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

[Sugadaddy]

I got my iPhone 6 on launch day, so it's 3 years and 3 months old, used daily. Let's just say the battery doesn't last as long as it did when it was new. I've also had problems with it shutting down randomly at 20-30% for the last year, and it's been horribly slow since iOS 11. (now we know why...)

I just got back from the Apple Store. After explaining I wanted to replace the battery (AND PAY FOR IT), the employee did a diagnostics test and told me he couldn't because it was only at 82% wear level. What kind of moronic policy is this? It's obviously old, I've had the phone for over 3 years. It obviously doesn't last as long as a new one, hence the 82% wear level.

It looks to me like their diagnostics software inflates the wear level so they don't have to replace too many batteries under warranty. But refusing to replace the battery when you're paying for it? Unbelievable. Anyways, I argued a bit, and they finally authorised me to pay 99$ CDN for a new battery!

And now the phone is noticeably faster than it was before the battery replacement.

 

[aGreenPlum]

2557/4408 Geekbench Score while at 100% battery life
1052/1758 Score while at 20% battery life...

Sporadically shows 1848, 1500 and 600 MHz in CPU Dasher

iPhone 6S. iOS 11.2

How old is your battery? It makes sense to throttle performance when battery charge is low but throttling constantly regardless of batter charge doesn't. Can't seem to get a clear answer on whether processors are throttled regardless of battery charge or whether it's just when the battery charge is low.

 

[PickUrPoison]

How old is your battery? It makes sense to throttle performance when battery charge is low but throttling constantly regardless of batter charge doesn't. Can't seem to get a clear answer on whether processors are throttled regardless of battery charge or whether it's just when the battery charge is low.

It’s hard to know what’s actually happening, since running the processor-intensive benchmark triggers downclocking.

With normal use, it may happen for fractions of a second at a time, and only occasionally.

A lot of info will come out as the lawsuit progresses, and I think people who think their phones are being constantly throttled are going to be very surprised when they learn how it actually works.

Also, some people say 80% battery life and mean an 80% charge (on the battery icon), as opposed to a 2 year old battery that’s degraded and now is only able to hold 80% of its original capacity (even when fully charged, with the battery icon reading 100%). So that’s confusing too.

 

[Black Tiger]

Reading through this thread pretty much answers the question of why Apple didn’t try to explain in the first place. People, it has nothing to do with how long the battery lasts between charges or battery life etc. It has to do with the voltage a degraded battery can supply to a CPU. Random crashes would and did result before Apple made this change. Perhaps they should have been more forthcoming, but since even people posting here on a tech site can’t understand the actual tech problem of voltage supplied to a processor, how could Apple possibly explain this to the general public? Want your older phone to speed up? Get a new battery. Want a supercomputer with a rechargeable battery in your pocket? Expect trade offs. Everything in life is a trade off.
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How old is your battery? It makes sense to throttle performance when battery charge is low but throttling constantly regardless of batter charge doesn't. Can't seem to get a clear answer on whether processors are throttled regardless of battery charge or whether it's just when the battery charge is low.

It has to do with voltage. Your battery can be 100% charged and not deliver the voltage needed for the cpu once said battery has degraded. This is the nature of batteries. See: car batteries.