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and replacing batteries would not solve the fundamental design flaw in the 6/6s, cause as batteries age, shutdowns come back, so this software is the only way to deal with the symptom and not the causes.

Fundamental flaw? It's just the reality of smaller lithium ion batteries used in phones: there isn't as much overhead for delivering peak voltage demands from the CPU, so as the battery ages and becomes less capable of delivering peak voltage then you can run into situations where the CPU triggers an auto shutdown by needing a greater voltage than the battery can supply. All Apple has done is program the software to limit the CPU peak voltage demands to the range that the battery can still supply.
 
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Maybe I'm missing something, so apple admit to doing a software slowdown and the fix is we will replace your battery at no cost to us/maybe even a small profit and that's the fix... you have to be a complete fanboy not to see this fixes nothing and actually benifits apples obsolescence drive.

Crazy, fix or remove the software
 
This IMHO this move is total BS and unsavory to say the least on Apples behalf. To elaborate I have been commenting for years that Apple just might be playing games with it's loyal customers like myself who buy most new products. My personal experience has been disappointing with regard to 2...I repeat "2" MacBook Airs. When I would upgrade to the latest build
the battery would burn out and the operating system became useless. I literally had to trash my 2011 MBA in 2014 and after purchasing a new 2014 MBA the same problem occurred in 2017 when again after upgrading to the latest build AGAIN the battery and the OS went bye bye ( I use my computers for basic tasks, nothing elaborate). I went ahead an purchased a new MBP w Touch Bar and so far no problems (maybe because I refuse to upgrade to new builds). My personal feeling is that Apple must keep the Board happy and keep that stock price climbing and their ridiculous salaries and HIGH bonus structure intact.
I have now become suspect of every move that Apple makes. Im also suspect that they release products early and before fully tested for flaws (ex: iPhone X). I won't touch that product for at least another year when it's out of the beta system. LAST - If Steve was still with us this would NOT be happening. The man had sometime that the present Executive Management and R&D staff lacks....INTEGRITY!! The current staff again IMHO are nothing but pompous, arrogant, elitist creeps. From here on in I will be hesitant in buying any new product that Apple releases. They have blown ALL of their credibility with me. Can you imagine they had the gaul and the ball's to ADMIT that they were playing games with this latest public relations disaster? <rolling my eyes in disbelief>

I agree somewhat with what you say, I mean it’s not exactly easy to replace a modern day Apple laptop battery with the way they glue them in!
Unfortunetly there are plenty of people who defend Apple no matter what they do, this site being a prime example. So Apple will just carry on as they are, I will still buy there products but I certainly don’t blindly defend them no matter what. Some things they get right, more so when Jobs was in charge.
 
Very timely, this issue. I am just now looking at my next phone upgrade, and looking at the shenanigans Apple has been up to once again, I am shying away from the iPhone X. Very nice phone, really very nice, but if Apple is so willing to twist the knife after such an investment into a device to basically force upgrades, I'm not interested. I get it that the battery will start to degrade after 2-3 years for active users. Sure, at that point you upgrade or replace the battery, but to cripple the phone's usability without explanation is just not on. So far I have put up with a couple of 'gates' with Apple, but still I thought just maybe I should go all in on the ecosystem thing. Thankfully this reality check came up just in time. Thanks guys!
 
Yes they added the feature but do we have confirmation that any 7’s are actually being throttled right now? I don’t trust benchmarking software.
Yes, Apple flat out said they were throttling one year old iPhone 7 with the latest iOS. I think the fact you need to replace the battery or have your phone slowed down after one year is completely ridiculous!

Also, Apple admitted to all this because of Geekbench, especially iPhone 7.
 
Apple said the cheaper iPhone battery replacements will be available worldwide through December 2018. The $29 fee applies to the United States, with prices varying in other countries based on exchange rates.


Does anyone knows the price for the replacement in spain? Alao, can I have more than one iPhone battery replaced?
 
I got my replaced two weeks ago upon hearing the battery issue. Full price :(

Same, did it on 23rd! I’ve tweeted asking if difference can be reimbursed, let’s see what they say...

EDIT: After tweeting and DMing Apple Support for a while, finally sorted the partial refund after a chat with a senior adviser over the phone (don't bother with Twitter for this as seems it needs more senior authorisation/involvement). Confirmed that any replacements done after 14th December at full price will receive a partial refund so in my case 60€ back in the form of a posted cheque (unfortunately not a refund to card used at time - who still uses cheques these days??).
 
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can I ask for a battery replacement for no reason? I am willing to pay $30 to get a new battery over my 1 year old used one.
 
Fundamental flaw? It's just the reality of smaller lithium ion batteries used in phones: there isn't as much overhead for delivering peak voltage demands from the CPU, so as the battery ages and becomes less capable of delivering peak voltage then you can run into situations where the CPU triggers an auto shutdown by needing a greater voltage than the battery can supply. All Apple has done is program the software to limit the CPU peak voltage demands to the range that the battery can still supply.

what Apple did was put in a hack to reduce power draw. Something that the power management in the 6 and 6S should have been able when you design tolerances .

look , you have your opinion , it's all batteries to blame, allow others to have their view. You May very well be right
 
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The thing is that I replaced my battery for my iPhone 6 plus and it was still slow...

Does it have to be Apple brand battery or something? Something smells fishy..

The IP 6 was a really bad design. Mostly because it lacked sufficient ram for future iOS updates. It was the last turd to get a measly 1 GB of ram. The 6s doubled that amount. And the 7 has 3 I believe. The IP 6 hit its effective end of life very early on IMO.
 
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People should now ask why Apple does not include iPads in the program. If Apple's reasoning regarding with the throttling is battery, then iPad should do the same.

Is there something Apple wants to hide by only including iPhone 6 and up? Did Apple used flawed battery on iPhone only?
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The IP 6 was a really bad design. Mostly because it lacked sufficient ram for future iOS updates. It was the last turd to get a measly 1 GB of ram. The 6s doubled that amount. And the 7 has 3 I believe. The IP 6 hit its effective end of life very early on IMO.

iPhone 7 has 2 and 7 Plus has 3
 
Fundamental flaw? It's just the reality of smaller lithium ion batteries used in phones: there isn't as much overhead for delivering peak voltage demands from the CPU, so as the battery ages and becomes less capable of delivering peak voltage then you can run into situations where the CPU triggers an auto shutdown by needing a greater voltage than the battery can supply. All Apple has done is program the software to limit the CPU peak voltage demands to the range that the battery can still supply.

Its.the.bit.where.this.is.needed.fairly.soon.in.the.life.of.the.product.which.is.the.issue.

Which is why apple hid it.

Jesus, this thread is like groundhog day
 
Yes, Apple flat out said they were throttling one year old iPhone 7 with the latest iOS. I think the fact you need to replace the battery or have your phone slowed down after one year is completely ridiculous!

Also, Apple admitted to all this because of Geekbench, especially iPhone 7.

Benchmarking software is designed to create the highest possible load on the CPU in order to measure it's maximum capability so it triggers the throttling by itself. Apple's software is looking for large peaks/valleys in power draw and that's exactly what apps like Geekbench create. So all Geekbench numbers are telling you is that artificially creating a peak voltage demand from the CPU can be a problem for batteries that have aged and can't necessarily deliver that peak voltage anymore.

My guess would be that the CPU for the 6/6S was not as balanced for processing power vs. power draw as phones that came before or after those models. In other words, it's just part of Apple's continuing improvement of the A series. Processing improvement was ahead of power reduction improvement at that point.
 
We all knew they were doing this with past phones...just glad they are at least admitting they were and doing something about it. Now my kids get my 6+. now becomes the question: who do we take it to?

They only are admitting because they were caught. Apple is the least transparent company there is. The most proprietary and the most secretive. It takes a PR blow out for them to admit they are not perfect. Just take your phones to i store and make appointment for battery replacement.
 
was in Glasgow Apple shop today, tried to get them to replace my daughter's iPhone 6 (mine 'till I got a X) battery. They ran some tests and said it was all fine. Geekbench score was about half the score that my Mum's iPhone 6 got and upgraded to X as phone was getting irritatingly laggy.

Others before me might have replied to your post so forgive me for not reading all the posts yet.

It does not make sense, if for instance you have a car battery and put a huge load on it the voltage drops as well, so the lights on that car won't be 100% but 50%.
Geekbench is not a good tool, it will max out the CPU so the battery can't keep up, result the CPU throttles.
 
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Its.the.bit.where.this.is.needed.fairly.soon.in.the.life.of.the.product.which.is.the.issue.

Do you have any hard numbers to offer on the "fairly soon" part? I'm sure Apple does and although I would guess it's higher for the 6/6S vs. other generations, it's unlikely to be as high as people are making it out to be. I think that's one of the reasons for the price drop to $29...they know the demand is not going to be that high.
 


Given a lack of nuance in some mainstream coverage, many headlines have fueled speculation that Apple artificially slows down older iPhones to drive customers to upgrade to newer models, but the actual issue was Apple's lack of transparency about the power management changes it made starting in iOS 10.2.1.

When it released iOS 10.2.1 in February, Apple only vaguely said it made "improvements" to reduce occurrences of unexpected shutdowns. It only chose to explain that the changes it made may result in temporary slowdowns on some older iPhone models with degraded batteries after controversy recently reignited.

The issue came into the spotlight in early December after a Reddit user claimed that his iPhone's performance significantly increased after replacing the device's battery. Soon after, analysis of iPhone 6s benchmarks visualized an apparent link between lower performance and degraded battery health.

Apple responded by noting the power management process is a "feature" rolled out to iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPhone SE, but since it didn't fully communicate this change, some iPhone users may not have realized all they needed was a new battery.

Thank You to MacRumors for making the most important point about this story. The problem, is NOT the battery's. It's NOT the software. It's that APPLE did not have transparency with it's customers. Apple was founded by and had a leader who was in love with secrecy. He loved to come to the keynote stage and drop a bomb. "One More Thing", he called it. You can't do that if everyone knows what is coming. So Apple was founded to be a company that values secrecy. We have heard numerous stories about how they develop products in such total secrecy from each other and from the world, that it sounds like a military development process, not that of a phone. Let's be honest, he could also be arrogant in the way he treated people ,even to include his customers. We all remember "Antennagate". YOU are holding it wrong. This has affected Apple for years. But it's a new day. There is new leadership. It's a new time. And THIS is not going to work any more, not in this internet connected age. Apple must change. They must. In the last 90 days of 2017, we saw 2 major news items about Apple that are not acceptable. First the disastrous story about the root passwords in MacOS 10.13. Frankly that story did not get enough press. Most people have downplayed the important nature of that one. And now this thing with the batteries. This one is worse from a PR perspective, because it is seen as affecting the customers money (devaluing what you have paid for and maybe a push to require you to buy the new one) , and everyone can understand this one. One should note that the only good press about Apple in this time period was the release of the iPhone X. And that is only because it came out in November, not September as iPhones normally do. Only one person can fix this and that one person must. That person is of course Tim Cook. I am calling on Mr. Cook to respond to THIS problem -the lack of transparency of issues that affect Apple customers- openly and decisively. And hopefully quickly.
 
I have a Nexus 6, which is two to three years old, and was, for the 1st time running a couple of benchmarks on my phone to see how it performed against Nexus 6 phones when they were brand new as you can look up review tests from back then.

Guess, what, my 2 - 3 year old phone is giving results just the same as those brand new ones.

A review article said this:

"Nexus 6 battery life is excellent, judging from our tests. Behind its 6-inch AMOLED is a mighty 3220mAh capacity battery, the same as the Samsung Galaxy Note 4



Then.....

iPhone 6 Plus has a 2,915 mAH battery

iPhone 6s Plus has a 2,915 mAh battery

iPhone 7 Plus has a 2,900mAh battery

iPhone 8 Plus has a 2,675mAh battery

Notice a trend here?

And Apple are saying, ahhhh, well, you can't expect batteries to last forever?

Hey Apple, how about not making your battery smaller every year as you know dam well they won't last as long and be able to perform as well for as long.

You think Apple management and Apple engineers are stupid and don't know what they are doing and how long a battery will last and be able to supply top power as they are idiot and don't know or test anything?

No. Apple are VERY clever and know exactly what they are doing.

Which should worry you more, as you can forgive someone stupid as they may not realise things. But this is all deliberate.

300 mAh give or take will not save the battery from natural degradation.
 
Is there a list somewhere that states which iPhones are eligible for the discount battery replacement program?
I have a slow 6 Plus. Is that on the list?

Yep that is on the list. The 6 was the worst pile they ever made. Poor touch sensor under screen where they removed the bracket and underfill. Only 1 GB of ram, and a weaker aluminum body. All of which was improved on the 6s. A new battery may not fix your problem in its entirety being the device has insufficient memory (one 1 measly GB) to run the newer versions of iOS. Because of this, the device can't perform up to par with modern phones. And is why it hit its end of life earlier then most iphones. If ever there was a reason to buy the "s" version the IP 6 is it. Plenty of design flaws in the 6. I suggest moving on to another device. You can't upgrade ram.
 
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The IP 6 was a really bad design. Mostly because it lacked sufficient ram for future iOS updates. It was the last turd to get a measly 1 GB of ram. The 6s doubled that amount. And the 7 has 3 I believe. The IP 6 hit its effective end of life very early on IMO.

Agreed . I've only owned one true lemon iPhone , it was my 6 plus, 1GB ram made it .... crap... upgrade to 6s plus, was such a smooth experience .

Countless times I went to Apple, 2 new units and still slow crashing turds, even the genius said the ram was not enough . I think the 6 plus was worse than the 6
 
Benchmarking software is designed to create the highest possible load on the CPU in order to measure it's maximum capability so it triggers the throttling by itself. Apple's software is looking for large peaks/valleys in power draw and that's exactly what apps like Geekbench create. So all Geekbench numbers are telling you is that artificially creating a peak voltage demand from the CPU can be a problem for batteries that have aged and can't necessarily deliver that peak voltage anymore.

My guess would be that the CPU for the 6/6S was not as balanced for processing power vs. power draw as phones that came before or after those models. In other words, it's just part of Apple's continuing improvement of the A series. Processing improvement was ahead of power reduction improvement at that point.
I really don't think you understand what is happening here. Geekbench does not create throttling, it measures it!

Apple isn't looking for "large peaks/valleys in power draw". They are looking for a supposed failing battery, and then applying throttling which creates the large peaks/valleys in CPU use, not power draw!

You are blaming the symptom of throttling as the initial problem.
 
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iPhone 6 Plus has a 2,915 mAH battery

iPhone 6s Plus has a 2,915 mAh battery

iPhone 7 Plus has a 2,900mAh battery

iPhone 8 Plus has a 2,675mAh battery

Yes, the trend is that the A series has become more power efficient relative to processing power. And that may well be the issue with the 6/6S SoC relative to the battery: processing power was ahead of power efficiency, thus the need for the "larger" battery and yet still being more susceptible to peak voltage issues as the battery aged.
 
Fundamental flaw? It's just the reality of smaller lithium ion batteries used in phones: there isn't as much overhead for delivering peak amperage demands from the CPU, so as the battery ages and becomes less capable of delivering peak amperage then you can run into situations where the CPU triggers an auto shutdown by needing a greater voltage than the battery can supply. All Apple has done is program the software to limit the CPU peak amperage demands to the range that the battery can still supply.


Bold:

Fixed

FYI, it's the peak amperage a CPU needs, if it can't the voltage drops, that one you got right, if the voltage drops too much the phone will shutdown.
 
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