Apple Will Replace the Battery in Your iPhone 6 or Later Even if It Passes a Genius Bar Diagnostic Test

[aevan]

Since we can't bear for Apple to be painted in any negative light, "we" are working hard in every one of these threads trying to redirect any blame away from Apple by any means possible. Geekbench is wrong. Users are wrong. Battery manufacturers are wrong. And anything else we can think of to try to keep others from seeing much fault with Apple.

No, I don't care if Apple is wrong or not, especially in this one instance. However, I do believe that planned obsolence is not in their financial interest and that they are not degrading your experience to push you to a newer device. What they are doing is trying to meet up with the demand of the market. People want machine learning doing things in the background while we send emails, they want new features (how many times has Apple been accused of being "same old" and not innovating any more) and every OS release that is meant to be a fix & stability release is deemed 'boring'.

iOS 11 is more demanding than iOS 10 which is more demanding than iOS 9. And Apple's priority is not optimization, it's to push new features and sell more new devices. In other words - they are not investing enough resources to make your old device run the same after 3 years, because they are focused on making the X run that AR while scanning your face and recording videos in HEVC at the same time. They do, however, want your old iPhone running fine, as much as they can make it without loosing focus from their primary goal - because it has been proven that customer satisfaction is the best motivator to buy more stuff from the same company. But new features are a priority, not performance with 3 year old devices. This is where the "Apple slows down your old phone when a new one comes out" myth comes from.

So while they are not doing their best to optimize iOS 11 for iPhone 6 - they are not intentionally putting in code to make it run worse so you would buy that iPhone 8. If they did, no one would buy iPhone 9. They put in the code to make iPhones 6 with bad batteries not shut down - so that they wouldn't get a bad rep how their phones shut down after a few years. Again, it's about perception - they wanted to avoid a bad one, hoping no one would notice the slowdowns (while everyone notices shutdowns). This was their mistake. I think we can all agree that this was bad communication and a bad move. They should suffer the consequences of that - and rethink their battery upgrade options. This is what they are doing, and I hope they go even further. The lower price should, I believe, remain the same even after 2018. I hope consumers put pressure on Apple to make it so. They should also make it easy for you to go into a store and have the battery replaced. And, since there are no Apple Stores in my country, they must offer the same conditions to official repair centers as well. But at the end of the day - they are not intentionally trying to ruin your iPhone experience so you'd buy a new one.

So, read what I wrote and tell me - do you think I can't "bear for Apple to be painted in any negative light"? Sure I can

 

[psac]

I agree 100% when it comes to transparency. I do think though it might be a case of doing the minimum required to get the best experience at that time. For example the iPhone 6 has 1GB RAM. Perhaps 1GB was just barely good enough when the 6 was first released but how abouyt 2-3 years later? And what about 16GB devices? If you have a 16GB iPhone 6 that has little to no space left would that phone be slow after 2-3 years? Again I don’t think Apple is intentionally making decisions so you have a worse experience but I do think it’s possible these devices are being handed down and used a lot longer than Apple execs expected and they need to think about that more when deciding what specs a device will have and how many yearly software updates it will receive.

I think this is what you meant to say.

>>I do think it’s possible these devices are being handed down and used a lot longer than Apple execs want

 

[aevan]

Apple does many things very well. But they are not perfect. Some things they do seems to work against consumers, while other things seem to work for them.

I agree with this.

 

[Altis]

No, I don't care if Apple is wrong or not, especially in this one instance. However, I do believe that planned obsolence is not in their financial interest and that they are not degrading your experience to push you to a newer device. What they are doing is trying to meet up with the demand of the market. People want machine learning doing things in the background while we send emails, they want new features (how many times has Apple been accused of being "same old" and not innovating any more) and every OS release that is meant to be a fix & stability release is deemed 'boring'.

iOS 11 is more demanding than iOS 10 which is more demanding than iOS 9. And Apple's priority is not optimization, it's to push new features and sell more new devices. In other words - they are not investing enough resources to make your old device run the same after 3 years, because they are focused on making the X run that AR while scanning your face and recording videos in HEVC at the same time. They do, however, want your old iPhone running fine, as much as they can make it without loosing focus from their primary goal - because it has been proven that customer satisfaction is the best motivator to buy more stuff from the same company. But new features are a priority, not performance with 3 year old devices. This is where the "Apple slows down your old phone when a new one comes out" myth comes from.

So while they are not doing their best to optimize iOS 11 for iPhone 6 - they are not intentionally putting in code to make it run worse so you would buy that iPhone 8. If they did, no one would buy iPhone 9. They put in the code to make iPhones 6 with bad batteries not shut down - so that they wouldn't get a bad rep how their phones shut down after a few years. Again, it's about perception - they wanted to avoid a bad one, hoping no one would notice the slowdowns (while everyone notices shutdowns). This was their mistake. I think we can all agree that this was bad communication and a bad move. They should suffer the consequences of that - and rethink their battery upgrade options. This is what they are doing, and I hope they go even further. The lower price should, I believe, remain the same even after 2018. I hope consumers put pressure on Apple to make it so. They should also make it easy for you to go into a store and have the battery replaced. And, since there are no Apple Stores in my country, they must offer the same conditions to official repair centers as well. But at the end of the day - they are not intentionally trying to ruin your iPhone experience so you'd buy a new one.

So, read what I wrote and tell me - do you think I can't "bear for Apple to be painted in any negative light"? Sure I can

I think it is very much in Apple's financial interest that people keep assuming their devices should become slow over time. In keeping with that, they'll keep buying new phones every time it gets slow -- without ever asking why it got slow. Hence Apple didn't disclose any of this: let people assume it's just old and they need a new phone.

I also don't think that many of the new "features" that bog down the system are things most people asked for or want. Why can't we disable battery and CPU hogging features that we don't even want?

Apple also lets devices go to an iOS version that runs poorly before ceasing updates. Why can't we revert back to an iOS that actually worked on the device? How many iPhone 4 users upgraded because iOS 7 simply ruined their devices entirely?

Why do apps that worked perfectly fine on the 3GS become slow on the 6S? The device is like 20 times more powerful but Camera takes 3 times longer to open...

 

[WatchFromAfar]

iOS 11 is more demanding than iOS 10 which is more demanding than iOS 9. And Apple's priority is not optimization, it's to push new features and sell more new devices.

How about Apple letting older users who've upgraded to a new iOS go back to the old version. Instead of being left with a brick.

 

[PeaceMonger]

No, I don't care if Apple is wrong or not, especially in this one instance. {snip, space}
So, read what I wrote and tell me - do you think I can't "bear for Apple to be painted in any negative light"? Sure I can

I'd say your first sentence is fair and accurate.

Subsequent text amplifies and proves the point.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

No, I don't care if Apple is wrong or not, especially in this one instance. However, I do believe that planned obsolence is not in their financial interest and that they are not degrading your experience to push you to a newer device. What they are doing is trying to meet up with the demand of the market. People want machine learning doing things in the background while we send emails, they want new features (how many times has Apple been accused of being "same old" and not innovating any more) and every OS release that is meant to be a fix & stability release is deemed 'boring'.

iOS 11 is more demanding than iOS 10 which is more demanding than iOS 9. And Apple's priority is not optimization, it's to push new features and sell more new devices. In other words - they are not investing enough resources to make your old device run the same after 3 years, because they are focused on making the X run that AR while scanning your face and recording videos in HEVC at the same time. They do, however, want your old iPhone running fine, as much as they can make it without loosing focus from their primary goal - because it has been proven that customer satisfaction is the best motivator to buy more stuff from the same company. But new features are a priority, not performance with 3 year old devices. This is where the "Apple slows down your old phone when a new one comes out" myth comes from.

So while they are not doing their best to optimize iOS 11 for iPhone 6 - they are not intentionally putting in code to make it run worse so you would buy that iPhone 8. If they did, no one would buy iPhone 9. They put in the code to make iPhones 6 with bad batteries not shut down - so that they wouldn't get a bad rep how their phones shut down after a few years. Again, it's about perception - they wanted to avoid a bad one, hoping no one would notice the slowdowns (while everyone notices shutdowns). This was their mistake. I think we can all agree that this was bad communication and a bad move. They should suffer the consequences of that - and rethink their battery upgrade options. This is what they are doing, and I hope they go even further. The lower price should, I believe, remain the same even after 2018. I hope consumers put pressure on Apple to make it so. They should also make it easy for you to go into a store and have the battery replaced. And, since there are no Apple Stores in my country, they must offer the same conditions to official repair centers as well. But at the end of the day - they are not intentionally trying to ruin your iPhone experience so you'd buy a new one.

So, read what I wrote and tell me - do you think I can't "bear for Apple to be painted in any negative light"? Sure I can

First I did not start this conversation- you did. And you chimed in because I offered counterpoint to another poster who was trying to frame the lot of us as an anti-Apple crowd.

And frankly I haven't seen enough of your posts to judge you as objective or extremist (biased).

I will offer your own words right back at you. Re-read what you just wrote: "So while they are not doing their best to optimize iOS 11 for iPhone 6 - they are not intentionally putting in code to make it run worse so you would buy that iPhone 8."

The only way you can be so confident about that is if you code for Apple or are deep inside Apple. Else, it's just speculation favorable to a positive view of Apple. If it's just speculation, there must be room for counterpoint speculation that maybe Apple IS putting in code to make it run worse. That's what this whole topic is about.

If I copy & paste that same line but drop the NOT and post it from me back to you, do you accept it as fact? Or do I need to be working at Apple to know that with such conviction too?

That is what bias can look like- strong, passionate statements that we can't know unless we are inside Apple, but we write anyway like we know them to be true.

And then there's this: Apple has formally admitted that they did put in such throttling code. Was that intentional by Apple? Yes it was.

So I'll respect that there is the potential for there to be NO other throttling code in iOS in spite of this being revealed and admitted by Apple themselves as fact. However, I'll also consider the speculation that perhaps there is MORE throttling code in iOS that is not solely connected to power management. Either way could be reality. I and probably you (unless you work in coding at Apple) can't really know today.

As to "no optimizing for older iDevices," I'll buy that. But it's harder to buy that they are absolutely not slowing down older devices as there is a massive financial incentive to drive hardware upgrades, and that general group-sense that iOS upgrades do slow down older iDevices applies. It could be that optimizations for the newest is sacrificing the throughput of older devices but (removing the huge financial incentive) it seems that optimized code for older devices could be left alone for a few years and new optimizations for newer devices could be added in to take full advantages of newer tech. Does hardware only a few years old automatically have to suffer because new hardware optimizations just move away from optimized code on older hardware?

The perception of slower is generally not a relative one, meaning we're not comparing an iPhone 6 right next to an iPhone X and noticing that it runs slower. The sense has been based in a "feel"ing- that the speed at which we do whatever we do on our iDevices feels slower after major iOS upgrades. Of course we know that it will be faster on faster technology but we're often comparing how using our favored apps feels today (post upgrade) vs. how it felt yesterday (pre upgrade).

Nevertheless, another test is coming on fast. Does new batteries make a big speed difference? If not, then the battery excuse was not the whole story. Does Apple then admit that iOS optimizations remove former optimizations for older iDevices? That seems like that would work against them more than it would help them, even if that was really true. Personally, if I'm Apple, since I've hung the blame on this battery thing, I'm pressed to strip any other throttling if any more exists. Else, I run the risk of having to roll out another excuse(s) when a new battery doesn't really seem to make much of a difference. But I'm not Apple- just best guessing here based on available information and my own experiences with iDevices not still "latest & greatest."

 

[IbisDoc]

Can't wait for discovery during these upcoming lawsuits. The world needs to see all the relevant emails discussing ways to increase customer annual purchases of the company’s singular cash cow. The world needs to hear from these crooks on the executive team, under oath.

There’s a reason that these guys (and one gal) aren’t making statements on their own. They usually love the sound of their own voices. They know they’re going down.

 

[Sefstah]

So does this cancel out the lawsuit??

 

[PeaceMonger]

This is a tempest in a teapot except for one thing ..... its Apple and public and global.

Discovery will be interesting indeed. The interesting thing is that there is Criminal liability involved on the international scene. The execs are covering their own, personal, asses not just fighting over other people's money.

If this is certified class action .... all bets are off as we're talking some real money on a huge scale.

I think the executive scum will eat each other in a race to rat out their coworkers.

Get your popcorn ready.

 

[vvs14]

Can't wait for discovery during these upcoming lawsuits. The world needs to see all the relevant emaIls discussing ways to increase customer annual purchases of the company’s singular cash cow. The world needs to hear from these crooks on the executive team, under oath.

There’s a reason that these guys (and one gal) aren’t making statements on their own. They usually love the sound of their own voices. They know they’re going down.

Lol. Relax. Its amazing how easily conspiracy theories get people.

 

[jdiamond]

This is so awesome, Apple! You've done the right thing on all accounts. Thank you so much.

Only part that's still subpar is I can't help but notice that Apple never responds to an issue until a class action lawsuit is launched. Please Apple - take things seriously before people feel they have to sue you. Thanks again.

 

[mi7chy]

So does this cancel out the lawsuit??

Very likely opting out of the class action by paying the $29 fee. Nice, eh?

Update: Best to seek advice from one of the class actions before unknowingly opting out. Perhaps take a look here to find out the contacts for class actions:

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...ned-software-updates-to-slowdown-iphones.html

 

[AllergyDoc]

It sucks that I'm so balls deep in this ecosystem. Apple is slowly degenerating into a greedy, buggy, laggy mess.

I hate that I agree. My Mini 4 runs jerky-jerky on iOS 11 and basic features I use all the time (or used to use) are basically broken—the weather widget. No longer works until after noon. Really strange. I updated my MBP to High Sierra and now I get beachballs every time I launch Safari. And I'm finding I have to restart my Mac now. Not ready to go back to Windows, though.

 

[PeaceMonger]

Very likely opting out of the class action by paying the $29 fee. Nice, eh?

Good point.

I have a few 6 pluses to change over and (attempt) to sell. Pixel 2 XL's are still on backorder so I have time.

I sure hope you're wrong about this .... but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[cmaier]

Very likely opting out of the class action by paying the $29 fee. Nice, eh?

Who signed anything saying they opted out?

 

[PeaceMonger]

Who signed anything saying they opted out?

This is something to check out before signing or accepting the, "favor."

Generally, the large print giveth. The small print taketh away.

 

[gnipgnop]

I've come back more than once now saying it doesn't matter if you are right or wrong about Geekbench, the very same issues you are taking with Geekbench applied back when older iDevices were new too.

Right, but it's not about Geekbench changing. It's about iOS changing. If you wanted to use Geekbench for a comparison:

A. The battery you're replacing needs to be above 80% capacity (i.e., still healthy for voltage supply).
B. You need to run Geekbench on both batteries using the same version of iOS that includes throttling.
C. The voltage level on both batteries needs to be the same when Geekbench is run.
D. Understand that all you're comparing is Geekbench performance, not whether or not a standard app would be throttled.

 

[Altis]

Lol. Relax. Its amazing how easily conspiracy theories get people.

A month ago, the idea of Apple slowing down devices based on battery health would be a conspiracy theory.

Now that it's known, the only unknown is intent.

... And you'd have to be very charitable to think Apple didn't know what would happen by secretly throttling devices and not even telling their Apple store technicians.

 

[PKUSMC]

First I did not start this conversation- you did. And you chimed in because I offered counterpoint to another poster who was trying to frame the lot of us as an anti-Apple crowd.

And frankly I haven't seen enough of your posts to judge you as objective or extremist (biased).

I will offer your own words right back at you. Re-read what you just wrote: "So while they are not doing their best to optimize iOS 11 for iPhone 6 - they are not intentionally putting in code to make it run worse so you would buy that iPhone 8."

The only way you can know that to be so confident about it is if you code for Apple or are deep inside Apple. Else, it's just speculation favorable to a positive view of Apple. If it's just speculation, there must be room for counterpoint speculation that maybe Apple IS putting in code to make it run worse. That's what this whole topic is about.

If I copy & paste that same line but drop the NOT and post it from me back to you, do you accept it as fact? Or do I need to be working at Apple to know that with such conviction too?

That is what bias can look like- strong, passionate statements that we can't know unless we are inside Apple, but we write anyway like we know them to be true.

And then there's this: Apple has formally admitted that they did put in such throttling code. Was that intentional by Apple? Yes it was.

So I'll respect that there is the potential for there to be NO other throttling code in iOS in spite of this being revealed and admitted by Apple themselves as fact. However, I'll also consider the speculation that perhaps there is MORE throttling code in iOS that is not solely connected to power management. Either way could be reality. I and probably you (unless you work in coding at Apple) can't really know today.

As to "no optimizing for older iDevices," I'll buy that. But it's harder to buy that they are absolutely not slowing down older devices as there is a massive financial incentive to drive hardware upgrades, and that general group-sense that iOS upgrades do slow down older iDevices applies. It could be that optimizations for the newest is sacrificing the throughput of older devices but (removing the huge financial incentive) it seems that optimized code for older devices could be left alone for a few years and new optimizations for newer devices could be added in to take full advantages of newer tech. Does hardware only a few years old automatically have to suffer because new hardware optimizations just move away from optimized code on older hardware?

The perception of slower is generally not a relative one, meaning we're not comparing an iPhone 6 right next to an iPhone X and noticing that it runs slower. The sense has been based in a "feel"ing- that the speed at which we do whatever we do on our iDevices feels slower after major iOS upgrades. Of course we know that it will be faster on faster technology but we're often comparing how using our favored apps feels today (post upgrade) vs. how it felt yesterday (pre upgrade).

Nevertheless, another test is coming on fast. Does new batteries make a big speed difference? If not, then the battery excuse was not the whole story. Does Apple then admit that iOS optimizations remove former optimizations for older iDevices? That seems like that would work against them more than it would help them, even if that was really true. Personally, if I'm Apple, since I've hung the blame on this battery thing, I'm pressed to strip any other throttling if any more exists. Else, I run the risk of having to roll out another excuse(s) when a new battery doesn't really seem to make much of a difference. But I'm not Apple

First I did not start this conversation- you did. And you chimed in because I offered counterpoint to another poster who was trying to frame the lot of us as an anti-Apple crowd.

And frankly I haven't seen enough of your posts to judge you as objective or extremist (biased).

I will offer your own words right back at you. Re-read what you just wrote: "So while they are not doing their best to optimize iOS 11 for iPhone 6 - they are not intentionally putting in code to make it run worse so you would buy that iPhone 8."

The only way you can know that to be so confident about it is if you code for Apple or are deep inside Apple. Else, it's just speculation favorable to a positive view of Apple. If it's just speculation, there must be room for counterpoint speculation that maybe Apple IS putting in code to make it run worse. That's what this whole topic is about.

If I copy & paste that same line but drop the NOT and post it from me back to you, do you accept it as fact? Or do I need to be working at Apple to know that with such conviction too?

That is what bias can look like- strong, passionate statements that we can't know unless we are inside Apple, but we write anyway like we know them to be true.

And then there's this: Apple has formally admitted that they did put in such throttling code. Was that intentional by Apple? Yes it was.

So I'll respect that there is the potential for there to be NO other throttling code in iOS in spite of this being revealed and admitted by Apple themselves as fact. However, I'll also consider the speculation that perhaps there is MORE throttling code in iOS that is not solely connected to power management. Either way could be reality. I and probably you (unless you work in coding at Apple) can't really know today.

As to "no optimizing for older iDevices," I'll buy that. But it's harder to buy that they are absolutely not slowing down older devices as there is a massive financial incentive to drive hardware upgrades, and that general group-sense that iOS upgrades do slow down older iDevices applies. It could be that optimizations for the newest is sacrificing the throughput of older devices but (removing the huge financial incentive) it seems that optimized code for older devices could be left alone for a few years and new optimizations for newer devices could be added in to take full advantages of newer tech. Does hardware only a few years old automatically have to suffer because new hardware optimizations just move away from optimized code on older hardware?

The perception of slower is generally not a relative one, meaning we're not comparing an iPhone 6 right next to an iPhone X and noticing that it runs slower. The sense has been based in a "feel"ing- that the speed at which we do whatever we do on our iDevices feels slower after major iOS upgrades. Of course we know that it will be faster on faster technology but we're often comparing how using our favored apps feels today (post upgrade) vs. how it felt yesterday (pre upgrade).

Nevertheless, another test is coming on fast. Does new batteries make a big speed difference? If not, then the battery excuse was not the whole story. Does Apple then admit that iOS optimizations remove former optimizations for older iDevices? That seems like that would work against them more than it would help them, even if that was really true. Personally, if I'm Apple, since I've hung the blame on this battery thing, I'm pressed to strip any other throttling if any more exists. Else, I run the risk of having to roll out another excuse(s) when a new battery doesn't really seem to make much of a difference. But I'm not Apple- just best guessing here based on available information and my own experiences with iDevices not still "latest & greatest."

 

[cmaier]

This is something to check out before signing or accepting the, "favor."

Generally, the large print giveth. The small print taketh away.

To my recollection Apple’s never pulled that crap before. They handed out free bumpers, etc. without any sort of catch, at least that’s the way I remember it.

 

[PKUSMC]

I just came home from an appt in which I thought I would get a new battery. After diagnostics, I was told my phone didn’t qualify! When I left my house my battery was 98% and when I got there it was 55%. They saw that I had no apps running in background...etc.... was told to try a reset to factory settings...that might help. So much for Apple offering battery....even if you pay for it.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Might need to give it a little time to propagate out to retail. Sometimes we know Apple policy things here before retail workers do. It was a national holiday yesterday and this just hit (apparently only "an internal memo" earlier this morning). Perhaps try again tomorrow or this weekend. You'll probably get a different result.

 

[Tor Eckman]

Apple has handled the whole thing poorly. This most recent policy would have never seen the light of day but for apple being discovered throttling one generation old phones, and the subsequent public outcry, rebuke, and lawsuits. FU Apple, who's next?

 

[JimmyHook]

Are people still complaining about Apple making their old phones last longer instead of randomly shutting down, like in emergency situations? Wow...