Apple hit with lawsuit after admitting to slowing down iPhones with depleted batteries

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 126
    hexclockhexclock Posts: 1,243member
    dws-2 said:
    In another universe, someone is suing Apple because their devices suddenly shut down.
    In another universe, someone is suing battery manufacturers because the batteries lose charge over time.

    And in a another universe (far, far, far away), no one is suing anyone about this because they realize that everything is trying to make the best product possible.
    Great post. 
    radarthekatwatto_cobra
  • Reply 42 of 126
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    spacekid said:
    What's not clear is, does Apple detect that a battery is having issues and slows it down, or does Apple slow all phones that have older batteries even if they aren't having any issues.
    That's a good question. I wish there was more transparency on this. Where's Al Franken when you nee… oh, that's right.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 43 of 126
    All Apple need do is add a toggle for this feature to allow the user to decide if they want to benefit from it. 
    ZooMigo
  • Reply 44 of 126
    danv2 said:
    Just another person making this world muddy and messy.

    Apple doesn't owe anybody any money.
    It owes a shit load in taxes and is gonna pay up as per the EU lol. Regarding this situation: if they were transparent then they would not be getting fucked on this deal. They should have made it a feature, and left it to the consumer to decide. When you make calls like this on behalf of the customer, then they will come at you with fangs. More importantly, a prompt should pop up "its time to replace your battery for $80" instead of "lemme slow you down bro w/out telling you bro" etc.

    There is a clear cut difference here, and they made a mistake on assuming what each person would want.
    I put this in the same category as slowing down the cpu when the device gets too hot - it protects the device from damage while delivering the maximum cpu available given the conditions. Users don’t get to opt in to that one either. However, it is well known that cpu throttling occurs due to heat, and it’s this transparency that is missing. It’s still not a situation that calls for a law suit. From an engineering perspective the implementation was appropriate - and probably the only sensible one. You’re suggesting the user has an option like “allow random shutdowns when battery is old”. Lol.
    Solidewmepscooter63lorin schultzradarthekatwatto_cobra
  • Reply 45 of 126
    Apple is evil!! They must also be throttling my 2010 MacBook Pro because it runs slower since I installed the first update on it!! They owe me money!! Money, money, money!! Evil, I tell ya!!
     :D  >:) :p :D
    ok, that was sarcasm. Don’t flame me. That’s dumb, though. To begin with, any newer OS is going to not be as fast on older hardware as it is on newer hardware. That’s a fact of life. And now we know Apple is throttling apps to better use the battery on OLDER systems...since LAST year. Which means this hasn’t been happening since the first iPhone. Grow up people! Some people are just looking for a quick buck any way the can!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 46 of 126
    JWSCJWSC Posts: 1,203member
    I’m not one inclined to support conspiracy theories.  And I generally give Apple the benefit of the doubt.  But this trend graph is definitely saying something.  If the raw data is real it’s hard to ignore.

    https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2006-12-31%202017-12-21&q=iphone%20slow,android%20slow
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 47 of 126
    skaduusch said:
    Not telling consumers about this behavior has nothing to do with "transparency." If Apple were to point out every little detail about how iOS works it would be too long for anyone to actually read. This isn't a "feature" nor is it a fault. Electronic devices in general are not going to function as optimally when their power source weakens. That's the way electronics work. The fact that they had to make this compromise in order to keep the phone running smoothly (even if a little slower) is a much better solution than just letting the phone crash all the time. My car battery weakens over time too and eventually can't start my car any more. At that point I have to get a new battery, that's just life.
    Personally I would much prefer the phone completely crashing because then I would know there is a real issue that I could get repaired. Instead of dealing with the more ambiguous problem of it lagging for the simplest tasks like typing in a word to search for in Safari where I have no idea if the cause is the iOS version or whether I need to do something special to clear the app or whatever.
    ZooMigo1STnTENDERBITS[Deleted User]
  • Reply 48 of 126
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    So I read on other news sites that the guy who is suing has an iPhone 8 and his claim is that Apple intentionally cripples older phones in order to force people to upgrade their phones, a claim that has already been debunked by every respectable tech expert, including the founder of Geekbench who originally discovered what was going on. He was featured in an interview this morning on CNBC and was very adamant that the only thing Apple is guilty of is a lack of transparency.
    Rayz2016
  • Reply 49 of 126
    glynhglynh Posts: 133member
    jume said:
    My iPhone 6 is so fucking slow at moments its barely useable. 
     I am pretty sure phone is slower then it used to be.
    So which is it? :)
  • Reply 50 of 126
    jume said:

    jume said:
    They should get sued for this. My iPhone 6 is so fucking slow at moments its barely useable. Why there just can't be a switch in settings. It's my decision if I want usable phone or if an app shuts down because of an old battery. This is bad for Apple. 

    Are you sure the slowness is due to this "feature", or could there be other factors, such as bad actors / misbehaving / poor-designed apps?
    Mostly I use top downloaded apps from big vendors like google, fb, apple, ... i doubt these are poorly designed. I started to shutdown all apps regularly because of bad responsiveness, but even this doesn't help sometimes. I am pretty sure phone is slower then it used to be.
    The only app I had open on my old iPhone was Safari with only one sheet and it still couldn't keep up with my slow typing in the search box.
    ZooMigo
  • Reply 51 of 126
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    lkrupp said:
    So I read on other news sites that the guy who is suing has an iPhone 8 and his claim is that Apple intentionally cripples older phones in order to force people to upgrade their phones, a claim that has already been debunked by every respectable tech expert, including the founder of Geekbench who originally discovered what was going on. He was featured in an interview this morning on CNBC and was very adamant that the only thing Apple is guilty of is a lack of transparency.
    That's the dumbest argument of them all. If Apple wanted to push people towards new iPhones they'd simply not support older OSes with iOS updates so users of older phones get feature envy.
    pscooter63radarthekat
  • Reply 53 of 126
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    jume said:

    jume said:
    They should get sued for this. My iPhone 6 is so fucking slow at moments its barely useable. Why there just can't be a switch in settings. It's my decision if I want usable phone or if an app shuts down because of an old battery. This is bad for Apple. 

    Are you sure the slowness is due to this "feature", or could there be other factors, such as bad actors / misbehaving / poor-designed apps?
    Mostly I use top downloaded apps from big vendors like google, fb, apple, ... i doubt these are poorly designed. I started to shutdown all apps regularly because of bad responsiveness, but even this doesn't help sometimes. I am pretty sure phone is slower then it used to be.
    The only app I had open on my old iPhone was Safari with only one sheet and it still couldn't keep up with my slow typing in the search box.
    1) That was an OS bug that was corrected with a point update, not Apple throttling your iPhone's processor.

    2) I think it's impossible to have only one app open on the iPhone. You can remove the Phone and Messages apps, for example, from FAS and you'll still get calls and messages because they relaunch right away in the background.
    edited December 2017
  • Reply 54 of 126
    jume said:
    They should get sued for this. My iPhone 6 is so fucking slow at moments its barely useable. Why there just can't be a switch in settings. It's my decision if I want usable phone or if an app shuts down because of an old battery. This is bad for Apple. 
    The iPhone 6 is practically ancient. You either need a new battery or a new iPhone. Apple will be happy to oblige you with one or the other as long as you have the money to pay. How about getting a new iPhone X. I hear they're quite fast.
    Indiana Jones and the Legend of the iPhone 6
  • Reply 55 of 126
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,335member
    Any story headline the includes the words “Apple,” “intentionally,” and “slowing” is going to draw out every person and troll whose every held a passing or persistent grievance against Apple. It’s blood in the water and the sharks are out in force, blaming everything from stunted growth, poor annual performance reviews, low SAT scores, receding hairlines, toe fungus, to the musty smells in Mom's basement on Apple and its egregious and underhanded act of throttling. Battery death rights advocates, your cause is finally getting the attention it deserves. 

    Come one, come all, your time to air your anti-Apple stories and personal disses is upon us, and during the holiday season to boot. Who said that Apple doesn’t give back at the holidays anymore? Unwrap this present and indulge in its magnificent glory. Pop the screw cap off that special bottle of MD 20/20 you’ve been saving, take a long swig, suppress the barf reflex, and loudly proclaim “This would not have happened if Steve Jobs was still in charge!” 

    Enjoy it.
    pscooter63radarthekat
  • Reply 56 of 126
    toddzrx said:
    skaduusch said:
    Not telling consumers about this behavior has nothing to do with "transparency." If Apple were to point out every little detail about how iOS works it would be too long for anyone to actually read. This isn't a "feature" nor is it a fault. Electronic devices in general are not going to function as optimally when their power source weakens. That's the way electronics work. The fact that they had to make this compromise in order to keep the phone running smoothly (even if a little slower) is a much better solution than just letting the phone crash all the time. My car battery weakens over time too and eventually can't start my car any more. At that point I have to get a new battery, that's just life.

    maestro64 said:

    Did anyone not predict this.

    I was reading all the headline on this subject, in typical media fashion these days, they make it sound like Apple only did it to force people to update their phones. Verses the real reality, they were trying to extend the useful life of the phone under low battery conditions. It was clear the phone was not slow down all the time only when the battery level hit a certain point.

    it made total sense what they did, reduce the current spikes on low battery condition which kept the battery voltage from dipping below the low voltage cut off. Customer could get a new phone or new battery, I have replaced batteries on a number of iPhone after 3 yrs to get rid of the problem of it shutting down too quickly on low battery. I am not sure if we really notice the slow performance.

    The issue now it the media has spun this so bad that people are piss even if they never saw an issue or upgrade just because they wanted a new phone. As person who used an Android for long time and saw real performance hits after 6 to 9 months of using the phone, Apple slow down does not compare.

    Completely agree with both of you.  This guy suing sounds to me like the tech version of an ambulance chaser.

    What's worse is the acrimony being cast on other forums and websites over Apple's move here.  And the criticism is largely from Droid users who don't own an iPhone.  So dumb.
    What sites are you reading?  The one's I've been on have basically parroted the same refrain:  Apple should blame Apple for this predicament.  All they had to do is let people know what they were doing.  Some would get mad because people.  The situation would not be blown up to this proportion if it wasn't for the unnecessary secrecy.  Somebody made a dumb call to install a "fix" without telling people what it does, and what some of the consequences of that fix were, ie slower devices.  For the longest time, people thought it was updated versions of iOS slowing their phones.  Not battery management software.  The irony to me is the fix was the right thing to do.  Not telling customers was the dumb as hell thing to do.  Do dumb things, win dumb prizes... like potential class actions.
    Soli
  • Reply 57 of 126
    MacPro said:
    danv2 said:
    Just another person making this world muddy and messy.

    Apple doesn't owe anybody any money.
    It owes a shit load in taxes and is gonna pay up as per the EU lol. Regarding this situation: if they were transparent then they would not be getting fucked on this deal. They should have made it a feature, and left it to the consumer to decide. When you make calls like this on behalf of the customer, then they will come at you with fangs. More importantly, a prompt should pop up "its time to replace your battery for $80" instead of "lemme slow you down bro w/out telling you bro" etc.

    There is a clear cut difference here, and they made a mistake on assuming what each person would want.
    My suggestion is a message that says "Your battery is getting to near to its end, so ... do you want to keep going as you are and risk the phone dying on you or allow iOS to slow down some processes to make it last a little longer, totally up to you bro."
    Yes that would make sense, but what happened to the 1,000 cycles claim on their batteries? I do remember Apple boasting it a few years back.

    1,000 cycles is a little over 3 years if you drain your battery every single day. 
    That’s part of the problem, people don’t know how to treat their batteries. You should NEVER run a lithium battery flat as it degrades faster. It should never be run below 20%.

    Also Apple said 500 charges not 1000.
    pscooter63
  • Reply 58 of 126
    Soli said:
    jume said:

    jume said:
    They should get sued for this. My iPhone 6 is so fucking slow at moments its barely useable. Why there just can't be a switch in settings. It's my decision if I want usable phone or if an app shuts down because of an old battery. This is bad for Apple. 

    Are you sure the slowness is due to this "feature", or could there be other factors, such as bad actors / misbehaving / poor-designed apps?
    Mostly I use top downloaded apps from big vendors like google, fb, apple, ... i doubt these are poorly designed. I started to shutdown all apps regularly because of bad responsiveness, but even this doesn't help sometimes. I am pretty sure phone is slower then it used to be.
    The only app I had open on my old iPhone was Safari with only one sheet and it still couldn't keep up with my slow typing in the search box.
    1) That was an OS bug that was corrected with a point update, not Apple throttling your iPhone's processor.

    2) I think it's impossible to have only one app open on the iPhone. You can remove the Phone and Messages apps, for example, from FAS and you'll still get calls and messages because they relaunch right away in the background.
    What update fixed that because the problem never got resolved on my old iPhone? It may be impossible to close every single app but every app that I could close was. 
  • Reply 59 of 126
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Also Apple said 500 charges not 1000.
    I could've sworn Steve Jobs at one point said 1000 cycles in regards to the iPhone, but this site shows that only the Macs, iPads, and Watches get the 1000 cycle batteries.

    bloggerblog
  • Reply 60 of 126
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member
    jume said:
    They should get sued for this. My iPhone 6 is so fucking slow at moments its barely useable. Why there just can't be a switch in settings. It's my decision if I want usable phone or if an app shuts down because of an old battery. This is bad for Apple. 
    I'm using a iPhone 6 and ya, at times can be slow, but guess what, it's getting OLD!!!! I'm going into the 4th year with mine. You know what? It's a lot faster than my iphone 4 going into it's 4th year.

    You're phone acting shower really isn't anything you're going to notice so much as your phone just being a bit slower because of the iOS upgrade. As iOS gets larger and more complex, it needs a faster CPU to keep up. Your Phone is a computer, just like your Windows PC. Newer versions of Windows run like crap on older hardware.

    There's also all kinds of Lithium Battery Management going on. They have to charge perfect and drain down perfect or you have issues like Exploding battery's. As they get older, they don't have a charge as well. This was causing some iPhones to CRASH. People don't like that and think it's the OS or a app, which it's really a older, weaker battery. How would some person know? They wouldn't, which is why Apple is slowing the CPU down in certain brief situations. Doing a SPEED test is going to do a MAX CPU full power thing for a period of time. which is exactly what Apple doesn't want the iPhone to do and so but the breaks on. You using is a normal way is not going to have the same effect.

    If that minor slowdown at times to keep your phone from crashing bothers you, replace the battery. but you're phone is not really going to be much faster then it is. Lithium is some nasty stuff. it's not like a AA battery, or a Lead Acid battery in your car. There's a lot of Battery management going on to keep them working how they should. I'll tell you right now, Google and everyone else making phones are doing the same type of things.
    edited December 2017 Soliradarthekat
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