Apple Faces Yet Another Class Action Lawsuit Over 'Secretly Throttling' Older iPhones

[coolfactor]

Usually I'm against these frivolous class actions, but SOMETHING is going on with older phones. I know my experience is anecdotal, but my 6s was recently running fine until iOS 12.31 (now on 12.4) and all of a sudden my battery is draining super fast. Battery was replaced by Apple less than two years ago, and battery health reports at 88%. This is without any change in my app/usage habits.

They keep doing something that negatively effects the battery performance of my older phone, and it's really pissing me off.

Do you run 3rd-party apps? Do those apps receive regular updates that are installed automatically, or manually by yourself? You've already acknowledged that you've installed the latest iOS update, so clearly you're installing new software onto your phone willingly. So you can't claim that "nothing has changed". Software can have bugs that didn't exist in past versions. Age and environmental factors (eg. temperature) also affect our iPhones' battery capacity.

It may be easy to dismiss all of that and blame Apple for "doing something" to your device. We all know better.

 

[BootsWalking]

This is getting really old and I’ve never understood why this is a big deal. Apple didn’t invent lithium ion batteries or how they lose capacity and electrical potential over time.

What happens when you decease the voltage on an incandescent bulb? It gets dimmer... duh

Batteries lose capacity over time but phones are designed to handle that reality by designing their peak load to be below the expected reduced max current of a degraded battery. That wasn't the case with the iPhone 6 and as a result there were systematic and widespread issues of shutdowns under peak CPU load.

 

[thomasthegps]

How do we know for sure that apple is not secretly slowing down our iPads, Macbooks and other products ?

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

Just recently retired my 4S (yes, 4S) to being the storage device for my music system and bought an XR. As a customer I would enraged if I had been using a battery case to preserve the battery of my phone (as I did), or replaced the battery (as eventually I did), to avoid or mitigate battery issues and Apple applied the throttling anyway. Moreover there is a simple way to get around of all of this - easily swappable batteries. For a company that supposedly makes 'magical' products, Apple can't solve how to put swappable batteries in iPhones? Hard to believe indeed.

Removable batteries are stupid. The last thing we need is another ingress point.

 

[gnipgnop]

Apple chooses the battery capacity. And the mAh rating is very proportional to its peak current delivery capability. By always going for thin, they used batteries that were on the bleeding edge of being able to deliver peak current.

Apple has always been very clear that only an EOD battery, a battery subjected to cold conditions, or a battery that had low charge was at risk for not supplying enough voltage. In other words, no different than any other phone-sized lithium ion battery.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

Planned obsolescence, my back. My 6s outlived all of my friends' newer android phones and it keeps going strong.

And that's why I've always bought Apple.

 

[iMi]

I'm sure in the alternative universe there are lawsuits about aged iPhones shutting down due to excessive power draw on the battery. The point is that Apple cannot win here. They can either allow the device to exceed what an aging battery can deliver and have a very unpleasant experience of the phone shutting down on the user or they can manage the power draw and try to deliver a more user friendly experience and prolong the life of the battery.

Either way... someone will be pissed and an army of lawyers will stand by with their wallets open.

 

[gnipgnop]

That wasn't the case with the iPhone 6 and as a result there were systematic and widespread issues of shutdowns under peak CPU load.

Incorrect. Shutdowns were the result of standard limitations in lithium ion batteries: EOD, cold, or low charge.

 

[VulchR]

Removable batteries are stupid. The last thing we need is another ingress point.

As if Apple has made a genuinely waterproof iPhone... Besides, plenty of devices that are waterproof have swappable batteries. The engineering is not rocket science.

 

[Justanotherfanboy]

I’m trying to think of the nicest way to say this....

“Ugh, I wish these ridiculously entitled and money grubbing lawyers/clients would drop dead already”.

There... that seems sufficiently dialed back.

 

[Stars&Stripes]

People with ‘older iPhones’ deserve to be throttled. It is pathetic to see older iPhones still used.

Your comment is pathetic AND elitist.

 

[bstpierre]

yikes. it really bothers you that much on what other people do?


my iP6 was great until 10.3.x and immediately noticed a drop in performance/battery. it was never the same.

I work with a guy who is using an iPhone 4. I am pretty sure many of my coworkers think he should be throttled.

 

[Moonlight]

This is the biggest horsesh*t I have ever seen. Should be thrown out of court

 

[AppleTO]

It's also possible that your battery has degraded. The % shown is just an estimate, based on charge cycles and age.
[doublepost=1564677431][/doublepost]

Apple chooses the battery capacity. And the mAh rating is very proportional to its peak current delivery capability. By always going for thin, they used batteries that were on the bleeding edge of being able to deliver peak current.

Notice that this isn't an issue in iPads? Because the battery is much larger compared to peak CPU demand.

That’s not really a secret, yet people, like myself, buy their phones anyways.

 

[mi7chy]

Planned obsolescence, my back. My 6s outlived all of my friends' newer android phones and it keeps going strong.

Galaxy Note II from three years prior to iPhone 6s is more future proof and has features that current iPhones have yet to get like precision pen input, split screen multitasking, proper file manager, mouse support, desktop mode, external drive support, etc.

 

[BootsWalking]

Incorrect. Shutdowns were the result of standard limitations in lithium ion batteries: EOD, cold, or low charge.

If that was the case then why weren't there widespread systematic reports of shutdowns on iPhones before or after the iPhone 6/6s series?

 

[ryanwarsaw]

yikes. it really bothers you that much on what other people do?


my iP6 was great until 10.3.x and immediately noticed a drop in performance/battery. it was never the same.

There is always that one that should buy a new sarcasm meter.
[doublepost=1564678809][/doublepost]

How do we know for sure that apple is not secretly slowing down our iPads, Macbooks and other products ?

Only the lawyers know for sure.

 

[JRobinsonJr]

Usually I'm against these frivolous class actions, but SOMETHING is going on with older phones. I know my experience is anecdotal, but my 6s was recently running fine until iOS 12.31 (now on 12.4) and all of a sudden my battery is draining super fast. Battery was replaced by Apple less than two years ago, and battery health reports at 88%. This is without any change in my app/usage habits.

They keep doing something that negatively effects the battery performance of my older phone, and it's really pissing me off.

While I understand the frustration, is this really different from any other hardware slowing down running newer OS's? New features are added, more things run continuously, UI's become more interactive... and older hardware has trouble keeping up. I fail to see the problem.

Regarding the battery, if Apple had *not* implemented the slowdown, and subsequently those devices starting melting down and/or bursting into flames, we would see a very different round of legal actions. Either way Apple was screwed. Seems to me they prioritized preventing catastrophic events over user experience.

 

[eicca]

Holy entitlement issues and first world problems Batman.

 

[Dave-Z]

Apple previously denied any kind of planned obsolescence by flat out stating that it never has and never would do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience, to drive customer upgrades

Apple is lying. Plain and simple.

If Apple were genuinely interested in prolonging their devices then repairability would be easier on everything. As it is now their laptops have glued in batteries, memory and storage soldiered to the board, etc., etc. Apple wants their products to be like a toaster. You use it until it stops working then go buy another. Of course, a toaster costs a lot less than a phone or laptop.

 

[unlovbl]

In all seriousness, however, I'd rather have too much litigation than too little in this country.

Until you are on the receiving end of a frivolous lawsuit. Be careful what you ask for.

 

[macfacts]

They will continue until Apple runs out of money and the US runs out of lawyers. But good luck in winning.

Apple already lost. Lawyers haven't won but normal people already think apple throttles.

 

[anthogag]

Your comment is pathetic AND elitist.

Yeah baby

 

[SDJim]

The way I see it is this lawsuit is indicating one of two things:
1. Any time a company comes out with a less-than-stellar product, they should be sued for selling it.
or
2. No, no that's pretty much what it comes down to.

There are almost a BILLION iPhones being used, and you expect them as a company to do something other than what they did? They can't make software that addressees the specific needs of each individual 5 year old phone, sorry. They can make software that addresses the status quo. Period. And they did that.

Honestly, I think they weren't super forthcoming about it because they didn't see it as a big deal, it didn't stick out to them. They are releasing software constantly with new optimisations and such, so this wasn't anything special, but some blood-suckers are convinced it means something.

 

[anthogag]

yikes. it really bothers you that much on what other people do?


my iP6 was great until 10.3.x and immediately noticed a drop in performance/battery. it was never the same.

Your old iPhones are a drag on software development. Apple has to spend time and resources on making sure there’s compliance with older devices.