French fine Apple $27 million for battery patch that could slow down old iPhones
Apple has been fined by the French government for its 2017 patch that could slow down iPhone 6, iPhone 7 and iPhone SE units that had a depleted battery, and for not informing users that it was doing so.
Apple's original 2015 promotion for the iPhone 6, one of the models later affected by the slowdown
Apple's intentional slowing down of certain older iPhone models in 2017 have now led to a fine of 25 million Euros ($27 million) by France's Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and the Suppression of Fraud (DGCCRF). Apple, which is not contesting the fine, must also display a press release on its website for one month.
"Seized on January 5, 2018 by the Paris Prosecutor's Office to investigate the complaint of an association against Apple, the DGCCRF has indeed shown that iPhone owners had not been informed that the updates of the iOS operating system (10.2.1 and 11.2) they installed were likely to slow down the operation of their device," says the organization says in a press release.
"These updates, released during 2017," it continues, "included a dynamic power management device which, under certain conditions and especially when the batteries were old, could slow down the functioning of the iPhone 6, SE and 7 models. Unable to revert to the previous version of the operating system, many consumers would have been forced to change their batteries or even buy a new phone."
The DGCCRF reports that it filed its findings with the Paris Public Prosecutor's office in 2019. Its conclusion is that the lack of information to consumers "constituted a misleading commercial practice by omission."
As batteries age, they are less able to maintain peak voltage. Apple maintains that throttling the speed of the older phones -- cutting back on the voltage that they needed to keep operating -- in fact kept them working longer.
"Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices," said Apple in 2017. "Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components."
Accordingly, iOS 10.2.1 included this feature and said in the update screen that there was a new battery routine. However, Apple did not explicitly inform users of the potential for a slowdown instead of just a device crash, or respring, when under load. This led to dozens of lawsuits over the issue, and eventually an apology from Apple.
As well as the apology, Apple reduced the cost of having an iPhone battery replaced, making it $29 for the whole of 2018. That's down from the previous $79 and current battery replacement price of $69.
That cost reduction led to more users than usual taking up the offer instead of buying new iPhones. That then contributed to Apple's having to revise down its revenue forecasts for the year.
The French ruling follows a similar one made by Italy in 2019. The verdict in France is a bit less than one euro per suitable generation iPhone sold in the country.
Apple's original 2015 promotion for the iPhone 6, one of the models later affected by the slowdown
Apple's intentional slowing down of certain older iPhone models in 2017 have now led to a fine of 25 million Euros ($27 million) by France's Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and the Suppression of Fraud (DGCCRF). Apple, which is not contesting the fine, must also display a press release on its website for one month.
"Seized on January 5, 2018 by the Paris Prosecutor's Office to investigate the complaint of an association against Apple, the DGCCRF has indeed shown that iPhone owners had not been informed that the updates of the iOS operating system (10.2.1 and 11.2) they installed were likely to slow down the operation of their device," says the organization says in a press release.
"These updates, released during 2017," it continues, "included a dynamic power management device which, under certain conditions and especially when the batteries were old, could slow down the functioning of the iPhone 6, SE and 7 models. Unable to revert to the previous version of the operating system, many consumers would have been forced to change their batteries or even buy a new phone."
The DGCCRF reports that it filed its findings with the Paris Public Prosecutor's office in 2019. Its conclusion is that the lack of information to consumers "constituted a misleading commercial practice by omission."
As batteries age, they are less able to maintain peak voltage. Apple maintains that throttling the speed of the older phones -- cutting back on the voltage that they needed to keep operating -- in fact kept them working longer.
"Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices," said Apple in 2017. "Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components."
Accordingly, iOS 10.2.1 included this feature and said in the update screen that there was a new battery routine. However, Apple did not explicitly inform users of the potential for a slowdown instead of just a device crash, or respring, when under load. This led to dozens of lawsuits over the issue, and eventually an apology from Apple.
As well as the apology, Apple reduced the cost of having an iPhone battery replaced, making it $29 for the whole of 2018. That's down from the previous $79 and current battery replacement price of $69.
That cost reduction led to more users than usual taking up the offer instead of buying new iPhones. That then contributed to Apple's having to revise down its revenue forecasts for the year.
The French ruling follows a similar one made by Italy in 2019. The verdict in France is a bit less than one euro per suitable generation iPhone sold in the country.
Comments
Oh and you should announce every single change you make to the OS that has any kind of impact on anything, since someone out there might find it important.
Oh, and when you do confirm that you made those changes - we're going to fine you.
Now that the battery health indicator software is active people have started to obsess over it. There are many posts on the Apple discussion forums from people who are concerned their battery health is “down” to 98% after six months. Too much knowledge can cause problems also.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=QFT
1. iPhones already throttled peak performance prior to these patches. E.g. For temperature extremes and preserving battery life.
2. The changes in iOS 10.2 and 11.2 extended the CPU throttling features to untenable battery scenarios - i.e. situations which would normally turn off the device. Apple acknowledged that unexpected shutdowns were being addressed at the time.
3. The most common worst case scenario resulted in a geek bench score of 2,500 being reduced to 1,500 during a peak load. The device operated at "normal" speeds during other times when the battery was able to supply sufficient power, or not under a stressful load.
Not only was peak load not reduced by 50%, but normal device usage was unaffected. Your comment lends to the idea that the phone was suddenly half as fast as before the update - there is no foundation for that.
It was literally in Apple's statements about the update: "With iOS 10.2.1, Apple made improvements to reduce occurrences of unexpected shutdowns that a small number of users were experiencing with their iPhone."
Of all the devices tested in Geek bench 4 under iOS 10.2.1, the overwhelming majority had no change in performance and the average decrease in peak performance due to the new changes was ~10 - 15%
So yeah your post is total sensationalist crap, and I think that's pathetic.
And even if they had, that is the engineers prerogative, not yours, and you're not entitled to any specific performance at any time.
The only thing Apple did wrong was letting idiot Tim Cook acknowledge it, and apologize for it, and attempt appeasement.
not France, so I figured $200,000 is fair. I sent them a notice yesterday.