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Apple Says It Slows Older iPhones to Save Their Battery Life

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Re: Apple Says It Slows Older iPhones to Save Their Battery Life

#141

Post by johansch »

mfoy_ wrote: post #127
johansch wrote: post #93

So this might be the largest scam, ever? We're talking trillions USD. (Their yearly revenue is around $200B, most of it iPhone.) (Wow, that was downvoted almost instantly.)

Apple's _total_ revenue since 2000 has been less than 1.2T, and it's not like they provided no value. Calling it a "scam" in any capacity is already a stretch. Calling it a scam in "trillions" is utterly hyperbolic, and equally stupid.

I clearly owe you an apology. It's not a trillion-dollar scam, it'a half-trillion-dollar scam. That totally changes everything.

Re: Apple Says It Slows Older iPhones to Save Their Battery Life

#142

Post by blensor »

djrogers wrote: post #3

It's not only to make them run longer - they're reducing the peak demand on the batteries to avoid spontaneous shutdown when the aged battery can't handle the load. This seems like a good idea, and it appears to be well executed (ie it's not apparently based just on age or milage like a crappy car maintenance reminder), but Apple should probably have something in iOS that tells people their phone is running slow beca…

I can't tell how well it's executed but the major issue I have with this is that this is not properly communicated to the user. I guess most people already get the feeling that their devices slow down after time, or the new apps/OS's just require more potent hardware and replacement of the devices is necessary as time goes by. But for many of those it seems that a "simple" battery replacement would have done the trick as well.

If my device has to substantially throttle the performance to avoid a complete shutdown I expect a major notification that something is terribly wrong and I better do something about it.

My car had an occasional issue with an exhaust regulation valve and drastically reduced the performance in those situations. Every time I received a notification on the dashboard that the power was reduced but that I can continue driving but that I should visit a service partner as soon as possible. That would be exactly what I expect from a smart device

Re: Apple Says It Slows Older iPhones to Save Their Battery Life

#143

Post by davrosthedalek »

jelder wrote: post #117
komali2 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a "regular maintenance" type thing - less common than an oil change, sure, but perhaps just as necessary. So why not make it as easy as an oil change?

Cars, you may have noticed, are big. Apple has made a tradeoff between replaceable batteries and small phones, and the market has more or less agreed with this decision.

Did the market know that their phone will be slowed down after a year? I don't think it was an informed decision.

An informed decision might yield the same outcome though.

Re: Apple Says It Slows Older iPhones to Save Their Battery Life

#144

Post by sambe »

basseq wrote: post #29
djrogers wrote: post #3

It's not only to make them run longer - they're reducing the peak demand on the batteries to avoid spontaneous shutdown when the aged battery can't handle the load. This seems like a good idea, and it appears to be well executed (ie it's not apparently based just on age or milage like a crappy car maintenance reminder), but Apple should probably have something in iOS that tells people their phone is running slow beca…

This comment deserves more attention. And, in fact, means the headline is wrong. Apple is not slowing down devices to extend battery life. Apple is slowing down devices to prevent the thing from crapping out entirely ("unexpectedly shutting down"). Arguably, this does more to prevent obsolescence than plan it. Agreed with @djrogers suggestion to alert the user to the situation. It should not be a user choice. "Last y…

That quote really hurts. My iPhone 6S has had spontaneous shutdowns since the first winter it was out (and is supposedly not in the replacement program). No previous Apple phones did. This winter it's the same. To me it suggests a more widespread defect that they do not wish to admit.

Re: Apple Says It Slows Older iPhones to Save Their Battery Life

#145

Post by ISL »

robotresearcher wrote: post #86
TrainedMonkey wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not think situation is quite so simple. Apple has designed phones with insufficiently good battery to guarantee top speed operation as device ages. They have probably done it to make thinner handsets, but the end result is that an older device physically slows down. Moreover each new iOS release is slower and makes the older devices feel cruftish. Where does that leave us? People that must have newest and fastes…

There is no such battery.

The performance requirements could be met, but the battery (and phone) would be larger and more massive.

Re: Apple Says It Slows Older iPhones to Save Their Battery Life

#146

Post by wdn »

mempko wrote: post #69
basseq wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment deserves more attention. And, in fact, means the headline is wrong. Apple is not slowing down devices to extend battery life. Apple is slowing down devices to prevent the thing from crapping out entirely ("unexpectedly shutting down"). Arguably, this does more to prevent obsolescence than plan it. Agreed with @djrogers suggestion to alert the user to the situation. It should not be a user choice. "Last y…

Strange, I have an old HP veer That is 6 years old and it doesn't spontaneously shut down. I have a 3 year old android phone that doesn't spontaneously shut down. What is so special about iPhones and why do they crap out in 2 years?

Have your android get any update after a year? Doubt it.

If you do, are they even functional after the upgrade? Mine became couldn’t do anything because it is so slow after upgrade.

Only good thing was I had an unlocked boot loader and able to flash the original Android back

Please don’t act like Android is anything better. It is not.

Re: Apple Says It Slows Older iPhones to Save Their Battery Life

#147

Post by jrace »

QuotedForTruth wrote: post #89
jsilence wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Arguably, this does more to prevent obsolescence than plan it. Why not simply make the battery replacable?

It is replaceable, just not replaceable without expertise and tools. Would you say that most of your car parts aren't replaceable?

The battery sure is, and so are the tires, windshield wipers, seats, etc.

have non-replaceable ram and cpu is one thing, but a part that is known to deteriorate with age and usage should be user replaceable.

Re: Apple Says It Slows Older iPhones to Save Their Battery Life

#148

Post by mikeash »

jrace wrote: post #147
QuotedForTruth wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is replaceable, just not replaceable without expertise and tools. Would you say that most of your car parts aren't replaceable?

The battery sure is, and so are the tires, windshield wipers, seats, etc. have non-replaceable ram and cpu is one thing, but a part that is known to deteriorate with age and usage should be user replaceable.

It is user replaceable. You can buy the part and the tools and do it yourself if you're handy with a screwdriver. It's not a simple matter of snap-out/snap-in, but it's not much harder than replacing a car's windshield wipers, and much easier than something like replacing tires or brake pads.

Re: Apple Says It Slows Older iPhones to Save Their Battery Life

#149

Post by ghaff »

jrace wrote: post #147
QuotedForTruth wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is replaceable, just not replaceable without expertise and tools. Would you say that most of your car parts aren't replaceable?

The battery sure is, and so are the tires, windshield wipers, seats, etc. have non-replaceable ram and cpu is one thing, but a part that is known to deteriorate with age and usage should be user replaceable.

Returning to your car, so like your timing belt for example?

Re: Apple Says It Slows Older iPhones to Save Their Battery Life

#150

Post by sctb »

Upvoter33 wrote: post #6

THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE. I always thought I was going crazy, thinking my increasingly "old" phone seemed slow. This is really irritating and disingenuous on Apple's behalf - as said above, they should at least add a switch.

Would you mind not using uppercase for emphasis, please?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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