A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance • Hacker News Board

Re: A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

#331

Post by freedomben » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 11:31 PM UTC

wodenokoto wrote: post #196

jhack wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It took too much trouble and too long for it to happen, but Apple is stepping up and doing the right thing. The right thing would have been for Apple to either stop this behaviour or give users the option (retain performance or retain battery life). They're doing neither.

So the right thing is to have phones crash as the battery age? This is not a question about battery life in terms of how many hours the phone can run. This is a question about the phones ability to draw high amounts of power for short intervals.

I don't understand the opposition to giving the customer a choice. If they prefer a crashing but faster phone, what do you or Apple care? The default setting can be to slow down, then if someone cares enough they can change it. This seems not only reasonable, but optimal.

But then again, I'm on Android now precisely because of this attitude of hiding information and configuration abilities (I hate paternalism), so I'm not the target market.

Re: A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

#332

Post by chisleu » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 11:31 PM UTC

marklyon wrote: post #73

My wife’s 6+ was incredibly slow after the iOS upgrade. My 6+ drained the battery incredibly quickly. I was told that upgrading the iOS would fix that problem [0]; it didn’t. Instead it slowed my phone to the point of being unusable. If I’d have known replacing the battery would have fixed both of them, I’d have done that. Instead, I stupidly bought two new, very expensive phones. Since we were already locked into th…

This is the first real argument I've heard on this. Everything else has been noise about apple slowing phones to rip people off.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience.

To be fair, they said iOS upgrade may help fix the problem, and I agree that they were probably just saying "update so I can check that off my list of things to recommend."

Re: A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

#333

Post by tigershark » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 11:31 PM UTC

rajacombinator wrote: post #229

phonon wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My old 5S would shut down randomly under 20% without warning. Sometimes it would make it all the way to 1-2%, but most of the time it was between 5-15%. "avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE[...]we recently extended the same support for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus" They did not apply the change to the 5S.

The change definitely didn’t fully solve the problem in the effected models either. (Can’t comment on if it was partially effective.) Recently had a sudden shutdown from 50%->0% on a 6S. It’s a decent response by Apple, although would have been better if they didn’t require a scandal to reduce their absurd markup on batteries.

My wife just two days ago had a shutdown on a 6 at 45-50%

Re: A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

#334

Post by dandersh » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 11:32 PM UTC

MBCook wrote: post #113

jsnk wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this a "completely manufactured scandal"? Tens of millions of old iPhone users were left in the dark why all of a sudden the phone was slowing down to the point where it was becoming unusable. Millions of people probably spent hundreds of dollars otherwise they wouldn't need to spend if they know this was something they can fix with a new battery. I personally have been using iPhone 6 for 3 years until this CP…

If Apple hadn’t made this change those phones would have randomly turned off instead. Those people probably would’ve gone and bought either a new were iPhone or switch to android like you did. On the whole I don’t think this would have caused anyone to spend money they wouldn’t have otherwise. Perhaps they would have stayed with their phone longer. It’s hard to tell, and this is certainly worse than if they had just…

"If Apple hadn’t made this change those phones would have randomly turned off instead"

If Apple hadn't redlined the CPU to hit benchmarks the battery wouldn't have been in such a poor state to need to be shut down/throttled so early in its lifecycle.

They are 100% to blame this situation and have taken the least consumer focused choice up until this point.

Re: A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

#335

Post by matwood » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 11:34 PM UTC

whamlastxmas wrote: post #72

The Nexus 6P recently had a big consumer backlash and refund process bc phones would shut off randomly below 20% charge once they got older. I would guess the same thing is happening here. I would have much rather had reduced performance than a phone unusable under 20%. Luckily I got a free upgrade to the Pixel to fix it.

Yeah, I have owned various Android and iPhones over the years and this was a pretty common issue especially with an older phone in either a hot or cold climate.

Re: A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

#336

Post by tigershark » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 11:34 PM UTC

mtgx wrote: post #177

tschwimmer wrote: post #111

I think this is a good response, and I think a lot of the outrage over this issue is overblown. At the end of the day there's a fundamental tradeoff that Apple needs to make on behalf of their customers: performance or stability. They chose stability, and I think they have a convincing argument as to why: "It should go without saying that we think sudden, unexpected shutdowns are unacceptable. We don’t want any of ou…

It still sounds like a false dilemma to me. I've never had reboots on my Android phones because of battery problems. Maybe Apple just needs to buy better quality batteries? And perhaps higher capacity that are also capable of more charges before they lose too much of their original capacity?

I had plenty of reboot, freezes and boot-cycles on my not even 1 and half year old nexus 5. Maybe you just use your phone to do an odd call or two if you never experienced anything strange?

Re: A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

#337

Post by milankragujevic » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 11:36 PM UTC

c0nducktr wrote: post #305

chrisballinger wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPhone 6 was released September 9, 2014, which is about 3.3 years ago.

Sure, but Apple continued to sell the 5s until 2016.

And people did buy it, at least in poorer countries... I know it was on sale for less than 330 € in Serbia (istyle.eu/rs).

Re: A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

#338

Post by PhasmaFelis » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 11:37 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #219

blensor wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you think a Popup "Hey you're battery is going bad. Do you want to [keep the performance] or [save the battery life]?" Would be too much??

It’s not about battery life. It’s about not pulling so much current that it suddenly shuts down the entire device. Why do so many people think this is just about making a charge last longer?

The hardware/software behavior could be 100% justified and it still wouldn't excuse the fact that they've hidden it all this time, driving millions of people to buy new phones when they really just needed a new battery.

Re: A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

#339

Post by tigershark » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 11:38 PM UTC

niuzeta wrote: post #291

reaperducer wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This does nothing to compensate or win back the trust of customers like me. What is it that you want Apple to do to make you personally feel better?

There's nothing that Apple can do here; trust is hard earned and easily lost. Apple just lost however much of trust the grandparent had accumulated over the years. Trustworthiness aside, Apple as a hardware company has made many questionable choices that makes me rethink purchasing their hardware. (headphone jack and the touch bar being the most egregious) I don't think I'll be getting the next macbook if these don't…

This is an appropriate response. Much better than google selling phones that are just barely crawling after not even 6 months of very average use..

Re: A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

#340

Post by milankragujevic » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 11:39 PM UTC

It's funny, a service center replaced my whole iPhone for free (thought with terrible customer service included) when it started rebooting, being slow and -- get this -- the screen started popping out on one side cause the battery puffed up. This was before this problem was publicized.