occur again.

remember the bug that turned the asinine animations off entirely? It was a hokey pokey with assistive tech controls that did the trick until next reboot. The point was that the iPhone 5 was blistering fast with the goofy arse iOS PowerPointish animations turned off.

Apple is out of innovation steam and we are tired of slow “graceful” phones. Same goes for macOS. All that processing power going to waste for some Art student’s “personal satisfaction” in widget animation. iOS and macOS, bloatware.

So vote with your dollars, then, since money is the only language apple understands. Or maybe write an open letter to Tim Cook on MacRumors telling him what he has been doing wrong and what he needs to fix at Apple.

There aren’t fines big enough to Apple that will get them to change. And if they are made disproportionate they probably can be overturned.

 

[Razorpit]

I work at a tech company that primarily uses PCs/Windows. Everyone gets new hardware every three years because we need the latest software to do our jobs in a high pace competitive market. Latest software will always demand the newest hardware. If you don't get it, your old computer will be slow. The 2007/2008 PC devices you speak of are super slow by now. Not much getting done there. That experience must be poop. Apple cuts the cord before that experience is even a possibility.

I thank you, Apple!

Good thing users can’t address the primary bottlenecks by adding more memory or a SSD.

My shares thank you Apple for making people spend $1,500 - $2,000 on a new machine instead. 🙄

 

[Thrutheroofnunderground]

You mean "User Replaceable"

*poof* There goes any IPS rating

Let me introduce you to the Samsung Galaxy Xcover Pro. A phone that was released in 2020 with a removable battery AND has an IP68 rating.

 

[I7guy]

Let me introduce you to the Samsung Galaxy Xcover Pro. A phone that was released in 2020 with a removable battery AND has an IP68 rating.

It will be news then the Note or Galaxy has a removable battery.

 

[beanbaguk]

I completely agree with this. My mother had the first iPad Mini. It was perfect for her. She is in her 70's and doesn't care for speed, games or any other "amazing" stuff the iPad can do. She just wants to read her mail and browse a site or two.

Following the release of iOS 9, the iPad became useless. Slow to the point of ridiculous and basically destined for the bin. There was no way to downgrade by the time I got my hands on it as Apple stopped signing iOS 8, and we literally had to bin what was otherwise a perfectly reasonable device.

I've always wondered, why?

Yes, I know the device is old, but if it works, it should continue to do so. We live in a society where the answer is just "buy a new one"; because come on, $700 just grows on trees, right?

It's the thing that hacks me off with ALL of these companies. Apple is not alone in this.

Apple, Samsung, LG, Google...they are all in this together and frankly, it needs to stop, but how? Your guess is as good as mine.

The reality is we live in a landscape of very expensive throw-away items and people just sink further and further into debt to get the latest gear and companies like Apple absolutely encourage and enable this behaviour.

Low APR credit, free credit etc is thrown about like it's nothing driving consumers into debt. Do you think Apple gives a damn? Heck no. They thrive off it and earn millions dishing out the partnerships and even the credit.

And guess what. We lap it up and we also thrive upon it!

We are a sick society.

@I7guy I'm curious.

What did you not like about my post?

 

[beanbaguk]

Europe....

Is wonderful?

 

[beanbaguk]

Stutter is a "massive problem"? Sure some people may notice it, but "stutter" in iphones have been debated for years. Same with so-called "Yellow screen".

Price is not indicative of lack of complaints, some justified, some not. If that were the case, cars that sell at a premium, like the S class would be a paragon of reliability.

Apple's prices really haven't really been going up as you allege. But I guess both of us to spin something to make our case.

The fact that this is happening seems normal, especially since the same things (justified or not) have been talked about for years.

iPhone prices have gone up over 60% since the first iPhone in 2008. (Even taking into account inflation).

 

[deevey]

Let me introduce you to the Samsung Galaxy Xcover Pro. A phone that was released in 2020 with a removable battery AND has an IP68 rating.

Credit where credit is due - must have taken a while to find it.

Everyone wants a removable battery I guess (seeing as its so popular). Personally I'd stick to the cheaper, supported for years longer, sealed iPhone SE over that brick though.

Gaskets for a waterproof seal are not the most reliable unless you maintain them religiously.

 

[macbookfan]

Apple is the only company that consistently updates software for old phones (like 5 year old ones). All I see happening from this. Is older phones get less updates because of fear that they will slow down.

I prefer having the choice myself. Once the phone hits the 3 year mark I always wait and see the reviews of performance before installing updates.

 

[I7guy]

@I7guy I'm curious.

What did you not like about my post?

I completely agree with this. My mother had the first iPad Mini. It was perfect for her. She is in her 70's and doesn't care for speed, games or any other "amazing" stuff the iPad can do. She just wants to read her mail and browse a site or two.

Following the release of iOS 9, the iPad became useless. Slow to the point of ridiculous and basically destined for the bin. There was no way to downgrade by the time I got my hands on it as Apple stopped signing iOS 8, and we literally had to bin what was otherwise a perfectly reasonable device.

I've always wondered, why?

Yes, I know the device is old, but if it works, it should continue to do so. We live in a society where the answer is just "buy a new one"; because come on, $700 just grows on trees, right?

It's the thing that hacks me off with ALL of these companies. Apple is not alone in this.

Apple, Samsung, LG, Google...they are all in this together and frankly, it needs to stop, but how? Your guess is as good as mine.

This is partially true. My ipad 2 became slower after the update to ios 9. However, due to the limited ram (512K) it was hampered by what I think Ios 9 needed, which was 1 gig. Having said that, last year I finally decided to replace it, so the ipad 2 had a nice long life of 9 years.

The reality is we live in a landscape of very expensive throw-away items and people just sink further and further into debt to get the latest gear and companies like Apple absolutely encourage and enable this behaviour.

Low APR credit, free credit etc is thrown about like it's nothing driving consumers into debt. Do you think Apple gives a damn? Heck no. They thrive off it and earn millions dishing out the partnerships and even the credit.

And guess what. We lap it up and we also thrive upon it!

We are a sick society.

This I couldn't disagree with more. While I did replace my ipad 2, my iphone 4 sits in an old dock providing music. My (8 year old) 5s also feeds one bluetooth speaker with music and is my backup phone, in case I damage my xs max. And while some items, such as airpods, are not repairable, they are not throw-away and apple recycles them. I had my OG airpods for about 3 years now, with them getting a workout the last year. They are just now starting to get on my nerves, but I have gotten my moneys' worth out of them.

Also it's not relevant for you to judge others vis-a-vis the availability of credit. It's other peoples' money and they should spend it as they see fit.

We are NOT in a "sick" society as you say. (well we are with a lot of people being sick, but that is another topic)

 

[mansplains]

I can't wait for all those who cheer for the lawsuit to see the $15 they get out of it, like the Sony PSN data breach years ago I got $15 for. Besides, if you believe the obsolescence is planned, why would you want Apple to fix/replace your iPhone anyway? Wouldn't you rather get a device made by someone else who you can 'trust'?

 

[deevey]

iPhone prices have gone up over 60% since the first iPhone in 2008. (Even taking into account inflation).

Arguably, so has their longevity - the first iPhone was an industry game changer, but virtually useless as anything but an email device / iPod in under 3 years.

Whereas my 5s and iP7 are still capable devices 5 and 7 years on and still receiving updates.

 

[I7guy]

iPhone prices have gone up over 60% since the first iPhone in 2008. (Even taking into account inflation).

The selling price of the first iphone $499/$599 in 2007 is comparable to the iphone xr at $499 in 2021. So based on how this is presented it doesn't seem the price of the baseline iphone has gone up. I'm not debating there really is not an apple to apples comparison at the top end.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I personally believe that Apple should be forced to produce an open-source version of their OS for older hardware, which can be serviced by the community with its own App Store. I also believe it should be a choice to use this Open Source version with new hardware too.

Why can’t the community just produce hardware? Cut out the middle man. OR, support something like the Fairphone? Just think of what Fairphone could do if just 1% of folks decided, “No, I’m not giving my money to Apple anymore HOPING they’ll change. I’ll support a company that doesn’t have to change because they already do the things I believe are important!”

 

[deevey]

Why can’t the community just produce hardware? Cut out the middle man. OR, support something like the Fairphone? Just think of what Fairphone could do if just 1% of folks decided, “No, I’m not giving my money to Apple anymore HOPING they’ll change. I’ll support a company that doesn’t have to change because they already do the things I believe are important!”

Because communal decisions lack proper structure and foresight resulting in more and more splintered offshoots as time goes on.

Linux would be a real contender to take on MS and Apple in the primary desktop market if it wasn't for the bazillion distros.