I just spent over $3,000 on a new MacBook Pro, and who's to say that Apple isn't going to throttle it after a year or two of wear of the built- in battery?
I just spent over $3,000 on a new MacBook Pro, and who's to say that Apple isn't going to throttle it after a year or two of wear of the built- in battery?
Nonsense. It has a huge battery that won’t fail in providing peak current. The voltage drawn is not proportional to the size of the device.
Did you sign a contract with Apple to not throttle your computer? Every computer is throttled for thermal management when temperature reaches critical levels before even the battery fails.
I just spent over $3,000 on a new MacBook Pro, and who's to say that Apple isn't going to throttle it after a year or two of wear of the built- in battery?
Nonsense. It has a huge battery that won’t fail in providing peak current. The voltage drawn is not proportional to the size of the device.
Did you sign a contract with Apple to not throttle your computer? Every computer is throttled for thermal management when temperature reaches critical levels before even the battery fails.
But but but. I want to decide whether or not I want my competer to melt.
Apple feels the need to roll over on this one because there’s a segment of consumers that are five, and don’t get the point of the way the iPhone functions under the circumstances as explained by Apple. It’s a total non-issue, but sometimes you have to simply bow to the absurd.
Why is it so impossible for so many to admit that Apple was wrong here?
There is nothing absurd in trying to figure out why your phone...which worked perfectly yesterday...now slows to a crawl after installing an official update. This is an issue. And Apple admitted it today.
They screwed this up not by hobbling functioning phones with an update but by not communicating with their customers what that update may look like after installed. They admitted it. And now, they’re gonna try to fix it...as they should.
Stop blaming the customer and let Apple fix this.
1. They weren't actually "wrong." Some folks not liking their design decisions doesn't make them "wrong." Maybe misunderstood, but it's at best a matter of semantic word play than anyone being in the wrong. Apple gave in to "the customer is always right... even when they don't understand perfectly reasonable motives explained in plain english". And since Apple is all about making consumers happy – often no matter what, they decided to roll over on this one. Probably for the best.
2. "now slows to a crawl after installing an official update." Conclusions drawn from assumptions. Will need to know age of phone, model, how it is being used, its condition, and exactly how many people are experiencing this. Personal anecdotes are of no interest. There's nothing here whatsoever from which to draw any conclusions.
3. They admitted to not making something clear that they thought was already understood. Apple taking responsibility doesn't admit of any actual wrongdoing. It's a business decision. Don't read too much into it. Apple's about making customers happy, even the unreasonable ones.
4. Customers very often a) don't read, b) don't understand even the most basic, straightforward logic, so yeah, I WILL blame the customer in many cases. But as with children who have patient parents, eventually mum and dad will make it all better.
5. I'm totally not preventing Apple from fixing this.
There is no actual conspiracy here. No "planned obsolescence" or any other cloak-and-dagger nonsense. Planned obsolescence does not sell new iPhones. New iPhones sell new iPhones.
They implemented a feature they thought made sense, and which they sincerely believed consumers would benefit from. They then went on to explain it, and given its logic, believed consumers would understand and appreciate same. It turned out differently, but not because of any nefarious activity.
So, in your mind, until Apple apologized Thursday for not telling anyone about this new feature, any customer who may have had negative experiences with the update was “holding it wrong”...? It’s all on the customer here, eh?
Tell me: If this “feature” had been rolled out quietly to Samsung devices with zero fanfare or with just a blip in a release document, would you have applauded the Samsung marketing department for giving the customer exactly what they didn’t know they wanted when they didn’t know they wanted it? Or would you have pointed and laughed at a complete lack of communication and, worse, a perceived lack of respect for customers?
In response to your first question: yes. Managing performance under certain conditions is both NORMAL and actually DESIRABLE, when the individual understands why it is happening or why it *might* happen. It’s done discreetly and very successfully on other forms of tech hardware without so much as a peep from anyone.
However, many consumers are uneducated as to this sort of thing and would rather knee-jerk than actually put what literacy they do have to good use. Hence, the plaintive cries for Apple to tell them all their precious innermosts. It’s kind of adorable, actually. “You never talk to me anymore!”
As to the hypothetical situation in your second paragraph, I normally don’t comment on hypotheticals because they aren’t real and don’t mean anything. But if Samsung had done the same thing I would have understood the reason because... I already know that performance management of this kind makes sense.
“Foggyhill” in this discussion has quite nicely nailed the basics of the issue, and better than I have. Refer to their posts for further information.
Nah. I’ll just leave it at this as we could go back and forth for days and I honestly don’t have the energy.
There are those who, for some odd reason, feel infatuated enough with this company that they’ll offer a pass or sugarcoat any kind of obvious negative Apple may produce.
There’s only so much, though, that holds up behind the Apple reality distortion field. You can claim the customer should just be quiet and be happy with what Apple provides. But it’s becoming crystal clear that our friends in Cupertino screwed the proverbial pooch here simply by not being transparent. Ya know how we know that today? Because they admitted it yesterday. And they’re gonna make it right. So, good on ‘em.
As for me, I gotta stay away from “fan” sites and stick with more general tech news outlets. Reading AI has begun to feel like trying to hang with the annoying clique in junior high school: You think it’ll work wonders for your social cred but the Nothing But Apple At Any Cost narrative just gives me a headache.
Happy new year.
The lack of transparency is in and of itself true, but not because they had something to hide. It was because that they sincerely (yes, Apple *can* he sincere, Lol) thought that an obvious power management feature doesn’t require a play-by-play explanation pulled directly from the white paper and then re-translated in giant, pink bubble letters on their website, or product packaging, or in an e-mail.
They were wrong in their assumption, and in a PR move they admitted responsibility anyway.
But regardless, it’s too bad you feel put off by AI.
Unfortunately with uneducated and/or malicious news sites misrepresenting the truth, and everyday consumers gobbling those up, this is turning into a PR disaster that will have long-lasting impact.
Apple confirms what I thought was the clear reason for the slowdown and the mechanism by which it was done — the Low Power Mode function being automatically applied.
Actually low power mode is faster than throttled down iPhone in that way...
Thank you, Apple, for stepping up with steep discounts for battery replacements.
I understand the reasoning behind the system slowdown for mostly worn out batteries... but thank you anyway for this "fix." My wife's iPhone 5s is only 2.5 years old and has major lag issues. Although this is outside of the program, I think I'll bring her phone in anyway for a Genius-look-see.
The software update will be a nice addition even for my iPhone 6 that only rarely has what appears to be battery issues (same 2.5 years old).
“Only 2.5 years old” ? Do you realize that 2.5 years old of daily use is quite a lot for a battery ?
Seeing an opportunity from Apple's public relations crisis, some competitors this week issued statements to say that they do not throttle the processing power of older devices.
That was not a publc relations “crisis” but an engineering and testing issue at first place. Slowness claims started with the release of iOS 11, and testing, locating and fixing the issue took until this date. Apple has identified the issue in adequate time and immediately communicated its findings and solutions. There is no “public relations crisis” at all, but some media outlets and trolls won’t stop and will continue to push to create an artificial crisis, even after that. As always, their efforts will be futile...
Big Apple lover here, but you’re wrong. This software fix is out since last year. Apple should have customers warned about that software solution, even if it actually is a good solution. I personally know many customers who replaced their iPhone 6 or 6S just under the impression of poor performance, when a fresh battery could have solved the issue. I’m waiting for Tim Cook resignation over this.
And for those users who do not know or care about how their phones actually work (i.e. the vast majority of users), the software update will lead to some phones randomly shutting down without warning and yet another class-action lawsuit against Apple for "intentionally putting out a software update that degrades the iPhone's reliability." Fuc*ing lawyers.
That’s not what the letter says. They’re not dropping the power management feature. They’re going to add a battery health status feature.
According to the letter, I’m under the impression they are going to fine tuning it a little bit. Maybe they will implement a less aggressive behavior.
People: "Apple, you're slowing down my phone without telling me!"
HTC and Motorola: "We don't slow down our phones!"
Apple: "We slow down our phones so they don't shut down while you're trying to call 911, but since that bothers some of you we'll give everyone a 60% discount on a new battery and the ability to see your battery's health."
People: "Thank you, Apple. That's why we love you."
One thing I haven't seen anyone address - as far as I know, shutdown issues were never a problem with previous iPhones, so what was it about the 6 and especially the 6S batteries that made this happen?
Seeing an opportunity from Apple's public relations crisis, some competitors this week issued statements to say that they do not throttle the processing power of older devices.
That was not a publc relations “crisis” but an engineering and testing issue at first place. Slowness claims started with the release of iOS 11, and testing, locating and fixing the issue took until this date. Apple has identified the issue in adequate time and immediately communicated its findings and solutions. There is no “public relations crisis” at all, but some media outlets and trolls won’t stop and will continue to push to create an artificial crisis, even after that. As always, their efforts will be futile...
Big Apple lover here, but you’re wrong. This software fix is out since last year. Apple should have customers warned about that software solution, even if it actually is a good solution. I personally know many customers who replaced their iPhone 6 or 6S just under the impression of poor performance, when a fresh battery could have solved the issue. I’m waiting for Tim Cook resignation over this.
There are many other reasons other than the depleting battery. My iPhone 6 Pluses have 89% to 95%. They don't shut down. What about Apple Watch Series 2? Why doesn't it responsive after upgraded to watchOS 4.2? When I bought my iPhone 6 Plus as a replacement of the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 4S vs 6 Plus gave me the same experience today for comparing the iPhone 6 Plus vs iPhone X.
Why AppleInsider doesn't address other reasons and complaints besides the Apple official excuse of a depleting battery?
Forget GeekBench4, it doesn't show the reality. Is there any other apps showing you the original time and latest time required to do the following actions:
1. to do a screenshot 2. to delete an app 3. to successfully perform a gesture on the touchscreen 4. to open the camera and be able to take a picture 5. to take a picture after the shutter button is pressed
When I bought a new iPhone 6 Plus, all 1 to 5 actions mentioned about took only a fraction of a second.
Now, the iPhone 6 Plus takes: - 6 to 10 seconds to do a screenshot - 20 to 40 seconds to delete an app - twice or multiple times to perform a gesture - about 10 seconds to take a picture - 2-3 seconds to take a picture after the shutter button is pressed
Today, my iPhone 3GS performs the above functions similar to iPhone 4S and much faster than the iPhone 6 Plus. And the iPhone 4S is taking a picture as fast as an iPhone X! Why?
In just 2 years time, I am expecting the iPhone X will be slowed down along the same way as my iPhone 6 Plus.
I’d call your post as totally bs ... if half of the above is true, you just have a defective iPhone
I said from day one when this first errupted this would be a huge PR problem for Apple. I wasn’t wrong. This is a good step though I agree with Ben Bajarin the $29 battery price should be permanent. Also I’m seeing quite a few posts from people saying their phone was fine with iOS 10 but when they upgraded to iOS 11 it really started to slow down. Seems there’s more issues than just the battery. Hopefully future point releases will fix these issues.
Every new iOS version has this slowing effect in the first versions, want me to dig out the posts on iOS 4 5 7 8 9 10 good grief, there is a reason why mass hysteria and the placebo effect exist, people have terrible memories and also good at seeing things were none exist: aka conspiracies
Indeed. Every year the same hysteria... btw iOS 11.2 is not slow at all, even on my ageing iPad mini 4
Seeing an opportunity from Apple's public relations crisis, some competitors this week issued statements to say that they do not throttle the processing power of older devices.
That was not a publc relations “crisis” but an engineering and testing issue at first place. Slowness claims started with the release of iOS 11, and testing, locating and fixing the issue took until this date. Apple has identified the issue in adequate time and immediately communicated its findings and solutions. There is no “public relations crisis” at all, but some media outlets and trolls won’t stop and will continue to push to create an artificial crisis, even after that. As always, their efforts will be futile...
Big Apple lover here, but you’re wrong. This software fix is out since last year. Apple should have customers warned about that software solution, even if it actually is a good solution. I personally know many customers who replaced their iPhone 6 or 6S just under the impression of poor performance, when a fresh battery could have solved the issue. I’m waiting for Tim Cook resignation over this.
"This software fix is out since last year": you mean iOS 10.2.1
"Apple should have customers warned about that software solution": you mean iOS 10.2.1 release notes.
"I personally know many customers who replaced their iPhone 6 or 6S just under the impression of poor performance, when a fresh battery could have solved the issue.": Yes it is their fault if they didn't contact Genius Bar, authorized service provider or their AppleCare to claim poor performance issue. Of course a fresh battery could have solved the issue but they just didn't choose that way and opted for a new iPhone.
An unusual slowness is always a support issue, not a PR or communication issue. There are myriad of reasons that can cause such a slowness, the aging battery is not the only cause.
Comments
Did you sign a contract with Apple to not throttle your computer? Every computer is throttled for thermal management when temperature reaches critical levels before even the battery fails.
The lack of transparency is in and of itself true, but not because they had something to hide. It was because that they sincerely (yes, Apple *can* he sincere, Lol) thought that an obvious power management feature doesn’t require a play-by-play explanation pulled directly from the white paper and then re-translated in giant, pink bubble letters on their website, or product packaging, or in an e-mail.
They were wrong in their assumption, and in a PR move they admitted responsibility anyway.
But regardless, it’s too bad you feel put off by AI.
Happy New Year to you as well.
Do you realize that 2.5 years old of daily use is quite a lot for a battery ?
I’m waiting for Tim Cook resignation over this.
Smart people always get "screwed".
"Apple should have customers warned about that software solution": you mean iOS 10.2.1 release notes.
"I personally know many customers who replaced their iPhone 6 or 6S just under the impression of poor performance, when a fresh battery could have solved the issue.": Yes it is their fault if they didn't contact Genius Bar, authorized service provider or their AppleCare to claim poor performance issue. Of course a fresh battery could have solved the issue but they just didn't choose that way and opted for a new iPhone.
An unusual slowness is always a support issue, not a PR or communication issue. There are myriad of reasons that can cause such a slowness, the aging battery is not the only cause.