These lawsuits are total BS and AppleInsider should stop giving them such prominence. Especially with comments from people who think Apple should be producing a flip phone with a pop-out battery.
Users are unlikely to notice slowdowns - but artificial benchmarks will show issues and only with phones will degraded batteries. I would MUCH rather my phone slowed down bit than suddenly "quit".
The slow-down is very noticeable. To the point of frustration. If you have no knowledge of this subject maybe you shouldn't post comments.
Pretty sure we all have as much knowledge on this subject as you.
The slowdown is momentary at peak power draw, it is not constant. If your phone is constantly slow it has other problems -- such as being old but running a new OS.
This is a significant point that seems to have been lost in the inevitably gleeful hysteria. The slowdown is not permanent. It only occurs if that battery is old AND there is danger that the phone is going to shut down. If the phone is constantly drawing power then you need to check to make sure that you haven't got a rogue app that is constantly talking to the internet or trying to get your location.
The other popular meme amongst the uniformed is that this slowdown is designed to fix a problem with the phone.
I don't think so.
A quick search of the web reveals that phones shutting down randomly has been a problem since before phones got smart. And when someone asks about it on a forum, the first reply is 'have you tried getting a new battery?'
So, Apple is not trying to hide a design fault with the phone, they're trying to come up with a way of stopping the phone doing something it is always going to do. In much the same way, a car battery can no longer hold its charge, then the car will become increasingly unreliable.
And this is not just a quick hack to hide some problem; this is part of the same invisible AI initiative that Apple talked about earlier this year:
In an interview with MIT Technology Review conducted a few hours after the meeting with Picard, Cook ticks off a list: image recognition in our photos, for example, or the way Apple Music learns from what we have been listening to and adjusts its recommendations accordingly. Even the iPhone battery lasts longer now because the phone’s power management system uses machine learning to study our usage and adjust accordingly, he says.
Well, will you look at that. They don't just made adjustments when the battery is old; they do it all the time.
So I think I'm going to ignore the folk who say I should boycott Apple products; this is exactly what I want my devices to do. I want them to use AI to make sure that I don't lose work for whatever reason. And I would prefer a slowdown (which I probably wouldn't notice) to having the phone switch off (which I definitely would).
Now, just imagine how much hassle Apple could have saved themselves if they'd mentioned this in the MIT Technology Review:
In an interview with MIT Technology Review conducted a few hours after the meeting with Picard, Cook ticks off a list: image recognition in our photos, for example, or the way Apple Music learns from what we have been listening to and adjusts its recommendations accordingly. Even the iPhone battery lasts longer now because the phone’s power management system uses machine learning to study our usage and condition of the battery, and adjust accordingly, he says.
One of Apple's increasingly common forehead slapping moments I'm afraid.
Making this change to prevent shut downs makes sense. NOT telling customers about it is unforgivable. This is going to cost Apple in reputation, legal fees and settlements.
Exactly and doing this to hard core customers just isn't acceptable. Enough is enough. I like to pay more to ge Apple "quality" but this quality has been fading away for some time now so Apple better get your stuff together. Competition is strong.
For most of us this is not the first iPhone. Batteries always lasted at least 2 full years. I noticed a huge decline in battery performance right after upgrading to iOS 11.x and my iPhone 7plus is only a year old. I could show you my messages to my friends a couple of days after the upgrade. I don’t wanna start any conspiracy theory but this is very suspicious and the fact that Apple admitted there was a problem and it was easier to slow down older phones rather than fixing the issue speaks loud and clear. I would not mind downgrading to the previous iOS 10 to test if the battery issue gets resolved.
I wonder if anyone who has filed a class action lawsuit has bothered to read Apple’s iOS End User License Agreement (EULA) that they agreed to when they installed iOS on their iPhone? Unless a jurisdiction specifically prohibits wear compensation or aging compensation design accommodations by product vendors these lawsuits are going nowhere.
Currently, EULAs don't relate to hardware, and I hope they never do because they're a complete sidestep of warranty and accountability. They shouldn't exist for software either. Regardless, this is a hardware defect that was hidden by a software compensation which impacted performance of the device as marketed. It's valid. Apple messed up here, whether for laziness or greed. Either way, it ultimately is stupidity and a pathological form of capitalism to conduct business this way. They absolutely should get spanked for this.
The current Apple has been burning the good reputation the previous Apple built. It's time to stop excusing everything they do and start holding them accountable.
Instead. you create a conspiracy theory that Apple gives users new features and then makes devices not work so that myopic dipshits like you believe that an old device with an old battery is somehow purposely and maliciously hindered in SW so you're forced to buy a new device despite your claims that it's just driving you to drop Apple entirely. What a reasonable comment¡
Fact: Devices with older or defective batteries are hindered in SW. Fact: People have taken their "shutting down phones" into Apple only to be told that their battery / device was fine. Must be something else. Fact: Apple customers are either very loyal and or very invested in the ecosystem and are less likely to switch to a different OS. Fact: Because of this undisclosed SW upgrade "feature", people have felt compelled to buy a newer phone.
I would say being "forced" to upgrade their phones is incorrect because you always have a choice. This is misleading people to upgrade by omission. Call it what you want but that is what has happened.
Notice how I didn't resort to name calling?
Nope.
You selected certain facts and ignored others.
Moreover the extent of the number of folks that elected to buy a new phone due to throttling is unknown and arguably lower than if you simply told them “yeah, your battery is 3 years old now so that why it crashes sometime. I can replace your battery for $80 if you like” as opposed to some minor throttling.
Yes, folks will claim that their iPhone 6 has been slowed to a crawl but more likely it was due to the iOS 11 issues which were fixed or they have other issues with the phone itself.
If my 6 with 20% wear level (considered high wear by the battery app I use called unimaginative “Battery Life”) still works well while gaming then any 6S should be working even better unless their battery wear is significantly higher than mine.
Fact: Devices with older or defective batteries are hindered in SW. Fact: People have taken their "shutting down phones" into Apple only to be told that their battery / device was fine. Must be something else. Fact: Apple customers are either very loyal and or very invested in the ecosystem and are less likely to switch to a different OS. Fact: Because of this undisclosed SW upgrade "feature", people have felt compelled to buy a newer phone.
I would say being "forced" to upgrade their phones is incorrect because you always have a choice. This is misleading people to upgrade by omission. Call it what you want but that is what has happened.
Notice how I didn't resort to name calling?
Nope.
You selected certain facts and ignored others.
Moreover the extent of the number of folks that elected to buy a new phone due to throttling is unknown and arguably lower than if you simply told them “yeah, your battery is 3 years old now so that why it crashes sometime. I can replace your battery for $80 if you like” as opposed to some minor throttling.
Yes, folks will claim that their iPhone 6 has been slowed to a crawl but more likely it was due to the iOS 11 issues which were fixed or they have other issues with the phone itself.
If my 6 with 20% wear level (considered high wear by the battery app I use called unimaginative “Battery Life”) still works well while gaming then any 6S should be working even better unless their battery wear is significantly higher than mine.
You only presented arguments and speculation against the facts that I presented, not facts of your own that rebut what I stated. Just look a couple of post above and you'll find someone's personal experience that disqualifies much of what you said. If you look further here and on other comment sections you'll find even more.
Have you seen this? Safari on Mac OS 13.2 started using a new strategy dealing with web pages it claims using significant energy. It reload the effected page with a smaller font.
This is a significant point that seems to have been lost in the inevitably gleeful hysteria. The slowdown is not permanent. It only occurs if that battery is old AND there is danger that the phone is going to shut down. If the phone is constantly drawing power then you need to check to make sure that you haven't got a rogue app that is constantly talking to the internet or trying to get your location.
The other popular meme amongst the uniformed is that this slowdown is designed to fix a problem with the phone.
I don't think so.
A quick search of the web reveals that phones shutting down randomly has been a problem since before phones got smart. And when someone asks about it on a forum, the first reply is 'have you tried getting a new battery?'
So, Apple is not trying to hide a design fault with the phone, they're trying to come up with a way of stopping the phone doing something it is always going to do. In much the same way, a car battery can no longer hold its charge, then the car will become increasingly unreliable.
And this is not just a quick hack to hide some problem; this is part of the same invisible AI initiative that Apple talked about earlier this year:
In an interview with MIT Technology Review conducted a few hours after the meeting with Picard, Cook ticks off a list: image recognition in our photos, for example, or the way Apple Music learns from what we have been listening to and adjusts its recommendations accordingly. Even the iPhone battery lasts longer now because the phone’s power management system uses machine learning to study our usage and adjust accordingly, he says.
Well, will you look at that. They don't just made adjustments when the battery is old; they do it all the time.
So I think I'm going to ignore the folk who say I should boycott Apple products; this is exactly what I want my devices to do. I want them to use AI to make sure that I don't lose work for whatever reason. And I would prefer a slowdown (which I probably wouldn't notice) to having the phone switch off (which I definitely would).
Now, just imagine how much hassle Apple could have saved themselves if they'd mentioned this in the MIT Technology Review:
In an interview with MIT Technology Review conducted a few hours after the meeting with Picard, Cook ticks off a list: image recognition in our photos, for example, or the way Apple Music learns from what we have been listening to and adjusts its recommendations accordingly. Even the iPhone battery lasts longer now because the phone’s power management system uses machine learning to study our usage and condition of the battery, and adjust accordingly, he says.
One of Apple's increasingly common forehead slapping moments I'm afraid.
Apple, themselves, said that this is something they implemented last year (iOS 10.2.1) for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6S and iPhone SE and now extended that feature to iPhone 7 and 7 Plus with iOS 11.2. It is not something that they've done all along but was recently developed to cover up a different issue that was happening. So yes, it was "designed to fix a problem".
Everything else you posted is a distraction from the fact that Apple implemented this change without telling anyone. Especially in the face of long held rumors that they slowed older phones down in order to get more sales. They played right into the hands of those rumors.
Personally, I think three things happened (my 2 cents):
1) They tried to fix a shut down problem in phones with older / defective batteries. 2) They didn't disclose this to avoid bad PR 3) They didn't disclose because some people will opt for the upgrade.
This is the one with legs. Though the iPhone 6/6+ aren’t new, some recently purchased phones saw the slowdowns while the battery still tested “good” at the Apple store (based on comments on the subject here over the last couple of days). A judge will decide based on the preponderance of evidence, which is:
- a previously admitted battery flaw and replacement program - a previous admission that the shutdown problem grew to affect other models - a newly admitted slowdown algorithm that kicks in before the Genius Bar says the battery is eligible for replacement - performance results that are half of the phone’s performance when new
In this context it will be very difficult for Apple to claim their motivation was user experience, since it sucks anyway at half-speed.
The battery flaw was was on the 6s, not the 6
According to Apple.
That Apple has publicly admitted to date. Unfortunately we don't know if the iPhone 6 may have had some problem or not or how the iPhone 7 is doing battery wise. I do think that Apple has had time to probably either fix, improve, or alievate the situation on the iPhone 8/8Plus/X. I would image that is was the low power cores are for. Least ways I find it funny that Apple is coping the multi-core approach of android phones. That being said I don't really know if Android does any similar throttling (you always hear "lag" associated with Android). I think the only way that we would get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth was if Apple (Cook and other execs had to testify in front of Congress.) Lawsuits can be dragged out for years is not decades, but a Congressional summons can't be ignored.
1) They tried to fix a shut down problem in phones with older / defective batteries. 2) They didn't disclose this to avoid bad PR 3) They didn't disclose because some people will opt for the upgrade.
A win, win, win - at least on paper.
Agree.
If Apple doesn't disclose any more about how this came about its safe to assume that Tim Cook signed approved or ordered this. Otherwise Cook would be having the offending Executive issue a written Apology or fired asin the case of Forstall.
I have an iPhone 6 with a battery that has a 26% wear level (using the Battery Life app). I have noticed this year that my iPhone 6 has gotten slower (after the 10.3.3 upgrade).
* I appreciate getting the following information on the web and later by Apple. - That the iPhone 6 was getting slowed down by iOS 10.2 of later - That the slowdown in 10.2 + was due to batteries below 80% capacity in the iPhone 6 having shutdown issues. - Apple offers an $80 battery replacement for batteries below 80% capacity. I plan to take advantage of that.
* I understand some things about tech; - Batteries lose capacity over time, sometimes a large amount of capacity. - Tech AI can be designed to try to fix problems. Whether that fix is acceptable is up to the user.
* As for the lawsuits, I'm not a lawyer and can't comment on that. - I can see someone with a slowed iPhone 6 who bought an iPhone X suing Apple. (But I didn't buy an iPhone X and I'm not suing Apple.)
* I'm able to make comparisons between companies. - Google with the Pixel 2XL knowingly sold a defective screen which quickly has burnin issues. Google denies there is a problem.
- Apple does not sell phones which have screen burnin after a few days.
Also, Apple is addressing the issue of wear and tear on the iPhone 6. They offer a low cost battery replacement option. Apple is trying to fix the shutdown problem in software.
- From my view, I prefer dealing with Apple over Google.
I don't buy this story. Apple is trying to force you to buy to a new iPhone, each time it releases new one.
I's called planned obsolescence.
Maybe it was purposeful unplanned obsolescence. Either Way looks real bad. I expect there to be an FEATURE/EDITORIAL this weekend from DED saying what apple did was the absolute best thing and of course better than android especially Samsung.
Yes, what Apple did was reasonable - extend the lifespan of a device with an expired, used up battery.
only haters have a problem with it.
No, it wasn't reasonable. People know that batteries degrade
with time, and it's normal that a +2 year device won't last as long as
before, and that even may shut down. So they have to decide between
replace the battery or get a new device. But Apple decided for the customer, throttle the CPU, and now
customers had no idea that the phone slow down was caused by a "software
update", and that replacing the battery fix the issue. Even AI people felt for it, and published an article with "proof" that the slowness was caused by old apps, or because "psychological" reasons.
Apple went about fixing the issue the complete wrong way. If the root cause is the battery dying, they should replace the battery of your device. Forcing an involuntary performance hit that doesn't inform the user why their device is slowing down to compensate for the dying battery is a terrible solution to the problem.
Yes, but they have a bean counter in Charge.
Stupid comment. This is an engineering choice and has nothing to do with bottom line. Not preventing expired batteries from shutting down would drive more replacements so your entire point is a dead end.
Apple hide from customers, including you, the CPU throttling "update". Now, how do you know they didn't do it with the purpose of selling more devices? Do you still trust them as before? Based in what I'm reading in different sites, that trust is taking a big hit right now, even with Apple fans.
I don't buy this story. Apple is trying to force you to buy to a new iPhone, each time it releases new one.
I's called planned obsolescence.
Maybe it was purposeful unplanned obsolescence. Either Way looks real bad. I expect there to be an FEATURE/EDITORIAL this weekend from DED saying what apple did was the absolute best thing and of course better than android especially Samsung.
Yes, what Apple did was reasonable - extend the lifespan of a device with an expired, used up battery.
only haters have a problem with it.
No, it wasn't reasonable. People know that batteries degrade
with time, and it's normal that a +2 year device won't last as long as
before, and that even may shut down. So they have to decide between
replace the battery or get a new device. But Apple decided for the customer, throttle the CPU, and now
customers had no idea that the phone slow down was caused by a "software
update", and that replacing the battery fix the issue. Even AI people felt for it, and published an article with "proof" that the slowness was caused by old apps, or because "psychological" reasons.
No
one knew about this, until Apple admission. BTW, I don't think people who bring the lawsuit are haters Remember, they are Apple customers too.
The proof you speak of is Futuremark benchmarks of phones with good batteries performing the same as they did when they were released. Seems pretty solid.
Like I've said before -- there should have been more transparency, but there remains no conspiracy that Apple is trying to get people to buy new phones.
Apple went about fixing the issue the complete wrong way. If the root cause is the battery dying, they should replace the battery of your device. Forcing an involuntary performance hit that doesn't inform the user why their device is slowing down to compensate for the dying battery is a terrible solution to the problem.
Yes, but they have a bean counter in Charge.
Stupid comment. This is an engineering choice and has nothing to do with bottom line. Not preventing expired batteries from shutting down would drive more replacements so your entire point is a dead end.
Apple hide from customers, including you, the CPU throttling "update". Now, how do you know they didn't do it with the purpose of selling more devices? Do you still trust them as before? Based in what I'm reading in different sites, that trust is taking a big hit right now, even with Apple fans.
So we have two scenarios:
One is Apple doing nothing about devices long out of warranty with well-worn batteries that will shutdown your device on heavy work loads so when you call them up or bring them into an Apple Store they recommend a $129(?) battery replacement or buying a new device.
The second option are the engineers finding a clever way to keep the device from shutting down so that the user isn't forced to buy a new battery and have it installed, or buy a new iPhone. They even list in Settings » Battery that the battery is degraded.
According to your comments, the first option would be more ideal despite it clearly being a much greater money maker for Apple, and yet Apple found a way to extend the usability of the device and help keep as close to the one numerically based spec they list for new devices (i.e.: battery life), which means they make less money from keeping devices working even longer.
Despite these two options you've somehow jumped onto a conspiracy even though Apple is offering OS updates much longer than their competitors and doing what they can to keep their devices running longer with the user needing to update is Apple trying to nickel-and-dime the consumer instead of trying to do right by the customer by lowering their TCO.
Apple went about fixing the issue the complete wrong way. If the root cause is the battery dying, they should replace the battery of your device. Forcing an involuntary performance hit that doesn't inform the user why their device is slowing down to compensate for the dying battery is a terrible solution to the problem.
Yes, but they have a bean counter in Charge.
Stupid comment. This is an engineering choice and has nothing to do with bottom line. Not preventing expired batteries from shutting down would drive more replacements so your entire point is a dead end.
Apple hide from customers, including you, the CPU throttling "update". Now, how do you know they didn't do it with the purpose of selling more devices? Do you still trust them as before? Based in what I'm reading in different sites, that trust is taking a big hit right now, even with Apple fans.
they recommend a $129(?) battery replacement or buying a new device.
I don't buy this story. Apple is trying to force you to buy to a new iPhone, each time it releases new one.
I's called planned obsolescence.
Maybe it was purposeful unplanned obsolescence. Either Way looks real bad. I expect there to be an FEATURE/EDITORIAL this weekend from DED saying what apple did was the absolute best thing and of course better than android especially Samsung.
Yes, what Apple did was reasonable - extend the lifespan of a device with an expired, used up battery.
only haters have a problem with it.
No, it wasn't reasonable. People know that batteries degrade
with time, and it's normal that a +2 year device won't last as long as
before, and that even may shut down. So they have to decide between
replace the battery or get a new device. But Apple decided for the customer, throttle the CPU, and now
customers had no idea that the phone slow down was caused by a "software
update", and that replacing the battery fix the issue. Even AI people felt for it, and published an article with "proof" that the slowness was caused by old apps, or because "psychological" reasons.
No
one knew about this, until Apple admission. BTW, I don't think people who bring the lawsuit are haters Remember, they are Apple customers too.
No one knew this because the number of folks actually impacted seems to be quite small given the Futuremark dataset or evidence of throttling would have been apparent in their data.
If someone really cares they can go through the Geekbench dataset to see what percentage of iPhone 6 and 6S are being throttled among the population of geekbench statistics.
I’m going to guess it’s low or it would have jumped out at folks. I have geekbench and my iPhone 6 with 20% wear is benching pretty close to average.
I don't buy this story. Apple is trying to force you to buy to a new iPhone, each time it releases new one.
I's called planned obsolescence.
Maybe it was purposeful unplanned obsolescence. Either Way looks real bad. I expect there to be an FEATURE/EDITORIAL this weekend from DED saying what apple did was the absolute best thing and of course better than android especially Samsung.
Yes, what Apple did was reasonable - extend the lifespan of a device with an expired, used up battery.
only haters have a problem with it.
No, it wasn't reasonable. People know that batteries degrade
with time, and it's normal that a +2 year device won't last as long as
before, and that even may shut down. So they have to decide between
replace the battery or get a new device. But Apple decided for the customer, throttle the CPU, and now
customers had no idea that the phone slow down was caused by a "software
update", and that replacing the battery fix the issue. Even AI people felt for it, and published an article with "proof" that the slowness was caused by old apps, or because "psychological" reasons.
No
one knew about this, until Apple admission. BTW, I don't think people who bring the lawsuit are haters Remember, they are Apple customers too.
The proof you speak of is Futuremark benchmarks of phones with good batteries performing the same as they did when they were released. Seems pretty solid.
Like I've said before -- there should have been more transparency, but there remains no conspiracy that Apple is trying to get people to buy new phones.
What the article proved went down with Apple admission that they are throttling CPU's, and I don't blame you for it. That article pointed many valid things, but it looks like Apple fooled you too, since there is no mention of battery issues in the article. I suppose that you didn't knew of the CPU throttling, as it happened with other users.
Regarding the conspiracy, there is no proof that Apple tried to sell more phones, but neither you had proof of CPU throttling in iPhones and look how it went. I think it's for the better to stop defending Apple, wait and see how it goes.
Apple went about fixing the issue the complete wrong way. If the root cause is the battery dying, they should replace the battery of your device. Forcing an involuntary performance hit that doesn't inform the user why their device is slowing down to compensate for the dying battery is a terrible solution to the problem.
Yes, but they have a bean counter in Charge.
Stupid comment. This is an engineering choice and has nothing to do with bottom line. Not preventing expired batteries from shutting down would drive more replacements so your entire point is a dead end.
Apple hide from customers, including you, the CPU throttling "update". Now, how do you know they didn't do it with the purpose of selling more devices? Do you still trust them as before? Based in what I'm reading in different sites, that trust is taking a big hit right now, even with Apple fans.
So we have two scenarios:
One is Apple doing nothing about devices long out of warranty with well-worn batteries that will shutdown your device on heavy work loads so when you call them up or bring them into an Apple Store they recommend a $129(?) battery replacement or buying a new device.
The second option are the engineers finding a clever way to keep the device from shutting down so that the user isn't forced to buy a new battery and have it installed, or buy a new iPhone. They even list in Settings » Battery that the battery is degraded.
According to your comments, the first option would be more ideal despite it clearly being a much greater money maker for Apple, and yet Apple found a way to extend the usability of the device and help keep as close to the one numerically based spec they list for new devices (i.e.: battery life), which means they make less money from keeping devices working even longer.
Despite these two options you've somehow jumped onto a conspiracy even though Apple is offering OS updates much longer than their competitors and doing what they can to keep their devices running longer with the user needing to update is Apple trying to nickel-and-dime the consumer instead of trying to do right by the customer by lowering their TCO.
There is a 3rd scenario, Apple notify users on how the iOS update will throttle users with battery issues, and suggest them to replace the battery. Isn't this a better option than the other two? But that didn't happened. They kept it hidden, users had performance issues with iPhones, and no one, including Apple technical staff, knew that replacing the battery solved the issue. What are the options to have their performance back, considering they didn't knew about the CPU throttling? Replace the phone.
That bring the conspiracy thing. My opinion on this? There is no proof of it. But there was no proof either of Apple throttling CPU's, but in reality it was happening. So I can't blame people thinking that Apple took advantage of it to sell more phones.
BTW, how throttling CPU's in iPhone helps with TCO? On the contrary, I can imagine people calling help desk with performance issues after the "update", with no option to roll back because Apple forces you to keep the latest version. Only with this issue, TCO had to go up.
Comments
This is a significant point that seems to have been lost in the inevitably gleeful hysteria. The slowdown is not permanent. It only occurs if that battery is old AND there is danger that the phone is going to shut down. If the phone is constantly drawing power then you need to check to make sure that you haven't got a rogue app that is constantly talking to the internet or trying to get your location.
The other popular meme amongst the uniformed is that this slowdown is designed to fix a problem with the phone.
I don't think so.
A quick search of the web reveals that phones shutting down randomly has been a problem since before phones got smart. And when someone asks about it on a forum, the first reply is 'have you tried getting a new battery?'
So, Apple is not trying to hide a design fault with the phone, they're trying to come up with a way of stopping the phone doing something it is always going to do. In much the same way, a car battery can no longer hold its charge, then the car will become increasingly unreliable.
And this is not just a quick hack to hide some problem; this is part of the same invisible AI initiative that Apple talked about earlier this year:
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608051/tim-cook-technology-should-serve-humanity-not-the-other-way-around/
Well, will you look at that. They don't just made adjustments when the battery is old; they do it all the time.
So I think I'm going to ignore the folk who say I should boycott Apple products; this is exactly what I want my devices to do. I want them to use AI to make sure that I don't lose work for whatever reason. And I would prefer a slowdown (which I probably wouldn't notice) to having the phone switch off (which I definitely would).
Now, just imagine how much hassle Apple could have saved themselves if they'd mentioned this in the MIT Technology Review:
One of Apple's increasingly common forehead slapping moments I'm afraid.
I could show you my messages to my friends a couple of days after the upgrade. I don’t wanna start any conspiracy theory but this is very suspicious and the fact that Apple admitted there was a problem and it was easier to slow down older phones rather than fixing the issue speaks loud and clear. I would not mind downgrading to the previous iOS 10 to test if the battery issue gets resolved.
The current Apple has been burning the good reputation the previous Apple built. It's time to stop excusing everything they do and start holding them accountable.
You selected certain facts and ignored others.
Moreover the extent of the number of folks that elected to buy a new phone due to throttling is unknown and arguably lower than if you simply told them “yeah, your battery is 3 years old now so that why it crashes sometime. I can replace your battery for $80 if you like” as opposed to some minor throttling.
Yes, folks will claim that their iPhone 6 has been slowed to a crawl but more likely it was due to the iOS 11 issues which were fixed or they have other issues with the phone itself.
If my 6 with 20% wear level (considered high wear by the battery app I use called unimaginative “Battery Life”) still works well while gaming then any 6S should be working even better unless their battery wear is significantly higher than mine.
Apple, themselves, said that this is something they implemented last year (iOS 10.2.1) for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6S and iPhone SE and now extended that feature to iPhone 7 and 7 Plus with iOS 11.2. It is not something that they've done all along but was recently developed to cover up a different issue that was happening. So yes, it was "designed to fix a problem".
Everything else you posted is a distraction from the fact that Apple implemented this change without telling anyone. Especially in the face of long held rumors that they slowed older phones down in order to get more sales. They played right into the hands of those rumors.
Personally, I think three things happened (my 2 cents):
1) They tried to fix a shut down problem in phones with older / defective batteries.
2) They didn't disclose this to avoid bad PR
3) They didn't disclose because some people will opt for the upgrade.
A win, win, win - at least on paper.
I do think that Apple has had time to probably either fix, improve, or alievate the situation on the iPhone 8/8Plus/X. I would image that is was the low power cores are for.
Least ways I find it funny that Apple is coping the multi-core approach of android phones. That being said I don't really know if Android does any similar throttling (you always hear "lag" associated with Android). I think the only way that we would get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth was if Apple (Cook and other execs had to testify in front of Congress.) Lawsuits can be dragged out for years is not decades, but a Congressional summons can't be ignored.
If Apple doesn't disclose any more about how this came about its safe to assume that Tim Cook signed approved or ordered this. Otherwise Cook would be having the offending Executive issue a written Apology or fired asin the case of Forstall.
I have noticed this year that my iPhone 6 has gotten slower (after the 10.3.3 upgrade).
* I appreciate getting the following information on the web and later by Apple.
- That the iPhone 6 was getting slowed down by iOS 10.2 of later
- That the slowdown in 10.2 + was due to batteries below 80% capacity in the iPhone 6 having shutdown issues.
- Apple offers an $80 battery replacement for batteries below 80% capacity.
I plan to take advantage of that.
* I understand some things about tech;
- Batteries lose capacity over time, sometimes a large amount of capacity.
- Tech AI can be designed to try to fix problems. Whether that fix is acceptable is up to the user.
* As for the lawsuits, I'm not a lawyer and can't comment on that.
- I can see someone with a slowed iPhone 6 who bought an iPhone X suing Apple.
(But I didn't buy an iPhone X and I'm not suing Apple.)
* I'm able to make comparisons between companies.
- Google with the Pixel 2XL knowingly sold a defective screen which quickly has burnin issues. Google denies there is a problem.
http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/mobile-tabs/google-pixel-2-xl-screen-burn-in-issue-is-in-line-with-other-premium-phones-extends-warranty-to-2-years/
- Apple does not sell phones which have screen burnin after a few days.
Also, Apple is addressing the issue of wear and tear on the iPhone 6. They offer a low cost battery replacement option. Apple is trying to fix the shutdown problem in software.
- From my view, I prefer dealing with Apple over Google.
But Apple decided for the customer, throttle the CPU, and now customers had no idea that the phone slow down was caused by a "software update", and that replacing the battery fix the issue. Even AI people felt for it, and published an article with "proof" that the slowness was caused by old apps, or because "psychological" reasons.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/10/06/futuremark-analysis-debunks-rumor-that-apple-slows-older-iphones-down-on-purpose-with-ios-updates
No one knew about this, until Apple admission. BTW, I don't think people who bring the lawsuit are haters Remember, they are Apple customers too.
According to your comments, the first option would be more ideal despite it clearly being a much greater money maker for Apple, and yet Apple found a way to extend the usability of the device and help keep as close to the one numerically based spec they list for new devices (i.e.: battery life), which means they make less money from keeping devices working even longer.
Despite these two options you've somehow jumped onto a conspiracy even though Apple is offering OS updates much longer than their competitors and doing what they can to keep their devices running longer with the user needing to update is Apple trying to nickel-and-dime the consumer instead of trying to do right by the customer by lowering their TCO.
If someone really cares they can go through the Geekbench dataset to see what percentage of iPhone 6 and 6S are being throttled among the population of geekbench statistics.
I’m going to guess it’s low or it would have jumped out at folks. I have geekbench and my iPhone 6 with 20% wear is benching pretty close to average.
Regarding the conspiracy, there is no proof that Apple tried to sell more phones, but neither you had proof of CPU throttling in iPhones and look how it went. I think it's for the better to stop defending Apple, wait and see how it goes.
That bring the conspiracy thing. My opinion on this? There is no proof of it. But there was no proof either of Apple throttling CPU's, but in reality it was happening. So I can't blame people thinking that Apple took advantage of it to sell more phones.
BTW, how throttling CPU's in iPhone helps with TCO? On the contrary, I can imagine people calling help desk with performance issues after the "update", with no option to roll back because Apple forces you to keep the latest version. Only with this issue, TCO had to go up.