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A Message to Our Customers about iPhone Batteries and Performance

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

#431

Post by masonic »

"Of course, when a chemically aged battery is replaced with a new one, iPhone performance returns to normal when operated in standard conditions."

I find this disturbingly vague. If the slowdown was strictly due to physical battery degradation (and I haven't heard what specific metric(s) they use to objectively measure age/wear), then replacement should instantly reset performance rationing back to its starting point.

They only say it "returns to normal when operated in standard conditions" without defining "standard conditions" and without saying how long it takes before they deign to allow you the performance you paid for.

Their official Battery & Power page[1] acknowledges none of this beyond a separate issue affecting only a two-month manufacturing window of September-October 2015.

[1] https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/battery-power

And weren't there earlier iPhone models that weren't designed with user-replaceable batteries?

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

#432

Post by MBCook »

Woofles wrote: post #247
sjrd wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, so you prefer your phone just shutting down unexpectedly when you open your picture-taking app, update the public transportation app to buy a ticket because they updated the server, or exit the metro into the freezing cold of winter? Right. Not an Apple customer (never was, probably never will), I use a Samsung Android, and I wish my phone were doing that performance limitation thing, because I do feel the issues…

Anecdotal evidence, but my 6s (which I had the battery replaced a year ago under the iPhone 6s battery replacement program) was shutting down just last week when I would walk outside, even if it was at or above 50%. I'm really interested as to where this issue came from, because before I had the unexpected shutdowns with my 6s that Apple came out and admitted was the battery's fault, I had never had this problem with…

These kind of things are worse with the temperature is very cold outside. Is that the case for where you are?

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

#433

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

orev wrote: post #283
PacketPaul wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about those of us that already paid to have the battery replaced? I was having the automatic shut down issue and Apple was telling me the battery was just fine. Since they refused to warrantee the battery I just ended up paying for another battery. This was before the issue was really well-known. They were acting as if I was making it up. But yeah, anytime the phone was below 50% battery life I was in danger of…

Your issue wasn't because of a faulty battery though, it was normal battery degradation. You would have had to pay for a new battery in any case. If it was less than a month ago you might want to try to press them to refund the difference, but otherwise you did get a tangible benefit from the new battery in the time since you replaced it, so there's a cost for that.

Normally degraded batteries are still usable at 50% charge. If the remaining capacity was truly unavailable they should not have been displaying a fictitious state of charge. But of course, then the pitchforks would be out right away with no chance of hiding this slick way to force upgrade sales.

The real reason why they implemented this extreme method of "protecting" the battery is that they are deathly afraid of what will happen when these older batteries are fully discharged.

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

#434

Post by briandear »

wslh wrote: post #330
sigzero wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no "planned obsolescence game". Just stop.

The last time I checked I couldn't change the battery of my mobile phone and tablet.

You can have it changed. Perhaps you should check again.

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

#435

Post by arvinsim »

hk__2 wrote: post #233
krutzger wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If Apple hadn’t made this change those phones would have randomly turned off instead. Why is apple the only company with this problem?

> Why is apple the only company with this problem? It’s the only one people care about enough. Apple gets a major "scandal" almost each year about something that affects every single smartphone company on the planet. Think of the antenna-gate or the bending issues. Lots of non-Apple phones have shown these issues, and the random shutdowns are no exception [1]. [1]: http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/12/20/some-nexus-6…

That's natural since iPhones are being touted as the premium option while putting down Androids as "cheap" phones.

It's all about expectations.

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

#436

Post by unclebucknasty »

jmull wrote: post #115

> Apple is reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 — from $79 to $29... > Early in 2018, we will issue an iOS software update with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance. There we go. It took too much trouble and too long for it to happen, but Apple is stepping u…

>but Apple is stepping up and doing the right thing...

People are letting them off the hook too easily. I don't believe having even a perceived legitimate reason to slow down the phones explains why they didn't own up to it earlier. In fact, seems all the more reason they should have explained it, especially given the rumors that have swirled for so long.

In short, they certainly benefitted from the upgrades encouraged by the slowed phones, and it conspicuously complements their philosophy of releasing incremental upgrades to customers, which means they were certainly motivated to provide that extra nudge. I have trouble believing that's all coincidence.

They've had it their way on the front-end and profited handsomely. Now, on the backend, they are dictating the terms of their own penance. Pretty sweet deal for Apple.

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

#437

Post by MBCook »

masonic wrote: post #431

"Of course, when a chemically aged battery is replaced with a new one, iPhone performance returns to normal when operated in standard conditions." I find this disturbingly vague. If the slowdown was strictly due to physical battery degradation (and I haven't heard what specific metric(s) they use to objectively measure age/wear), then replacement should instantly reset performance rationing back to its starting point…

I assume they’re referring to some of the other things they talked about, like how performance maybe temporarily degraded if it’s extremely cold outside; not unlike how the phone may have to shut itself down in extremely hot temperatures.

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

#438

Post by user5994461 »

rflrob wrote: post #353
spondyl wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently it's a real word! Here's the excerpt from dictionary.com ------ lubricious [loo-brish-uh s] adjective arousing or expressive of sexual desire; lustful; lecherous ------ It kinda defeats the purpose of using the word if no one else understands what it means :)

It's also an alternate spelling for libricous, which dictionary.com defines as: adjective 1. (of a surface, coating, etc.) having an oily smoothness; slippery. 2. unstable; shifty; fleeting. So "shifty" could be what they were going for, but my sense of the other two words in definition 2 suggests that it's not quite accurate to use that sense of shifty.

The intended word was probably "ludicrous".

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

#439

Post by briandear »

jsemrau wrote: post #298

I don't see the difference between the Volkswagen scandal and this. Both companies used software to their own benefit to harm other parties.

Were you actually "harmed?" Let's not compare increasing pollution to you not being able to play Angry Birds with the same level of gusto.

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

#440

Post by MBCook »

DSMan195276 wrote: post #154
MBCook wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You completely missed his point. If Apple had made the issue clear, he could have just paid for a battery replacement instead of a completely new phone. And they clearly knew the battery was the problem.

Apple certainly should have communicated the real issue, I have no problem with that idea.

The idea I’m arguing against is that Apple either did nothing or purposefully made it worse. They tried to fix one bad problem (random shutdowns) and it caused a different, although less severe, problem.

Apples move to retard performance to keep the phone from suddenly dying was a GOOD move. It wasn’t a scam as some others have claimed.

But obviously they should have communicated to the user that they knew there was a battery issue.

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