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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

#161

Post by calibas »

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…

This is kinda of a gray area, if they really wanted to treat their customers well, they'd have easily-replaceable batteries and a notification that lets people know their phone is slowing down because they need a new battery. Still seems like planned obsolescence, or at the very least, encouraged obsolescence.

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

#162

Post by kemiller »

jsilence wrote: post #79
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…

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

I'm assuming you mean user-replaceable, since as others have pointed out, it is replaceable by a technician. And the answer is: it would compromise too many other areas of functionality. User-replaceable batteries would mean both internal housing hardware to create a bay, electrical contact interface, and housing for the battery itself. These would either add weight and bulk, or reduce the capacity of the battery overall, and it would make waterproofing much harder. I personally very much prefer the trade-offs Apple has made, and I suspect a lot of other people do too.

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

#163

Post by bluthru »

poorform wrote: post #54
jdminhbg wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> WOW. Conspiracy was real the whole time! No, because this is a new feature as of the iPhone 6. The conspiracy way predates that.

Why haven't I observed my old iPhone 4 or 5 spontaneously rebooting?

Less speed stepping, making battery prediction easier?

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

#164

Post by calibas »

labster wrote: post #160
lisper wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's true, why was Apple being so cagey about it for so long? Why didn't they advertise it as a feature?

Feature list: * 4.7-inch retina display * 12MP camera * Phone will get slower over time No, not seeing that advertisement working.

If anybody could sell it as a good thing, it's Apple. "Phone performance adjusts automatically to preserve battery life"

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

#165

Post by cowsandmilk »

lisper wrote: post #72
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…

If that's true, why was Apple being so cagey about it for so long? Why didn't they advertise it as a feature?

When were they cagey about it? Not documenting something isn't equivalent to being cagey...

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

#166

Post by CaptSpify »

IBM wrote: post #92
logfromblammo wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What metrics are you looking at in the used market to support your hypothesis? Could they be explained by a different hypothesis? I'm still enjoying my 3-year-old non-iPhone, and intend to keep using it until it stops working entirely, whereas my spouse with an iPhone was already voicing suspicion before this announcement that Apple was intentionally slowing their old iPhone through updates, just to provoke an upgrad…

The fact that iPhones are updated for the longest time and are built well is directly related to why you can get as much as you can when you sell a used iPhone. Apple actually has an incentive to create the longest lasting iPhone because the economics of the iPhone Upgrade Plan and every carrier upgrade plan depends on it. That iPhones retain their value over time is a testament to the fact that Apple has not been sl…

> That iPhones retain their value over time is a testament to the fact that Apple has not been slowing down old iPhones

Not at all. It's a testament that there is a market for old iPhones, that is all. People are possibly buying used iPhones despite them being slowed down.

> Apple actually has an incentive to create the longest lasting iPhone because the economics of the iPhone Upgrade Plan and every carrier upgrade plan depends on it.

Then why don't they? <5 years for an electronic device that hasn't seen any significant upgrades in later models is absurdly short.

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

#167

Post by Tloewald »

labster wrote: post #160
lisper wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's true, why was Apple being so cagey about it for so long? Why didn't they advertise it as a feature?

Feature list: * 4.7-inch retina display * 12MP camera * Phone will get slower over time No, not seeing that advertisement working.

Well it's not like Android phones advertise "comes with malware direct from Google Play store" and "malware can run your phone so hard it will deform, catch fire, or explode"

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

#168

Post by CaptSpify »

nicky0 wrote: post #48
bec123 wrote: post #5

Dear one of the richest damn companies on the face of the earth: MAKE . IT . EASIER . TO . REPLACE . THE . BATTERY !!!

You can replace it an an Apple Store for $79.

Why should anyone have to pay to do trivial service to their own phone?

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

#170

Post by expertentipp »

My iPhone 6s had two iOS updates in recent months. After these updates the iPhone is significantly slower, occasionally the screen doesn't respond to touch events, occasionally the screen is becoming black with little round loader in the center. Safari hangs. No other incident happened with the phone meanwhile, the only reason of the deteriorated behavior I could think of are these iOS updates.
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