Apple Now Faces More Than 60 Class Actions Over iPhone Slowdowns, Consolidation Likely Next Month

[MacLoveMacHate]

Again, HAHAHAHAHA

 

[rhondaleebaby69]

Well, money for the lawyers, but that's about it. I still don't understand why people are suing Apple for preventing their phones from shutting down as their batteries aged.

They're suing because had they known Apple was going to brick their phones whenever they felt like it (without telling them) they wouldn't have bought an iPhone to begin with.

 

[JRobinsonJr]

Apple's problem is not their batteries, it's the phone. A phone should't crash because it's battery is at 80% of it's original capacity. Apple must have thought that too, or they wouldn't have applied a "fix."
[doublepost=1519662835][/doublepost]

So how many devices are you aware of that crash because the battery is at only 80% of it's original capacity.

I can't believe how many people are trying to make this out like it is normal behavior. If it was normal, why apply a "fix" in the software.

Well... it's not a perfect example, but my truck won't start if the battery doesn't have enough juice. Plus, if the alternator isn't putting out enough power other components won't work either.

Could this be a bad design? Of course. Hardware gets designed with certain expectations, and if those are not met then problems can occur. Given that changing the underlying hardware design is not retroactively possible, the current options are (1) throttle performance, or (2) let the hardware crash.

Should Apple resolve this issue in future hardware? Absolutely.

 

[H2SO4]

OK, OK, we're old-fashioned and cheap, but my wife and were holding onto our 5S phones until we were feeling ready (as in waiting for a nice sale...) for iPhone 8. Then we made the mistake of installing iOS 11. Dramatically slowed performance, even when plugged in to charger, so it has nothing to do with the battery, unless I'm missing some information. So I realize that the new iOS has more processing it's doing, but....omigod!
The logical answer is just to buy a couple of model 8, or whatever. But I hate to reward Apple for this behavior. Or maybe I should....it's not like my APPL stock hasn't been good to us.....

I'm not disagreeing with you. At all.

 

[pincud]

Apple's legal battle against accusations that it intentionally slows down older iPhones to incentivize customers to upgrade to newer models will likely take place in one courtroom near the company's headquarters in California.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has disclosed that it will consider consolidating dozens of iPhone performance-related complaints filed against Apple during a hearing scheduled for Thursday, March 29 in Atlanta, Georgia, as is routine for similar cases filed across multiple states.

Apple currently faces 59 putative class actions across 16 district courts in the United States. The total includes 30 before Judge Edward J. Davila in the Northern District of California, where the lawsuits will likely be centralized given their overlapping claims, according to court documents obtained by MacRumors.

Apple faces similar class action lawsuits in at least six other countries, including one filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Canada on Friday, according to Toronto-based law firm Rochon Genova LLP.

The lawsuits have been mounting since late December, when Apple revealed that it throttles the maximum performance of some older iPhone models with chemically aged batteries when necessary in order to prevent the devices from unexpectedly shutting down. The so-called feature was introduced in iOS 10.2.1.

Apple initially didn't mention the change in its iOS 10.2.1 release notes, and in a statement issued a month later, it still only mentioned vague "improvements" resulting in a significant reduction in unexpected shutdowns.

Apple only revealed exactly what the so-called "improvements" were after Primate Labs founder John Poole visualized that some iPhone 6s and iPhone 7 devices suddenly had lower benchmark scores starting with iOS 10.2.1 and iOS 11.2 respectively, despite operating at maximum performance on previous versions.

Apple apologized for its lack of communication in December, and reduced the price of battery replacements to $29 for iPhone 6 and newer through the end of 2018. Apple will also provide users with more visibility into the health of their iPhone's battery in iOS 11.3, with the feature already available in beta.

Apple also emphatically denied any kind of planned obsolescence:Keep in mind that Apple is not permanently or persistently slowing down older iPhones. Even if your iPhone is affected, the performance limitations only happen intermittently, and only when the device is completing demanding tasks.

MacRumors previously answered many frequently asked questions about Apple's power management process, which can be disabled in iOS 11.3, or avoided by replacing your iPhone's battery if necessary. Read our guide on how to get an iPhone's battery replaced at an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider.

Article Link: Apple Now Faces More Than 60 Class Actions Over iPhone Slowdowns, Consolidation Likely Next Month

[doublepost=1519756781][/doublepost]Keep in mind that Apple has slowed down older iPhone from the moment the new version of iOS was installed and it was never intermittent. It was slow always, not just when running tasks like email and surfing the Web. Moreover, I firmly believe that Apple does this with the Mac, and every macOS upgrade has slowed down older computers. I reinstalled the software that came with my macbook Air, on a small USB flash drive and the computer runs just as fast as when new on the older OS. So, they intentionally slow down all products to force customers to upgrade to newer systems, asking for another huge sum of money in the process. All of us that own Apple products are sad to use products from such a devious and sneaky company and wish to see it severely punished.

 

[spacemnspiff]

The news was reported by several news outlets and has not been refuted by Samsung, you are welcomed to research and bring me evidence otherwise.

I think we should all be worried why Apple isn't leading the world with batteries that only degrade to 95% after 2 years of use. Instead, Apple promises to bring throttling to future iPhones 'as needed'. That's BS, that's not the future of smartphones.

It might as well be that Samsung claimed it, but it is not in written form from Samsung, so a little suspicious. More suspicious because this kind of charge capacity has not been seen in the EV market, 95% will be astonishingly good.

Since Apple doesn't make their own batteries, it's an easy switch of suppliers for Apple to incorporate these in their devices.

 

[joeblough]

If it’s running 11.2 iOS then it’s already throttled.
Hopes yours not updated to 11.2

is running 11.2. per CpuDasherX and GeekBench4, the phone is not throttled.

 

[I7guy]

It might as well be that Samsung claimed it, but it is not in written form from Samsung, so a little suspicious. More suspicious because this kind of charge capacity has not been seen in the EV market, 95% will be astonishingly good.

Since Apple doesn't make their own batteries, it's an easy switch of suppliers for Apple to incorporate these in their devices.

That 95% number sounds too good to be true and I wonder if Samsung is just restating in another way the same stats that Apple has.

 

[Bee Kay]

I've thought about these lawsuits, and their ilk, and here's what I do if I support a company that gets hit with them:

I join in the class, and when I get my check from them, I buy more of their products.

The way I figure it, someone is getting the money, and I may as well feed it back into the company I like.

VW knew it was bypassing smog limits, and now they'll be paying back billions. Would you be "reinvesting" in VW again after that? In fact, I now wonder if the MacBook Pro units that "seemed to slow down" even after getting new batteries has the same "feature"...?
[doublepost=1519781259][/doublepost]

Wrong. A defective battery can have 100% of its capacity but still cause a random shutdown.

Are you saying that the batteries are defective, or that older batteries will cause shutdowns, even when it is showing at 100% on the iPhone display? Still sounds defective, if not by measurement failure in the software, by battery quality in the hardware.

Yet another reason why all of these devices should be designed to allow batteries to be easily replaced, not glued down and sealed shut, so you void warranties by "repairing" them.

 

[deanthedev]

Are you saying that the batteries are defective, or that older batteries will cause shutdowns, even when it is showing at 100% on the iPhone display? Still sounds defective, if not by measurement failure in the software, by battery quality in the hardware.

Yet another reason why all of these devices should be designed to allow batteries to be easily replaced, not glued down and sealed shut, so you void warranties by "repairing" them.

A battery that can't supply enough peak current is defective, regardless of its capacity or charge.

I don't want or need removable batteries. After going through probably 20 iPhones in our family I've never had an issue with the battery being non-removable. The couple times I had a bad battery Apple just replaced my iPhone for me. No issues whatsoever.

And why on Earth would you void your warranty by replacing a battery? If it's under warranty you'll get the battery replaced for free (or a new phone in my case).

Glued down and sealed shut? Have you seen the iFixit teardowns for iPhones? They actually score quite well, and much better than the majority of competing phones (Samsung is significantly worse for their Galaxy & Note).

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

VW knew it was bypassing smog limits, and now they'll be paying back billions. Would you be "reinvesting" in VW again after that? In fact, I now wonder if the MacBook Pro units that "seemed to slow down" even after getting new batteries has the same "feature"...?
[doublepost=1519781259][/doublepost]
Are you saying that the batteries are defective, or that older batteries will cause shutdowns, even when it is showing at 100% on the iPhone display? Still sounds defective, if not by measurement failure in the software, by battery quality in the hardware.

Yet another reason why all of these devices should be designed to allow batteries to be easily replaced, not glued down and sealed shut, so you void warranties by "repairing" them.

No, but I will in the Tanaka Airbags...

 

[Foxknowsbest]

And that was your choice. The fact that you apparently did no investigation nor did you take your iPhone to an Apple service center for diagnosis doesn’t prove Apple forced you to buy a new phone. Your logic was probably, “Oh crap, my iPhone is wonky when it gets near 50% charge. I better buy a new one.”

When did I say I was "forced."