Apple's Alleged Throttling of Older iPhones With Degraded Batteries Causes Controversy

[isserley]

That is really interesting.
My 6s is about two years old.
according to the app "battery life" the battery is at 82% original capacity.
yesterday, when the battery was fully charged, CPUdasherX reported 1511 MHz
today, with the battery at appr 75%, CPUdasherX reports 1200 MHz

in both cases, geekbench calculated appr 1800 single and 3100 multi core.

 

[newellj]

That is really interesting.
My 6s is about two years old.
according to the app "battery life" the battery is at 82% original capacity.
yesterday, when the battery was fully charged, CPUdasherX reported 1511 MHz
today, with the battery at appr 75%, CPUdasherX reports 1200 MHz

in both cases, geekbench calculated appr 1800 single and 3100 multi core.

YMMV, but I think what's more interesting than the two different CPUdasherX results is the two identical Geekbench results. Which version of GB?

 

[BenGee]

Do these “benchmarks” also show the power being delivered by these batteries? Just curious. If the output of the battery reduces wouldn’t that mean the processor would need to throttle back in order to function?

I’m not an engineer but every laptop, car, Watch etc that has used a battery seems to become slower when the battery becomes older and/or delivering less power. Heck my military grade flashlight will start to dim when the battery voltage starts to go down.

Just not sure if that’s a plausible explanation or not :/

 

[rshev]

Actually, when the phone is slower (and I've seen dead-slow iPhone 6 when it's less than 10% battery) you wait longer and have the screen turned on for a longer time. The phone's screen is a much bigger energy hog than the CPU. Make your own conclusions. Imho, this a new low for Apple in 2017.

 

[Starship67]

Don’t MacBooks and other notebooks throttle when on battery and as the battery gets lower. Where’s the outrage and conspiracy there.

 

[BenGee]

But doesn’t the screen also dim by default? To preserve the battery, because as you mentioned, it hogs the battery. Meh, I don’t know I would like to see power output of these batteries during the benchmarks before I jump on the malicious band wagon

 

[Jmausmuc]

Don’t MacBooks and other notebooks throttle when on battery and as the battery gets lower. Where’s the outrage and conspiracy there.

Why is my iPhone 6S at half it’s usual Geekbench score? It is about 13 month old and has all newest updates and was just restored.i measured at 87% battery charge.

 

[BenGee]

Why is my iPhone 6S at half it’s usual Geekbench score? It is about 13 month old and has all newest updates and was just restored.i measured at 87% battery charge.

Do you have a message regarding your battery in the battery menu in settings?

 

[Jmausmuc]

Do you have a message regarding your battery in the battery menu in settings?

No, just checked.

 

[BenGee]

No, just checked.

Dont know then. Maybe it’s close to 80% consumed but hasn’t broken that threshold. Try replacing the battery and see if it restores back to new. (Which I know is the point of this thread in the first place)

My next question would be. Why would the software stop throttling on a newer battery? I mean if apple really is forcing obsolescence wouldn’t the issue persist regardless of which battery you put in it?

I’m not taking any sides just simply asking questions .

 

[Jmausmuc]

Dont know then. Maybe it’s close to 80% consumed but hasn’t broken that threshold. Try replacing the battery and see if it restores back to new. (Which I know is the point of this thread in the first place)

My next question would be. Why would the software stop throttling on a newer battery? I mean if apple really is forcing obsolescence wouldn’t the issue persist regardless of which battery you put in it?

I’m not taking any sides just simply asking questions .

I don’t think it is planned obsolescence.
Most of the Apple products I have owned have lasted me much longer than expected. I used my old MacBook for about 7 years before I felt I needed to upgrade.

Maybe this is just some sort of bug?

 

[BenGee]

I don’t think it is planned obsolescence.
Most of the Apple products I have owned have lasted me much longer than expected. I used my old MacBook for about 7 years before I felt I needed to upgrade.

Maybe this is just some sort of bug?

Not even sure if it’s a bug. Could just be a decrease in power from the battery. That’s my theory unless proven otherwise haha.

If it’s a bug then it should be easily corrected.

 

[tooltalk]

Why is my iPhone 6S at half it’s usual Geekbench score? It is about 13 month old and has all newest updates and was just restored.i measured at 87% battery charge.

That's Apple reminding you to get a newer, faster iPhone.

 

[thornslack]

Don’t MacBooks and other notebooks throttle when on battery and as the battery gets lower. Where’s the outrage and conspiracy there.

The difference is that computers ship with processors that don't throttle below their base clock. Intels turbo boost can bump clocks up if conditions allow, but you are assured of a baseline performance standard.

Which is why I have a real issue with this. If Apple can reach out through a software 'update' and surreptitiously reduce the capability of my hardware at their whims, then I may never purchase another product of theirs. This feels especially aggregious due to the known issues surrounding batteries in the 6s and the lack of transparency to owners of these devices.

An iPhone is an expensive purchase for me. I take care of my phones and tend to use them for several years. The fact that my 1.85 GHZ A9 is now 600 MHz A9 less than a year later is a smack in the face. If true, who can say they won't do the same to your MacBook Pro, iMac or Mac Pro in the future if they need to whitewash over some other issue?

 

[Codpeace]

I was extremely skeptical to start, but there is a correlation on my phone between battery remaining and CPU frequency. But now: 61% battery, 1512mhz (not low power mode, nominal thermal state). I haven't tracked numbers.

6S+, purchased 10/2015. Edited to say battery max cap is now at 76% (age/wear).

 

[Baseball Mike]

Can confirm this is true on my 6S. Apple did a free battery replacement last week and the phone is much smoother and quicker. Macrumors was struggling to load smooth on the prior battery. On the new battery, it's very smooth. Unfortunately, I don't have benchs. On 10.3.3.

 

[Codpeace]

Can confirm this is true on my 6S. Apple did a free battery replacement last week and the phone is much smoother and quicker. Macrumors was struggling to load smooth on the prior battery. On the new battery, it's very smooth. Unfortunately, I don't have benchs. On 10.3.3.

Was your phone still under warranty and/or Apple Care? (Just checking to see if there is some program going on regarding 6S batteries...).

 

[Baseball Mike]

Was your phone still under warranty and/or Apple Care? (Just checking to see if there is some program going on regarding 6S batteries...).

It was covered under the free Apple battery replacement program for 6S. I checked the serial on the support site and it said I was eligible.

 

[Codpeace]

It was covered under the free Apple battery replacement program for 6S. I checked the serial on the support site and it said I was eligible.

Nice! Unfortunately, I'm not eligible. Which is fine, I'm not too worried about it, but if it was free for me...

 

[Blaze4G]

Don’t MacBooks and other notebooks throttle when on battery and as the battery gets lower. Where’s the outrage and conspiracy there.

Because they throttle up when they have an intensive task. However, with this report, the iPhone stays permanently throttled. The battery could be full or the phone on charge. So that's the outrage and not a conspiracy theory.

 

[fmalloy]

It doesn’t seem to be planned obsolescence. The OS is slowing down the phone because otherwise it would crash because the old battery can’t deliver enough volts.

It’s normal and expected for old batteries to degrade which is why Apple recommends you replace them in 2 years

Apple builds these very solid devices with exotic materials to last a long time...only to provide batteries that have to get changed (at high cost) in only 2 years? And since the batteries are sealed very tight and require tools like a hot air blower to open them it is not any easy thing to do.

How about Apple work on more reliable, safer, longer lasting battery technology instead of fluff like emoji animations?

Too hard a problem, I guess. If they can't buy the technology, they just go for the easy stuff.

 

[Rbekel]

This app CpuDasherx, how would I go about getting comparable results with the test you used. There are a bazillion tests in the app. Which one would I use? Also I would assume that I would use the CpuDasher64 for the iPhone 10?

 

[maknik]

This is perhaps too idiosyncratic to my situation, but as I mentioned upthread, I'm running 9.1 (jailbroken) and the phone runs unthrottled but does abruptly shut down if I try to do anything high-powered when the battery is under 40% or so. The annoying thing is that my phone can't then be restarted unless it's plugged in, even though the battery has plenty of juice. Does anyone know whether there's a way to restart it without plugging in (e.g., when I'm on the run and don't have a charger handy), or is it something about needing more voltage when booting than the battery can provide? I don't mind the spontaneous shutdowns so much, but the inability to restart is a real pain.

 

[Isengarder]

This app CpuDasherx, how would I go about getting comparable results with the test you used. There are a bazillion tests in the app. Which one would I use? Also I would assume that I would use the CpuDasher64 for the iPhone 10?

Just launch the App. The default window shows (among other things) the running MHz of your CPU. And yes, sure you can use it on an iPhone X. I’ve used it on my iPad Pro 10’5”, and the CPU is running consistently at 2.4 GHz which is higher than nominal velocity... by now. I’ll check again when the new iPads arise. Maybe (Apple knows) the CPU velocity is then automatically decreased by magic...

Meanwhile, my iPhone 6 is stalled at 839 MHz (or worse), running iOS 11.2

Maybe a new battery might solve this issue? Apple should advice clearly on this...

 

[exalted719]

For those still under warranty/AppleCare+, I took in my iPhone 7 that was running at 1.6GHz when battery is less than ~75% battery and running at 1.3GHz when less than 50% battery. Battery wear was at 85% capacity (checked using Coconut Battery).

I showed the Genius the CPU DasherX view and the Geekbench 4 scores that demonstrated the discrepancy. The technician literally dismissed all of that evidence. He said that Apple doesn't troubleshoot with third-party apps. The easy way out, IMO.

Alas, he processed an exchange as a "courtesy" because he said "slowness" is not covered under warranty. He didn't really seem to understand the technical details I was trying to explain.

Replacement iPhone 7 had 11.0.3 installed. A10 Fusion showing 2.3GHz as expected. Geekbench 4 scores back to normal scores. Scores normal, even with 60% battery charge.

YMMV.