France fines Apple €25M for iOS software that slowed down older iPhones

Post by jmull » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 12:08 AM UTC

takeda wrote: post #217

iDemonix wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure swindling involves negating a battery peak performance issue for users on old hardware. I still use an iPhone 6 and had noticed less crashes with upgrades (loading big apps would often crash it), less now with iOS upgrades. I can disable it if I want, but I prefer not to. On the flip side, I have friends with Android phones that are 4 years old, and barely usable.

Why don't they do what every other industry is doing? Have you wondered why in your phone battery degrades significantly after a year, in the mean time the battery in a hybrid such as Prius lasts about 10 years? They are overvolting them and don't implement mechanisms to keep battery change using optimal levels. Apple also pioneered the move to make batteries non-removeable (and other companies followed) most people…

Post by overgard » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 12:10 AM UTC

geuis wrote: post #226

overgard wrote: post #219

Here's a thing to consider: your current phone, in your pocket, would it not be perfectly sufficient for the next 10 years if software wasn't making it obsolete? Is there any new app that really needs twice the processing power. Is the bajillion DPI screen hard on your eyes? Like, other than wear and tear, do you really have any reason to buy a new phone? I have an iphone 7, but to be honest I'd still be using my 5c…

I’m still happily using my 6s. What I’m unhappy about is that iOS 13 broke a few things in Safari that have affected its stability. Double-tap to zoom is incredibly unreliable now and it worked perfectly for years. There’s some weird caching going on and some rendering issues, so sometimes a site will get stuck in a weird broken state that re-navigating or refreshing won’t fix. Have to exit Safari and reload it to fi…

Post by catalogia » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 12:18 AM UTC

manfredo wrote: post #230

jonplackett wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is they didn't tell anyone they were doing it. So people thought their phone was just old and slow and bought a new one, when they could have just replaced the battery and made it fast again.

> The problem is they didn't tell anyone they were doing it. Then France should issue fines for every electronic device sold that had this functionality. Except that would have meant fines being issued for effectively every laptop, phone, and tablet sold in the last decade. What Apple did is a near-universal function in battery powered devices with powerful processors. It'd be funny id Apple disabled this functionali…

Post by AlisdairO » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 12:21 AM UTC

caconym_ wrote: post #157

hannibalhorn wrote: post #131

They implemented a software feature to make an older, degraded battery last longer - while it should be optional and obvious, a government fine seems a bit over the top. We've all now got houses full of IoT devices (Smart TVs, Webcams, etc.) that have serious security problems and don't get proper updates because the vendors lack incentive. This is a disincentive, and totally the wrong way to go.

Yeah. A choice between telling customers you'll slow down their phones because and silently making their phones work better in a way that's likely to generate clickbait outrage if it gets out is one between a rock and a hard place. Companies do so much shit behind consumers' backs, and so many hardware vendors drop software support on ridiculously short timelines, that this feels wrong. Very legal and very cool, sure…

Post by Aaronn » Sat, Feb 08, 2020, 12:37 AM UTC

awinter-py wrote: post #159

> As part of the agreement, Apple must display a notice on its French-language website for a month. It says Apple "committed the crime of deceptive commercial practice by omission" and had agreed to pay the fine. I'm not seeing the crime notice on https://www.apple.com/fr/ . Where do I go to see this thing?