toddimt

larrya said:

Sorry, guys, I have to disagree. These batteries are evidence that could show Apple was throttling devices with objectivity good batteries. Maybe the diagnostic data could show the same thing, maybe it would be insufficient. 

So. How will this show that Apple was throttling devices with objectively good batteries? The request makes no sense. How would looking at old batteries tell if a device was throttled prior. If the law firm somehow knew that a device was throttled, they then would ask to have that battery removed and replaced and then save the battery for evidence. But... If the phone is better and faster after battery replacement, then what is the point? Just saving all replaced batteries does nothing to prove their case.  How would one know if the device, whose battery was replaced, was even being throttled? I just brought my sons iPhone6 in for battery replacement. all they did was run a battery diagnostic to check battery life and cycle count. Based on the number of cycles the test suggested replacement. However, this does not check for throttling and there is no mechanism to do that either from what I can see test wise at the Apple Store. Also, throttling is not constant and only happens based on processor intensity with depleted battery life.

The issue I thought from the class action argument is two fold: 

1) People got rid of their devices, "prematurely", to upgrade, when all they may have needed to do was replace the battery. 
2) That Apple is intentionally throttling older device regardless of whether there are issues with the battery or not.

The whole thing came to light when it was discovered that changing the battery improved performance on an iPhone 6. So, thin in it of itself proves the point that Apple isn't purposefully slowing down older phones, regardless of battery life. A phone that is still slow, after  battery has been replaced, doesn't equate throttling the device on purpose either, since there could be another hardware issue, data corruption, etc that could be a cause for the slow down. As far as point 1 above, if Apple didn't add the code to throttle the processor at peak times, those customer would have ended up with a phone that reboots randomly during peak processing usage. Those same people would have chosen to upgrade their older devices then anyway. So moot point. If anything apple increased the longevity of those devices but did it without communicating the issue properly upfront. 

The answer at this point is simple. For one, the software should prompt the user that the battery has degraded to a point where the battery can no longer run the "certain processes" at full speed. Second, it should then auto turn on the functionality to slow down the processes, as current, but have the option to toggle this setting off or on. Users should be given the option in the dialog box above to turn off slowing down the processes. If they choose to turn it off then, or later, then the user should be given another prompt that turning off this feature can cause the phone to shutdown/restart due to the degraded battery. Then confirm you want to continue. Apple then has on record that people specificall chose to turn this feature off. Third, there should be some kind of icon depicting that the battery is in a degraded state. Maybe changing the icon for the battery or making it a different color etc, so its front and center for the user that their device's battery has reached a critical point.

The answer at this point is simple. For one, the software should prompt the user that the battery has degraded to a point where the battery can no longer run the "certain processes" at full speed. Second, it should then auto turn on the functionality to slow down the processes, as current, but have the option to toggle this setting off or on. Users should be given the option in the dialog box above to turn off slowing down the processes. If they choose to turn it off then, or later, then the user should be given another prompt that turning off this feature can cause the phone to shutdown/restart due to the degraded battery. Then confirm you want to continue. Apple then has on record that people specifically chose to turn this feature off. Third, there should be some kind of icon depicting that the battery is in a degraded state. Maybe changing the icon for the battery or making it a different color etc, so its front and center for the user that their device's battery has reached a critical point.