South Korea probes Apple's decision to slow down iPhones with weak batteries
The Korea Communications Commission has reportedly asked for an explanation in the wake of Apple's admission that it slows down older iPhones to prolong battery life.
"We are hoping to get some answers on whether Apple intentionally restricted the performance of old iPhones and tried to hide this from customers," the Commission said according to The Korea Herald. The organization can't actually launch a formal investigation of Apple, since it's a multinational firm beyond its jursidiction.
Nevertheless the request could signal greater problems for Apple. The company is already facing a mounting number of lawsuits in the U.S. and elsewhere, and it might not be long before other governments take action. In fact Korean lawmakers have been proposing changes which could theoretically bring companies like Apple under more accountability.
On Dec. 20, Apple responded to a growing number of anecdotes about iPhone batteries with a statement.
"Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices," the company said. "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.
"Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We've now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future."
Critics, including some plaintiffs, have noted that Apple benefits from this financially. Customers dealing with a lethargic iPhone may be prompted to buy a new one instead of asking for a battery upgrade, which in some cases Apple might be obligated to provide for free. The issue is compounded by the demands newer apps and iOS updates can impose.
"We are hoping to get some answers on whether Apple intentionally restricted the performance of old iPhones and tried to hide this from customers," the Commission said according to The Korea Herald. The organization can't actually launch a formal investigation of Apple, since it's a multinational firm beyond its jursidiction.
Nevertheless the request could signal greater problems for Apple. The company is already facing a mounting number of lawsuits in the U.S. and elsewhere, and it might not be long before other governments take action. In fact Korean lawmakers have been proposing changes which could theoretically bring companies like Apple under more accountability.
On Dec. 20, Apple responded to a growing number of anecdotes about iPhone batteries with a statement.
"Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices," the company said. "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.
"Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We've now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future."
Critics, including some plaintiffs, have noted that Apple benefits from this financially. Customers dealing with a lethargic iPhone may be prompted to buy a new one instead of asking for a battery upgrade, which in some cases Apple might be obligated to provide for free. The issue is compounded by the demands newer apps and iOS updates can impose.
Comments
👍🏾🤣👍🏾
But us forgetting the usual crowd of gleeful detractors, remember that many of their most well-known cheerleaders have been saying the slowdowns aren’t happening, because they didn’t know what the phone was doing.
Communication, however, was piss poor.
So I talked to Apple Support. The support tech ran a little remote utility to read the iPhone's statistics, she said yep, that battery needs to be replaced. It turns out my iPhone was eligible for an extended warranty replacement on the battery. Some early 6s models would shut down unexpectedly when the battery was low, the fix was a replacement battery, so Apple extended the warranty for these defective models. It sounds like this is the specific problem the new iOS CPU throttling is designed to address. My iPhone 6s never had the shutdown problem, so I never had the battery replaced. But it's still eligible so Apple agreed to just swap it for a new iPhone, they will cross-ship a new 6s, FedEx it overnight, I migrate to the new iPhone and send the old one back. Nice. I don't have to send my iPhone to repair with a round trip of 3-5 business days. I just paid $29 shipping and my replacement iPhone is already out for FedEx delivery, about 16 hours after my call to Apple. Oh no, I just realized, I forgot to make sure they sent me the same 64Gb Space Gray model, all my accessories are Space Gray.
Anyway, this is why I buy Apple (and I told this to Apple too). They offer extended warranty terms that are sometimes generous and resale prices on good used iPhones are surprisingly high. I also told them, I only burned up this battery with too many recharge cycles because I use it all the time. I watch DirecTV for hours, as well as other videos I download. But the big battery burner seems to be games that show 30 to 60 second commercials. Good thing I have an unlimited data plan, but I didn't consider the iPhone battery life isn't unlimited. People often complain about iPhones' battery life, and I always tell them, well the battery life sucks because you're always using it. Maybe you should just put it down and stop using it occasionally. As Groucho Marx once said, "I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while!"
I agree that this should have been communicated to at least the Apple Store employees.
I expect Phil Schiller to call a press conference soon. Would this fall under his management?
Er… what?
When the phone tells me that the battery needs servicing, then it reasonably expects that common sense should tell me that I should:
a. Get the battery serviced
b. Expect degraded performance and/or an eventual shutdown.
What it doesn't need to do is give me a list of possible causes for the battery problem or associated symptoms, because until the phone is looked at by a qualified bod then it's best not to assume what the problem is. The warning is there to get people to take the phone back to the shop. It is not there to give them a readout of possible scenarios and then say, "Your choice, dude."
When my car warns me that it is running out of petrol then I can:
a. Stop the car at a filling station
b. Carry on, but expect degraded performance and/or an eventual shutdown.
What my car doesn't do, is try to guess how long I can run on fumes because that can change depending on how I'm driving it.
If the phone says the battery needs servicing, I don't checklist of options to tell me to get the battery serviced.
smh