Apple admit to 'Slowing Down iPhones'

[VW_Sam_]

What does everyone think of this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42438745

I'm sat on the fence as to whether it's a good idea to 'preserve the battery' or are they forcing us into buying a new battery or device..

Edited by VW_Sam_ on Thursday 21st December 13:39

[Saleen836]

I'm still using a 4S, had it for just over 2 years (bought used) it's had 2 new batteries and works fine, I guess if it was full of apps a lot might not work due to needing the latest i.o.s, it no longer updates so will keep using until it stops

[GrumpyTwig]

Saleen836 said:

I'm still using a 4S, had it for just over 2 years (bought used) it's had 2 new batteries and works fine, I guess if it was full of apps a lot might not work due to needing the latest i.o.s, it no longer updates so will keep using until it stops

I can't be bothered reading the article but at a skim the fact it's had new batteries means they're in better health than an original one and so it won't throttle it.

I'd suspect, as much as I'd like to hate on Apple that they're assessing battery health and making adjustments to the load to maintain a reasonable standard. Rather than just writing in some timer that limits performance for any device over certain age, even if the effect of the former is nearly the same the latter (how many people go to the trouble of battery replacement?)

[jmorgan]

Cropped up in the iOS11 thread.

[bitchstewie]

I think they're between a bit of a rock and a hard place in that whilst they might be being sincere in their intentions, not documenting it or telling their customers does make it look a little like they're pulling a fast one.

[audi321]

Now theres no bigger fanboy than me.......but this is disgusting. I've suspected this from virtually every iphone I've every had. Now they come up with some rubbish about protecting the battery.......bks!

If my battery dies, I'll get another one installed. It should be my decision. However, it is bks. They do it to make you buy the new phone.....period!

[BigGriff540]

An associate of mine is a regional rep for a phone company and he confirmed that all of the phone manufactures have been slowing down older models for years. My S7 is slower now than it used to be....strangely, it started to be slower after S8 came out.

[jmorgan]

After reading a few things on it, seems they do it to make it last longer?

[ReverendCounter]

There are results somewhere on the web which show mobile devices being artificially slowed at the point of or just after new models are released, but I can't find the article.

[ThunderSpook]

audi321 said:

Now theres no bigger fanboy than me.......but this is disgusting. I've suspected this from virtually every iphone I've every had. Now they come up with some rubbish about protecting the battery.......bks!

If my battery dies, I'll get another one installed. It should be my decision. However, it is bks. They do it to make you buy the new phone.....period!

I would presume responses like this are the reasons they keep these things quiet due to people completely missing the point.

[audi321]

ThunderSpook said:

audi321 said:

Now theres no bigger fanboy than me.......but this is disgusting. I've suspected this from virtually every iphone I've every had. Now they come up with some rubbish about protecting the battery.......bks!

If my battery dies, I'll get another one installed. It should be my decision. However, it is bks. They do it to make you buy the new phone.....period!

I would presume responses like this are the reasons they keep these things quiet due to people completely missing the point.

Missing what point? Do you actually believe they do it to protect the batteries?

[Dracoro]

audi321 said:

Missing what point? Do you actually believe they do it to protect the batteries?

As I understand it, it’s to protect the user experience (not the battery).
So the choice is:
1. Do nothing and the phone crash (and all the complaints and support calls that would arise from that!) OR
2. Slow down the phone so it doesn’t crash. The user can then decide to replace battery if it’s an issue.

[bitchstewie]

Dracoro said:

As I understand it, it’s to protect the user experience (not the battery).
So the choice is:
1. Do nothing and the phone crash (and all the complaints and support calls that would arise from that!) OR
2. Slow down the phone so it doesn’t crash. The user can then decide to replace battery if it’s an issue.

I've got an iPhone and I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro so I'm hardly anti-Apple but it strikes me that doing it isn't the issue so much as not telling your customers you're doing it - the latter is the bit that makes you look as if you're pulling a fast one.

So for me you really want option 3 which is slow down the phone, tell the user why, and that their battery needs replacing.

[anonymous-user]

BigGriff540 said:

An associate of mine is a regional rep for a phone company and he confirmed that all of the phone manufactures have been slowing down older models for years. My S7 is slower now than it used to be....strangely, it started to be slower after S8 came out.

.
If he works for Samsung, he will not have the first clue what they are doing, and if he doesn't work for them he will have even less idea.

[cat with a hat]

Dracoro said:

audi321 said:

Missing what point? Do you actually believe they do it to protect the batteries?

As I understand it, it’s to protect the user experience (not the battery).
So the choice is:
1. Do nothing and the phone crash (and all the complaints and support calls that would arise from that!) OR
2. Slow down the phone so it doesn’t crash. The user can then decide to replace battery if it’s an issue.

That means either:
1. the battery is not fit for purpose, but a genuine mistake for every model they've released.
2. they've designed the 'experience' around forcing users to upgrade every 1-2 years.

Given their history with purposely corrupting music not purchased through iTunes, you'd be a bit thick to think its anything other than 2.

[Dracoro]

bhstewie said:

I've got an iPhone and I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro so I'm hardly anti-Apple but it strikes me that doing it isn't the issue so much as not telling your customers you're doing it - the latter is the bit that makes you look as if you're pulling a fast one.

So for me you really want option 3 which is slow down the phone, tell the user why, and that their battery needs replacing.

The risk of option 3 is people will still moan that Apple are trying to get them to buy a new battery when it doesn’t “need” one. I say that as most people may not notice a slowdown (as will depend on how they are using the device, which apps and so on).

More people will notice that the battery doesn’t last as long as it normally does and consider replacing (battery or device) than will notice slowdown.

Edited by Dracoro on Thursday 21st December 16:04

[Dracoro]

cat with a hat said:

That means either:
1. the battery is not fit for purpose, but a genuine mistake for every model they've released.
2. they've designed the 'experience' around forcing users to upgrade every 1-2 years.

Given their history with purposely corrupting music not purchased through iTunes, you'd be a bit thick to think its anything other than 2.

These issues are the same for most/all devices, not just iPhones.
Good business sense to encourage users to upgrade every year or two! Forcing however is a moot point, no one has a gun to their head, they can go the non Apple route too.
Also, loads of people are there with pre-6S phones so the “force upgrade” is a poor argument.

[bitchstewie]

Dracoro said:

The risk of option 3 is people will still moan that Apple are trying to get them to buy a new battery when it doesn’t “need” one. I say that as most people may not notice a slowdown (as will depend on how they are using the device, which apps and so on).

More people will notice that the battery doesn’t last as long as it normally does and consider replacing (battery or device) than will notice slowdown.

Maybe, like I said I can see why they'd do it, but you'd think at some point down the decision process someone would have said "Hold on, people don't trust us all that much already, maybe we should tell them?".

Seems they've given a bit more ammo than they need have is all.

[Dracoro]

maybe one day they’ll put a “health” state under the battery settings menu that shows how healthy the battery is.....

[ReallyReallyGood]

Apple's reasoning smells like BS.

If I were to put a brand new battery in my iPhone, will it become faster? No.