iPhone X Battery charging is hard-coded or programmed into ios?

[Groot]

Does anyone know if the battery charging algorithms are hard-coded into a charging chip/controller or they are programmed into ios?

I am asking because I find my iphone x is behaving quite differently than iphone 6s concerning battery charging.

 

[now i see it]

install the same version of iOS on both and then you'll know. Since the charging logic is software based, my guess is iOS controls how the battery is charged. But the battery on the X is different than the 6S, so it will behave differently when charging.

 

[Groot]

both phones are up to date.

 

[laz232]

I don't have any inside info, but I would guess that the charging is performed by a custom HW chip such as (very generic example)

https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/power/battery-management/MAX77818.html

IIRC charging logic is now integrated in one of the Apple ICs, but it remains separate to the iOS SW as such as this as charging is normally real-time autonomous function (similar to how you don't use the "thinking" part of your brain to control your heart or breathing)

Certain parameters may be settable /controlled over the I2C bus. So SW updates can affect charging parameters.

 

[quietstormSD]

Isn’t one of the new features for iOS 13 an optimized battery charging feature, that can turned on or off? If so, then I would think it’s programmed in.

 

[laz232]

Isn’t one of the new features for iOS 13 an optimized battery charging feature, that can turned on or off? If so, then I would think it’s programmed in.

No - the feature was to turn "throttling" on or off (to get around the design problem of Apple using batteries that degrade rather rapidly and then using a software patch to throttle CPU speeds):

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208387

That throttling feature only has to control the CPU and SoC power usage (e.g. by limiting maximum clock speed), so battery charge control would not be necessary for that feature.

*my professional opinion is that they used low quality batteries and realised they faced a massive recall, so they sneakily throttled the CPUs down to 40% performance to make up for this until they were caught.

 

[TheIntruder]

Isn’t one of the new features for iOS 13 an optimized battery charging feature, that can turned on or off? If so, then I would think it’s programmed in.

Yes, the feature is adaptive, and meant to intelligently reduce the time the battery spends at full charge when it isn't needed, by examining charging and usage habits.

It's designed to proactive, discourage detrimental charging habits, and help prolong the life of the battery, not compensate after degradation or damage has already occurred.

 

[Nacho98]

No - the feature was to turn "throttling" on or off (to get around the design problem of Apple using batteries that degrade rather rapidly and then using a software patch to throttle CPU speeds):

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208387

That throttling feature only has to control the CPU and SoC power usage (e.g. by limiting maximum clock speed), so battery charge control would not be necessary for that feature.

*my professional opinion is that they used low quality batteries and realised they faced a massive recall, so they sneakily throttled the CPUs down to 40% performance to make up for this until they were caught.

Not what he's talking about. There is a new optimized charging feature coming in iOS 13 that is separate from the performance management that Apple added after getting busted throttling old phones.

 

[laz232]

Not what he's talking about. There is a new optimized charging feature coming in iOS 13 that is separate from the performance management that Apple added after getting busted throttling old phones.

Ahh, sorry - I misunderstood (I don't follow the betas). Thanks for setting me straight 🙂