UK Legal Action Seeks Damages for 25 Million iPhone Users Over 'Throttling' Devices With Degraded Batteries

[mrochester]

While I totally understand why people would be angry that their devices were slowed down without their permission.... I do find it hard to reconcile how they would have preferred to have a phone that didn't last all day and probably leave them stranded versus one that was slightly slower and kept them connected.

I get a sense those people think that they shouldn’t have had to make that choice, that either the batteries shouldn’t have degraded or the phone shouldn’t have needed that much power to maintain peak performance.

However I think it will be a challenge to argue in court that Apple should have defied the laws of physics.

The only successful lawsuit I can see happening is in relation to Apple’s response to what it did rather than what it did.

 

[pdoherty]

What proof do we have that absent Apple’s throttling of these devices that they wouldn’t have lasted a day, or crashed/rebooted? It seems a lot of people are assuming that’s a known fact, when I don’t recall seeing any large threads discussing an unknown problem causing reboots or less than normal battery life before the throttling began. Did I just miss it?

 

[mrochester]

What proof do we have that absent Apple’s throttling of these devices that they wouldn’t have lasted a day, or crashed/rebooted? It seems a lot of people are assuming that’s a known fact, when I don’t recall seeing any large threads discussing an unknown problem causing reboots or less than normal battery life before the throttling began. Did I just miss it?

It was a very big issue. Devices would switch off even though the battery percentage had not reached zero (I remember mine switching off at 30%). When you tried to turn it back on again the phone would show that it needed charging. However, if you tried again a few minutes later the phone would start up as normal and show the remaining 30% battery.

The device was switching off because the processor needed more voltage than the degraded battery could supply. This is why when you switched the phone back on again it still showed battery percentage left as the battery wasn’t actually depleted, it just couldn’t provide the peak power the processor needed (hence it turned off).

Apple fixed that by slowing the processor so it wouldn’t need as much power and therefore stop the phone from randomly switching off (and IIRC the processor was only slowed the first time the phone crashed due to this problem, so if you didn't have a degraded battery your phone ran as normal).

The solution was, and will continue to be, getting a new battery fitted until someone invents a rechargeable battery that does not lose capacity and power over time and use.

 

[I7guy]

It was a very big issue. Devices would switch off even though the battery percentage had not reached zero (I remember mine switching off at 30%). When you tried to turn it back on again the phone would show that it needed charging. However, if you tried again a few minutes later the phone would start up as normal and show the remaining 30% battery.

The device was switching off because the processor needed more voltage than the degraded battery could supply. This is why when you switched the phone back on again it still showed battery percentage left as the battery wasn’t actually depleted, it just couldn’t provide the peak power the processor needed (hence it turned off).

Apple fixed that by slowing the processor so it wouldn’t need as much power and therefore stop the phone from randomly switching off (and IIRC the processor was only slowed the first time the phone crashed due to this problem, so if you didn't have a degraded battery your phone ran as normal).

The solution was, and will continue to be, getting a new battery fitted until someone invents a rechargeable battery that does not lose capacity and power over time and use.

My 4 year old Xs Max starting turning of at about 30%. I had to be careful to watch the battery charge and charge if it went to low. The battery health was 96%. I took it to an apple store and "demanded" they replace the battery. For a fee, they did. Now I can run the battery down to virtually 0%. I didn't have a degraded battery, but after 4 years it had enough.

 

[mrochester]

My 4 year old Xs Max starting turning of at about 30%. I had to be careful to watch the battery charge and charge if it went to low. The battery health was 96%. I took it to an apple store and "demanded" they replace the battery. For a fee, they did. Now I can run the battery down to virtually 0%. I didn't have a degraded battery, but after 4 years it had enough.

The battery would have been degraded even though the software was showing the battery at 96% health. Those numbers are all just approximations as I don’t believe there’s a foolproof way to measure either battery health or percentage. It’s just a rough guide.

 

[pdoherty]

It was a very big issue. Devices would switch off even though the battery percentage had not reached zero (I remember mine switching off at 30%). When you tried to turn it back on again the phone would show that it needed charging. However, if you tried again a few minutes later the phone would start up as normal and show the remaining 30% battery.

The device was switching off because the processor needed more voltage than the degraded battery could supply. This is why when you switched the phone back on again it still showed battery percentage left as the battery wasn’t actually depleted, it just couldn’t provide the peak power the processor needed (hence it turned off).

Apple fixed that by slowing the processor so it wouldn’t need as much power and therefore stop the phone from randomly switching off (and IIRC the processor was only slowed the first time the phone crashed due to this problem, so if you didn't have a degraded battery your phone ran as normal).

The solution was, and will continue to be, getting a new battery fitted until someone invents a rechargeable battery that does not lose capacity and power over time and use.

If the problem was that obvious why was Apple refusing to do battery swaps? How would they justify it when the user described what you did above?

 

[mrochester]

If the problem was that obvious why was Apple refusing to do battery swaps? How would they justify it when the user described what you did above?

No idea, for Apple to answer. Maybe store staff didn't know?

 

[SadBoy Pro]

I get a sense those people think that they shouldn’t have had to make that choice, that either the batteries shouldn’t have degraded or the phone shouldn’t have needed that much power to maintain peak performance.

However I think it will be a challenge to argue in court that Apple should have defied the laws of physics.

The only successful lawsuit I can see happening is in relation to Apple’s response to what it did rather than what it did.

While I largely agree with your first point. LiPo batteries degrade, it’s the way of things. What I’m more surprised at is the lack of intelligent battery management preceding this scandal.

Notice how we’ve got ‘low power mode’ and now control on laptops too.

I fundamentally believe Apple should have made people aware of what they were going to do before just doing it. But like I said, as a pragmatist, I’d rather my phone last the day Vs a webpage loading a few seconds faster and being stuck half the day.

 

[mrochester]

While I largely agree with your first point. LiPo batteries degrade, it’s the way of things. What I’m more surprised at is the lack of intelligent battery management preceding this scandal.

Notice how we’ve got ‘low power mode’ and now control on laptops too.

I fundamentally believe Apple should have made people aware of what they were going to do before just doing it. But like I said, as a pragmatist, I’d rather my phone last the day Vs a webpage loading a few seconds faster and being stuck half the day.

Yes it is surprising that Apple didn’t have this functionality prior to the battery switch off issue occurring in the first place.

Apple have been accused of deliberately slowing down older hardware since forever, but this was the first time they did actually deliberately slow down older hardware, to fix a specific issue. Sadly, all it served to do was validate in some people’s minds that Apple was always doing this, but those people were never going to be open minded in the first place.