Israeli Consumer Protection Bureau Launches Investigation Into Apple Over iPhone Slowdown Controversy

[MacRumors]

Israel is the latest country to launch an investigation into Apple over the ongoing iPhone slowdown issue that saw the company fail to adequately inform users about a 2017 software update that could result in slower performance on some older iPhones with degraded batteries.

The Israeli Consumer Protection on Fair Trade Authority on Tuesday said it had launched an investigation into Apple over Apple's failure to disclose the details of the iOS 10.2.1 software update that introduced the changes, reports Reuters.

The head of Apple in Israel, Tony Friedman, has been questioned as part of the investigation. Israel's Fair Trade Authority has confirmed that it could levy "significant fines" against Apple in civil proceedings, but says it is too early in the investigation to discuss the possibility.

Apple implemented iOS 10.2.1 with power management features in January of 2017 to cut down on instances of unexpected shutdowns in iPhones with degraded batteries, but it wasn't until December of 2017 that the full scope of the update became clear and consumers learned that some devices were being throttled.

Apple has since offered low-cost battery replacements and instituted new features in iOS 11.3 that both disable the power management features until an unexpected shutdown is detected and provide additional information on the health of an iPhone's battery and whether or not the battery status has resulted in processor slowdowns. The update also gives consumers the option to choose device shutdowns over power management with a toggle to turn the management feature off entirely on potentially affected devices, which include the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, and SE.

Despite Apple's efforts to rectify its lack of communication over the iOS 10.2.1 update, Apple is facing inquiries and investigations in multiple countries, including China, Italy, South Korea, France, Brazil, and the United States.

Apple has also been hit with dozens of lawsuits over the issue, which will be centralized in a Northern California District Court.

Article Link: Israeli Consumer Protection Bureau Launches Investigation Into Apple Over iPhone Slowdown Controversy

 

[cmwade77]

Really this all could have been avoided if they had simply displayed a message: Your battery is in poor health, we recommend slowing your phone down to prevent unexpected restarts. Do you wish to do this? And then provide Yes or No buttons and a way to change your mind later.

Additionally, if this message appeared, the phones should automatically qualify for battery replacements.....if under warranty, then free replacement, if not under warranty than at the user's expense.

 

[fairuz]

My phone was unbearably slow, but iOS 11.3 fixed that somehow. Strangely, it also says my battery is good enough to not be throttled, but it seemed like it was being throttled before. Wonder if they backed off.

 

[BootsWalking]

Really this all could have been avoided if they had simply displayed a message: Your battery is in poor health, we recommend slowing your phone down to prevent unexpected restarts. Do you wish to do this? And then provide Yes or No buttons and a way to change your mind later.

Additionally, if this message appeared, the phones should automatically qualify for battery replacements.....if under warranty, then free replacement, if not under warranty than at the user's expense.

Doing so would have forced Apple to admit to the world there is an inherent design flaw in the iPhone 6-series phones, because no iPhone model before or after the 6-series shuts down when using aged batteries. Admitting that flaw would have necessitated an enormous recall, which would likely have cost Apple over a billion dollars. This is why Apple to this very day refuses to admit the truth.

 

[TComm]

That is the Apple’s problem: You don’t know what is good for you, I KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU. And the rest is history.

 

[jclo]

My phone was unbearably slow, but iOS 11.3 fixed that somehow. Strangely, it also says my battery is good enough to not be throttled, but it seemed like it was being throttled before. Wonder if they backed off.

It's possible. iOS 11.3 turns of throttling by default until an unexpected shutdown occurs.

 

[Marekul]

Doing so would have forced Apple to admit to the world there is an inherent design flaw in the iPhone 6-series phones, because no iPhone model before or after the 6-series shuts down when using aged batteries. Admitting that flaw would have necessitated an enormous recall, which would likely have cost Apple over a billion dollars. This is why Apple to this very day refuses to admit the truth.

Its not only iPhone 6 that are affected. Apple activated the power management "feature" on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE.
Supposedly the iPhone 8 and X will not be affected.

 

[BootsWalking]

Its not only iPhone 6 that are affected. Apple activated the power management "feature" on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE.
Supposedly the iPhone 8 and X will not be affected.

Apple choosing to enable the feature on other models is not evidence that those models actually had the issue. Users have only reported widespread instances of shutdowns on 6-series phones. Anything Apple says or does to the contrary is a smokescreen.

 

[jinnj]

Really this all could have been avoided if they had simply displayed a message: Your battery is in poor health, we recommend slowing your phone down to prevent unexpected restarts. Do you wish to do this? And then provide Yes or No buttons and a way to change your mind later.

Additionally, if this message appeared, the phones should automatically qualify for battery replacements.....if under warranty, then free replacement, if not under warranty than at the user's expense.

Wait so you are saying that any device that has a battery issue after 2 years should get a full replacement? If so I have a ****-ton of laptops at work! Note: I do agree with the message but at the same time Apple did not hide this from anyone. It was a huge bullet point on the Keynote speech at WWDC a few years back.

 

[fairuz]

It's possible. iOS 11.3 turns of throttling by default until an unexpected shutdown occurs.

That would explain it. That's never happened to me with previous versions of iOS (10 and earlier), so hopefully I'm good now.

 

[jinnj]

Doing so would have forced Apple to admit to the world there is an inherent design flaw in the iPhone 6-series phones, because no iPhone model before or after the 6-series shuts down when using aged batteries. Admitting that flaw would have necessitated an enormous recall, which would likely have cost Apple over a billion dollars. This is why Apple to this very day refuses to admit the truth.

Except they have admitted about the shutdowns, which only affects certain 6S models. This has nothing to do with those battery issues. If you have a model you think has that issue go to the apple.com website. They have a form where you can check by using your phone serial number. Replacement is free and depending on how busy your nearest store is it can be done in a couple of hours.

 

[Lyoha]

Doing so would have forced Apple to admit to the world there is an inherent design flaw in the iPhone 6-series phones, because no iPhone model before or after the 6-series shuts down when using aged batteries. Admitting that flaw would have necessitated an enormous recall, which would likely have cost Apple over a billion dollars. This is why Apple to this very day refuses to admit the truth.

I've heard that previous phones were not affected because the CPUs in the 6S and up were such a huge step up in performance from the previous chips, that they would overwhelm the batteries much more readily than older phones, even with the same quality of battery inside. I don't know how true this is though. Does anyone know?

 

[BootsWalking]

Except they have admitted about the shutdowns, which only affects certain 6S models. This has nothing to do with those battery issues. If you have a model you think has that issue go to the apple.com website. They have a form where you can check by using your phone serial number. Replacement is free and depending on how busy your nearest store is it can be done in a couple of hours.

Except as you indicated Apple claims the issue only affects certain 6S models, which is patently false, which again was done to avoid a preemptive recall of all 6-series phones rather than the selective recall they did. If this weren't the case then this "software feature" wouldn't be needed in the first place - everyone affected would simply have their phones replaced for free.

 

[jinnj]

It's possible. iOS 11.3 turns of throttling by default until an unexpected shutdown occurs.

Except the Shutdown only happens on certain 6S and not all. The CPU throttle portion of iOS was discuss at WWDC. At the time, it was a big deal because only Full OSes like Windows and OSX would throttle back to converse battery usage.
[doublepost=1523409183][/doublepost]

Except as you indicated Apple claims the issue only affects certain 6S models, which is patently false, which again was done to avoid a preemptive recall of all 6-series phones rather than the selective recall they did. If this weren't the case then this "software feature" wouldn't be needed in the first place - everyone affected would simply have their phones replaced for free.

LOL This "software feature" is something that has been in use on x86 CPUs for years! Windows does it and so does OSX (GASP!). And no this isn't the Energy Saver icon in the control panel. It's a bit more advanced and only possible with CPUs that support it.
[doublepost=1523409444][/doublepost]

I've heard that previous phones were not affected because the CPUs in the 6S and up were such a huge step up in performance from the previous chips, that they would overwhelm the batteries much more readily than older phones, even with the same quality of battery inside. I don't know how true this is though. Does anyone know?

Correct. It's a feature that up until now was only available in certain x86 chips. Apple makes it's own ARM cpus and most likely used it's deal with Intel(Patent Sharing) to incorporate it into it's chips.

 

[BootsWalking]

Except the Shutdown only happens on certain 6S and not all. The CPU throttle portion of iOS was discuss at WWDC. At the time, it was a big deal because only Full OSes like Windows and OSX would throttle back to converse battery usage.
[doublepost=1523409183][/doublepost]
LOL This "software feature" is something that has been in use on x86 CPUs for years! Windows does it and so does OSX (GASP!). And no this isn't the Energy Saver icon in the control panel. It's a bit more advanced and only possible with CPUs that support it.
[doublepost=1523409444][/doublepost]
Correct. It's a feature that up until now was only available in certain x86 chips. Apple makes it's own ARM cpus and most likely used it's deal with Intel(Patent Sharing) to incorporate it into it's chips.

This feature has been in use on X86 CPUs for years? Show me a laptop that throttles the peak frequency of its processor based on battery age/wear.

 

[LovingTeddy]

Except the Shutdown only happens on certain 6S and not all. The CPU throttle portion of iOS was discuss at WWDC. At the time, it was a big deal because only Full OSes like Windows and OSX would throttle back to converse battery usage.
[doublepost=1523409183][/doublepost]
LOL This "software feature" is something that has been in use on x86 CPUs for years! Windows does it and so does OSX (GASP!). And no this isn't the Energy Saver icon in the control panel. It's a bit more advanced and only possible with CPUs that support it.
[doublepost=1523409444][/doublepost]
Correct. It's a feature that up until now was only available in certain x86 chips. Apple makes it's own ARM cpus and most likely used it's deal with Intel(Patent Sharing) to incorporate it into it's chips.

Windows and OS X has battery saving mode. It does dail down CPU, screen brightness to conserse battery life. Note, this is user initiated features and it is purely for maximum battery life. Android has this features as well.

Laptops or desktop also have features where CPU dails down when there is thermal issues. When CPU detect CPU temperature is over certain threshold, CPU will dail down to lower CPU temperature. This can be countered by adding additional fans, liquid cooling (on desktop).

On iPhone however, it is completely different. Apple choose to dail down the performance on CPU because according to them, battery no longer able to provide sufficient charge when CPU is in maximum usage. Therefore, the phone will shutdown. They are dail down the CPU perfermance in order to avoid unexpected shutdown. This is completely different from battery saving mode or thermal throttling. Apple also did not handle this very well. When Apple knows this problem and implement this features, they did not tell their frontline Apple Store stuff. People with phones that were dramatically slowed down were told that everything is fine. The phone passed the battery test, therefore, they were refused to have battery replacement even at consumers cost. If Apple communicate with cousmers and their Apple Store stuff, then all these things can be avoid.

 

[jinnj]

Windows and OS X has battery saving mode. It does dail down CPU, screen brightness to conserse battery life. Note, this is user initiated features and it is purely for maximum battery life. Android has this features as well.

Laptops or desktop also have features where CPU dails down when there is thermal issues. When CPU detect CPU temperature is over certain threshold, CPU will dail down to lower CPU temperature. This can be countered by adding additional fans, liquid cooling (on desktop).

On iPhone however, it is completely different. Apple choose to dail down the performance on CPU because according to them, battery no longer able to provide sufficient charge when CPU is in maximum usage. Therefore, the phone will shutdown. They are dail down the CPU perfermance in order to avoid unexpected shutdown. This is completely different from battery saving mode or thermal throttling. Apple also did not handle this very well. When Apple knows this problem and implement this features, they did not tell their frontline Apple Store stuff. People with phones that were dramatically slowed down were told that everything is fine. The phone passed the battery test, therefore, they were refused to have battery replacement even at consumers cost. If Apple communicate with cousmers and their Apple Store stuff, then all these things can be avoid.

You keep grouping the "Shutdown Issues" replacement program which Apple started long before the throttling was even "public". Also the used selectable Energy Saver on OS X and Windows has nothing to do with the throttling that is going on.

 

[LovingTeddy]

You keep grouping the "Shutdown Issues" replacement program which Apple started long before the throttling was even "public". Also the used selectable Energy Saver on OS X and Windows has nothing to do with the throttling that is going on.

Which battery replacement program? There was a recall before that throttling became public, but that only cover iPhone 6S made in certain period of time. At the time, Apple claim that was manufacturing defects.

Like I said, Energy Saver on OS X and Windows is not same as iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S throttling. I don’t know what do you mean.

 

[-BigMac-]

Windows and OS X has battery saving mode. It does dail down CPU, screen brightness to conserse battery life. Note, this is user initiated features and it is purely for maximum battery life. Android has this features as well.

Laptops or desktop also have features where CPU dails down when there is thermal issues. When CPU detect CPU temperature is over certain threshold, CPU will dail down to lower CPU temperature. This can be countered by adding additional fans, liquid cooling (on desktop).

On iPhone however, it is completely different. Apple choose to dail down the performance on CPU because according to them, battery no longer able to provide sufficient charge when CPU is in maximum usage. Therefore, the phone will shutdown. They are dail down the CPU perfermance in order to avoid unexpected shutdown. This is completely different from battery saving mode or thermal throttling. Apple also did not handle this very well. When Apple knows this problem and implement this features, they did not tell their frontline Apple Store stuff. People with phones that were dramatically slowed down were told that everything is fine. The phone passed the battery test, therefore, they were refused to have battery replacement even at consumers cost. If Apple communicate with cousmers and their Apple Store stuff, then all these things can be avoid.

It doesnt do that to prevent an unexpected shutdown though.
It does that to preserve battery life of a laptop, for example.

It is also used to preserve the life of the cpu part.. but even when this is the case you can hit 100% cpu performance, if it is needed. this is in no way the same thing as throttling the max performance of a cpu to prevent random shutdowns.

 

[HiVolt]

i had shutdowns on an iPhone 6, Apple replaced the phone it with two weeks left on 2 year apple care. Got a 6s, it started shutting down 3 months before 1 year apple care, Apple replaced the battery. I gave the phone to my brother, he hasn't had any issues with it since.

No such problem with my iPhone 8, yet.

 

[LovingTeddy]

It doesnt do that to prevent an unexpected shutdown though.
It does that to preserve battery life of a laptop, for example.

It is also used to preserve the life of the cpu part.. but even when this is the case you can hit 100% cpu performance, if it is needed. this is in no way the same thing as throttling the max performance of a cpu to prevent random shutdowns.

That is what I was saying. Laptops have power saving mode to maximize battery life. CPU has thremal throttling to prevent CPU being damanged by over heating.

Apple justified their throttling by saying that old battery no longer able to provide the power draw from processor when the processor is fully utilized.

I do not know if Apple’s claim is valid, but they provided an explanation. My problem with that is I as user of iPhone 6S, even though it is sitting in my drawer and not being used, I should be informed that my phone is throttled. Apple has done poor jobs of doing so. Apple also made people buy new phones because old phone battery became less useful.

 

[coolbeep]

Really this all could have been avoided if they had simply displayed a message: Your battery is in poor health, we recommend slowing your phone down to prevent unexpected restarts. Do you wish to do this? And then provide Yes or No buttons and a way to change your mind later.

Additionally, if this message appeared, the phones should automatically qualify for battery replacements.....if under warranty, then free replacement, if not under warranty than at the user's expense.

Doing so would have forced Apple to admit to the world there is an inherent design flaw in the iPhone 6-series phones, because no iPhone model before or after the 6-series shuts down when using aged batteries. Admitting that flaw would have necessitated an enormous recall, which would likely have cost Apple over a billion dollars. This is why Apple to this very day refuses to admit the truth.

A message asking users for the option should have been the way to go, but I also see Apple execs afraid of their "perfect" phones having any issues, and probably android manufacturers attacking them for it (ahem...my old Galaxy phone shutdown due to poor batteries all the time, even when SAMSUNG themselves sent me replacements).

We're all smart here and know how batteries work. To us, its like "No s@!t, batteries degrade over time, f*@$ing DUH!!!" But I know some non-contributing, uninformed, privileged users would band together for a class-action lawsuit.
I don't know man, there's no winning here LOL

 

[Scottsoapbox]

My phone was unbearably slow, but iOS 11.3 fixed that somehow. Strangely, it also says my battery is good enough to not be throttled, but it seemed like it was being throttled before. Wonder if they backed off.

They did back off. Before if your battery was below a certain percentage (estimated at ~80%) the CPU was throttled. Now it waits until the is an actual shutdown before throttling.

 

[C DM]

They did back off. Before if your battery was below a certain percentage (estimated at ~80%) the CPU was throttled. Now it waits until the is an actual shutdown before throttling.

It was doing that before as well. They simply disabled it by default in iOS 11.3 unless/until such a shutdown could happen.

 

[rom3o]

Doing so would have forced Apple to admit to the world there is an inherent design flaw in the iPhone 6-series phones, because no iPhone model before or after the 6-series shuts down when using aged batteries.

Can’t confirm. My iPhone 4, 5 and 6s (I skipped the 6) did also ‘randomly’ shut down after about one year of usage, especially in cold temperatures during winter. All got replaced by Apple. This behaviour isn’t at all exclusive to only the 6-series.