FAQ: What to Know About Apple Slowing Down iPhones to Prevent Unexpected Shutdowns

[Martyimac]

The iPhone SE isn't qualified though for the $29 replacement, even though it's one of the affected models?

"Any older iPhone models are currently not affected, including the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPhone 4s, iPhone 4, iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 3G, and the original iPhone, even though some of those models have also experienced shutdowns. The latest iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X are also currently not affected."

To me, that reads that the SE is qualified. And in fact, you don't even have to qualify if your SE is out of warranty.  will change your battery upon request. If your SE is in warranty, it has to fail the  battery test.

 

[thefredelement]

I think one giant flaw in all this is, that, why was this "feature" not included for iPhone 7 until about a year after it's release? When the bits were already in the codebase for older iPhones?

That to me looks a lot like planned obsolescence by introducing it basically when iPhone 8/8+/X were announced, though the technology existed for months previously.

 

[djcerla]

Apple is not permanently or persistently slowing down older iPhones. Even if your iPhone is affected, the performance limitations only happen intermittently, when the device is completing demanding tasks.

The power management only occurs in spurts, when needed, and ensures a smoother distribution of system tasks, rather than larger, quick spikes of performance all at once, which was the root cause of shutdowns.

A recent analysis of Geekbench 4 scores visualized an apparent link between lower performance and aging batteries, but this is to be expected since iPhones are artificially pushed to their maximum performance in benchmark tests.

These are key points. And exactly what mainstream media did not report.

 

[Avieshek]

Apples response and this article are too apologist. They used crap batteries then tried to hide it by surreptitiously throttling hardware. Now I have a crap battery and a crap processor. If they think selling reduced batteries for a year is an adequate response they should think again.

Everyone’s aware of the audience in MacRumors. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple is indirectly involved.

 

[Jsameds]

Just give me the option to switch off the throttling.

 

[Act3]

These are key points. And exactly what mainstream media did not report.

except those "key points" dont appear to be true when existing system info utility apps that are available show otherwise

 

[5105973]

I can personally attest that with medium to high battery wear, my 5S randomly shut down as high as 80% or even as soon as it was taken off charge. Frequently it would do it when I least needed it to, such as ordering an Uber or getting into an argument on MacRumors.

It was incredibly frustrating to use.

My 5s did that, too, so it became useless to the daughter to whom I passed it on to. Fortunately I was able to trade it in to get a good discount off of an iPhone SE for my daughter. The one we gave my mother in law is starting to do that so I was going to give her my SE, but that’s now almost two years old, so goodness only knows what the battery will be like now. I used it heavily for almost a year.

My 7Plus just hit the one year mark. But iOS 11 caused it to drain battery fast but it normalized after one of the updates. And now it’s dropping juice at an alarmingly fast rate again. iOS 11 has been a curse on batteries. My iPhone X didn’t get very good battery life, either. I’m afraid my S8+ has spoiled me a bit.

 

[CarbonCrew]

You forgot the following questions:


3. Why isn't Apple aiming at higher battery quality like Samsung is now adopting for S8? A typical battery degrades to 80% after 2 years, Samsung's new design only goes down to 95%.

This! This is the right question. The $29 replacement is the right move but a bandaid to the real issue. Apple’s battery design is lack tech and size. No one is asking for thinner phones.

 

[sterlingindigo]

This apologists treatise is lengthy and detailed but fails to call into question the following:

Advertised 10 or 11 hours of battery life but for how many days?

There might be needed some relief for AppleCare purchasers if a battery drops to 80% in a reasonable amount of time following 365 days.

Why not let the battery go bad when it’s designed to instead of masking it and hiding it from the public?

 

[gnipgnop]

CPUdasherx shows throttling all the time if battery is old enough, not just with demanding tasks.

It's any condition where the CPU requires more current than the battery can supply. A demanding task is typically going require more current, but HOW demanding that needs to be is relative to the remaining voltage. Voltage declines with low charge or cold conditions too, not just an old battery.

 

[Joe Rossignol]

If your SE is in warranty, it has to fail the  battery test.

…if you want a free replacement. $29 option available regardless of diagnostic result.

 

[votdfak]

How to check number of cycles on AW?

 

[makinao]

They learned from their mistake (S7) and improved quality (S8). My point is I don't hear Apple pushing for better quality, and just focusing on patching and doing workaround on cheap traditional batteries.

Oh yes, improved quality. From exploding batteries that they made software to not charge it completely, to batteries that won't boot up if you let them deep discharge so they'll make software that turns the unit off before it does

 

[Jsameds]

This! This is the right question. The $29 replacement is the right move but a bandaid to the real issue. Apple’s battery design is lack tech and size. No one is asking for thinner phones.

This issue started happening after iPhones started getting thicker. Just sayin'

 

[MH01]

The iPhone SE isn't qualified though for the $29 replacement, even though it's one of the affected models?

The SE came after the 6. My understanding it's 6 upwards

 

[robertcoogan]

I don't think Apple did this to screw over their customers either. But it does irritate me in a massively huge way to know that I upgraded to yet another slowed-down iPhone (currently a 6s Plus) when I could have just upgraded the battery. So yes, Apple did screw up, and the $30 replacement is a step in the right direction.

Apple also could have avoided this by simply designing a phone that has a removeable battery. They already have the most secure OSs, and while they aren't fool-proof, they are largely idiot-proof. I find it very hard to beleive that Jonny Ive - for all his talent - couldn't design an iPhone that has that one feature.

But bear in mind that this used to be a company that was about both form and function. Not anymore. Sad.

 

[willdude]

It's any condition where the CPU requires more current than the battery can supply. A demanding task is typically going require more current, but HOW demanding that needs to be is relative to the remaining voltage. Voltage declines with low charge or cold conditions too, not just an old battery.

Except with iOS 11.1, my iPhone 7 was able to run at top speed all the time with zero issues. Now suddenly with 11.2 it's being throttled. So the hardware is technically capable of providing top speed at whatever voltage it's getting, but for whatever reason iOS 11.2 decided that's not good enough.

 

[Krio]

Impedance is the wrong word. The internal resistance in the battery is what is increasing with age.

 

[Act3]

It's any condition where the CPU requires more current than the battery can supply. A demanding task is typically going require more current, but HOW demanding that needs to be is relative to the remaining voltage. Voltage declines with low charge or cold conditions too, not just an old battery.

I believe what I've seen with my own devices. Fully charged battery, inside 72F house and CPUDasherX showed 911 Mhz, changed battery and it shows 1848 Mhz. All with no other apps running. Friends phone went from 600 Mhz to 1848 Mhz when battery swapped.

 

[Martyimac]

…if you want a free replacement. $29 option available regardless of diagnostic result.

I had to read your reply 3 times before I understood what you were saying and you are correct.

 

[indychris]

It's going to be near impossible to prove in court that Apple slowed down devices so that customers would upgrade.

I'm not sure that will be the primary focus. Let's face it, with the resources that Apple has at it's disposal, they should have easily realized that some people were going to feel the need to upgrade because of poor performance of phones that Apple didn't notify them about. So the issue may not be whether or not that Apple was attempting to create sales, but rather whether or not Apple should have realized that some people would be compelled due to a lack of communication from Apple regarding the utilization of software that intentionally impeded performance. In that regard, I think Apple is 100% responsible.

 

[Act3]

Impedance is the wrong word. The internal resistance in the battery is what is increasing with age.

ive always wondered that myself, as I was taught impedance was total resistance in an AC circuit, that included capacitive and inductive reactance. Without a frequency with the voltage, XL is zero and XC is infinite.

as internal battery resistance goes up, there is more voltage drop for the same amount of required current that the CPU is drawing. Voltage then seen at the load(terminal voltage) is below what the CPU requires and phone shuts down.

 

[NufSaid]

I am mad at Apple....furious.

Their response to this is junk. They should have taken all these tech sites that work to manufacture news and conspiracies to get clicks. I read over and over again that "what users have been saying for years Apple has admitted to." Really? I read a LOT of Apple news and have never heard a whiff of this.

What I do remember prior to this software feature is that you would walk through airports and every plug in the place had iPhone users glued to the wall outlets. It was so bad that Samsung even made a video poking fun at it.

This fix doesn't sell more phones - it makes you keep them longer. News runs the stories that serve themselves.

 

[sbailey4]

"Apple is not permanently or persistently slowing down older iPhones. Even if your iPhone is affected, the performance limitations only happen intermittently, when the device is completing demanding tasks. "


CPUdasherx shows throttling all the time if battery is old enough, not just with demanding tasks.

Well of course. If you have a toy car with used up batteries it will run slow always until you replace the batteries. Nothing new there. That's how battery operated devices have always worked

 

[vmedlock]

I have to say that, having been a fanboy since the Mac Plus, I am probably done wasting money on Apple. Crippling a device *after they sold it to me* is unacceptable. Exorbitant pricing for subpar user experience in both their portables and laptops, abandoning iPads after less than two years, crap chargers that fall apart after a year of use, and a couple of lemon laptops (in one of which they replaced the logic board *six times* rather than simply replace it) have left me gun shy. It's too bad. They had a good thing going once.