Apple slows down old phones to "save battery life"

Software & Operating Systems
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1

article is short and kinda info-less, them seems true because i have an iphone 6 (im broke, was free) that takes 9 goddamn years to open anything or unlock

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iPhone 5s here. Runs just as fast as when first released. Really decent battery life, usually one charge gets me through the day. Usually the phone just needs to be uncluttered and close apps when your done, it kills battery life if you don’t, and the slowdown is real after 5 are left open.

3

The iPhone 5 is not affected. From http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42438745

"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.

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Oh that’s nice.
Gonna use it till it dies I guess

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My mom and GF both got an iPhone 6 and they are definitely affected by this issue, gonna replace the batteries and restore them to their former glory. Kinda sucks that this happens, but after three years of daily use I guess the battery has run its course.

6

Clever way to explain planned obsolescence

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I work in a telco dealership; experiencing a moral dilemma on this one. Do I tell customers about what Apple is doing to these phones and risk loosing sales (or get accused of dirty upselling), or keep my mouth shut and let people learn the hard way?

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Obviously Apple doesn’t participate in Battery neutrality. Next they will introduce a pricing structure that includes not slowing your phone down if you pay $5 per month.

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Most of the phones that are communal for a few departments at work are either 5S, 6, or 6S (it’s rotation based, manager gets new phone, old one gets passed to be used by acting supervisors). Every once and a while they land on my desk for updates (or someone put a passcode on one) and they’re just as fast as a new iPhone.

I don’t believe for a second that this is true. People like installing all sorts of garbage on their phones that hog the CPU. Doesn’t matter what it is iOS or not. Every single complaint I’ve gotten about battery or speed turned out to be caused by some app that they had installed.

This all being said, OTA updates = dirty flash. THESE CAUSE PROBLEMS. Anyone who frequently flashes custom roms on android devices probably knows what I’m talking about. Doesn’t matter what OS it is, it’s not a good practice.

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There is no speculation here. Apple has confirmed this.

The company has now said it does slow down some models as they age, […]

Why would they lie?

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Even worse, this is actively implemented obsolescence.

People generally understand that batteries wear out, so this isn’t even a “fix” as much as it’s gimping the product. It should be an opt-in, not a forced-in update.

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I know, it’s not only apple, other brands are doing planned obsolecense in other ways. Not updating android or the security patch for example.

Though apple could with their budget research and deliver better technology than lithium-ion or at least promise limited-lifetime warranty for the battery only, they have the budget for that.

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"Apple on Wednesday said a software feature released last year makes your phone operate more slowly"
Best part of entire thing.

Sadly even with this knowledge people will still continue to buy iPhones.

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Most people that buy iPhones won’t know this though because most of them aren’t informed.

Also this has been around for ages on Laptops.
Even the old MacBooks are noticeably slower if you remove the battery and just run them on the wallplug (source: I have one).

And honestly it does make sense in a way. But as was said above it should be an optional thing. Make the user choose between reduced battery life or reduced performance when the battery reaches a “critical point”. But then again, Apple isn’t exactly about choice ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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CNET, Geekbench, Apple… the 3 brand names that profit while offering little to no substance.

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Never experienced on any non mac laptop other then the new windows ones.

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I mean who are you upselling, Android sucks too.

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Don’t forget Windows phone. They ALL suck. They all inflate their operating system resource costs. They all want you to buy a new phone as often as possible because they all claim they are “creating jobs” which is just a lie. They create problems. Stupid people solve them for less money than they deserve. The companies contracting make a cut. The patent owners make the biggest cut. Nobody actually wins. They claim it is “healthy competition” or whatever bullshit they can think of. They tie in political debate or social issues with marketers. They just want money, period.

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Windows Phone is dead. Android and iOS blows.

I am honestly just waiting for niches like Librem 5 phone at this point as far as phones go. I don’t need a phone that does crazy ass NVMe SSD crap (my desktop don’t even need NVMe SSD, so why the hell does my PHONE? If I needed an NVMe SSD on any machine, my desktop or laptop would be the first to get it), 4K displays (they are a bigger benefit on bigger screens, I am content with 1080p or even 720p on a 5" screen, etc.

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Like we concluded, they all suck. Delibaretly, intentionally, 110% on purpose. It’s not like “we just dont know” “The AI did it” Or whatever else these corps may claim. They could make any of the systems awesome, they choose not to. Even the app stores overall, are complete utter shit. Finding a resonable app, for any purpose takes more time than making yourself a homemade lasagna or even longer.

Then they are many of these well… Idiots basically, which claim that you can “Just not use it” Really now? Get yourselves together. You’re forced to use whatever, in one way or another. Stop claiming otherwise.

Hard to not be somewhat nihilistic about it and the world, when we live in a digital age that could be more beatiful, then any time ever. Corps, just choose not to want that. Delibaretly, intentionally and again 115% on purpose.

Possible solutions,

Making the battery removable/replaceable, possibly by other battery brands (Cheapest).

Coding a high quality code, battery calibration tool for every device (Less expensive)

Limited 2 year warranty. (Expensive)

1 Like