Apple confirms it's intentionally slowing down iPhones with old batteries

21 December 2017
The company said it decreased the performance in order to keep the battery life longer.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • qMI
  • 23 Dec 2017

Lex79, 23 Dec 2017Well of course I am wrong, everytime I speak with someone o... moreI see why Apple had no problem admitting this after they were backed into the corner. It's wrong think to ever call them out on their BS.

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    • Lex79
    • pLT
    • 23 Dec 2017

    AnonD-80165, 23 Dec 2017I said many devices didn't needed this. You said that those... moreYeah your confusing the issue now. Of course this is related to updates, how else are apple going to slow down older devices?

    Apples approach is to offer support via software for as long as possible, and in doing so have made some debatable choices, that they haven't been transparent in this only intensifies that debate.

    In the android world, up until very recently the approach was to drop support as soon as OEMs felt they can get away with doing so, especially outside of the flagship space.

    I'm not taking sides with either approach, I'm happy using either android or iOS based devices.

    It's easy to see though that as soon as this story broke, the android fanboys (feeling as though all they Christmases had come at once) were practically tripping over each other to make as big an issue as possible.

    Is there at least some element of Apple trying to coax sales of newer hardware.....most likely yes. Hate to break it to you all but Apple are in the business of making loads of money, and they are predominantly a hardware company first. Voice your displeasure through your wallet and don't buy iPhones if you don't like it.

    But also though this could be looked on as Apple making some effort to extend the life of ageing hardware through software compromise.

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      • AnonD-80165
      • Ln$
      • 23 Dec 2017

      Lex79, 23 Dec 2017Well of course I am wrong, everytime I speak with someone o... moreI said many devices didn't needed this. You said that those devices might not have received updates, I said that they did received those indeed.

      Then I said I think that this have nothing to do with software updates... thats just it.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • v3B
        • 23 Dec 2017

        all phone/tech reviewers prior had no problems with iPhones. Even after comparing, they can still see them being faster than android phones which actually does lag and get hiccups over time. apple haters gotta find a reason to hate?

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          • Lex79
          • pLT
          • 23 Dec 2017

          AnonD-80165, 22 Dec 2017You are wrong. The Android Devices I meant are mostly from ... moreWell of course I am wrong, everytime I speak with someone on here I end up being wrong. That's just an obvious conclusion when you all can't help but being right about everything all the time!

          In any event, I did say most android devices, your little list doesn't constitute most now does it. And why your bring up the N80 I'll never know, when did that last get an update...2007???

          Not sure why your bringing up laptops either?? Does this issue also effect macbook??? I thought it was only aimed at iOS devices?

          All I said was is that it appears to be a software solution to a hardware issue, people can of course disagree with it by all means, Apple definitely haven't gone about it in the best way and now seem to be paying the price.

          Were I still using an iPhone, like a 6 or something and Apple down clocked the soc to help prolong the battery....well as long as the user experience wasnt too compromised, then I don't think I'd have a problem with it. I'd just like to be told upfront is all.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • v3B
            • 23 Dec 2017

            they were slowing down my iphone intentionally? did not feel it at all on regular day to day. Yet how come my android phone is still slowing down faster than it? LOL

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              • Anonymous
              • Kin
              • 23 Dec 2017

              AnonD-80165, 22 Dec 2017Its funny how very other device in the world (Android, wind... moreExactly.
              What's the basis for Apple making such decision
              Is there any research paper that backs up their claim

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • pp3
                • 23 Dec 2017

                I have a 1 year old iphone 6 on ios 11.2 . Performance is appalling AND the battery life is appalling. I wouldn't put it past apple that they crippled both performance + battery to make devices perfom horrbily and make people upgrade. More investigation needed.

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                  • AnonD-80165
                  • JuH
                  • 22 Dec 2017

                  Lex79, 22 Dec 2017The difference is most android devices have long since ceas... moreYou are wrong. The Android Devices I meant are mostly from the Galaxy S and Note series, with a couple Xperia Z and Motorola X.
                  All flagship, all were updated loooong past a year. My Galaxy Note 5 has been updated two weeks ago, even though I already have a Note 8 (I'm typing from it right now), even though the Note 5 has around 17% degradation on the battery, it doesn't downclocks.

                  My laptop has 3 years and don't downclocks.

                  Heck, even my souvenir Nokia N80 doesn't downclocks and it's battery IS bloated.

                  My old S7 edge don't downclocks. My Nvidia Shield tablet is from 2015, it still updates and doesn't downclocks.


                  By the way, why you say it MUST be made by an update? If that were ONLY possible to be done via an updated firmware (meaning that the old one couldn't contemplate this "feature") it's just another evidence of programmed obsolence.

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                    • AnonD-720827
                    • sF$
                    • 22 Dec 2017

                    Chisslegrog, 22 Dec 2017Bought my girlfriend an ipad pro 12.9 inch with 256gb stora... moreAfter a year of release I would say. Since Apple said that iPhone 7 got it with iOS 11.2 which is only abit more than a year after the release of iPhone 7.

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                      • Lex79
                      • pLT
                      • 22 Dec 2017

                      AnonD-80165, 22 Dec 2017Its funny how very other device in the world (Android, wind... moreThe difference is most android devices have long since ceased to be software supported by the time their battery has had a chance to sufficiently degrade.

                      Not defending Apple here, whilst I think this to be nothing more than a software solution to an engineering problem, I do think Apple have hurt themselves by not being more transparent about it.

                      Kind of makes them look sneaky, and as though they have been caught in the act. They could have mentioned this in software change logs as an effort to preserve battery longevity.

                      People might then still have disagreed with the solution of course, but at least they would have been informed.

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                        • AnonD-80165
                        • LnQ
                        • 22 Dec 2017

                        Its funny how very other device in the world (Android, windows phone, laptops and even grandpa old feature phones) don't need to underclock while the battery degrades.

                        All battery degrades ONLY Apple underclocks. Apple say its a feature. I call it programmed obsolence.

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                          • AnonD-80334
                          • MiF
                          • 22 Dec 2017

                          It's ridiculous explanation, Apple isn't the only company using Li-ion batteries. My Asus laptop has Li-ion batteries, it's 3 years old and sure while gaming it discharges from 100% to 10% in just 20-25 minutes (without crippling performance), but point is i have control whether to run it in power efficiency mode or performance mode or custom power profile. This is like shifting the blame on Li-ion batteries without admitting they scre**d up, IF Li-ion has shortcomings use Li-Po, but that's expensive than Li-ion, both have pros and cons but my LG Nexus 4(with Li-Po battery) still doing better in terms of performance that it did it did 4 years ago.... Antutu scores are definitely higher today even though SoT of the battery is poor..... First they think that slowing down devices without informing users is the best way to go and second they don't admin that it's poor resource management on their OS (drawing higher peak currents) as there are other operating systems that don't do same with older Li-ion batteries and third they try to label it as feature and have gall to repeat same mistake in iPhone 7 (and in future devices).... This is incredible amount of smugness and worse still that some bloggers are defending this.....

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                            • AnonD-80165
                            • LnQ
                            • 22 Dec 2017

                            Anonymous, 22 Dec 2017You are wrong. Voltage drops as well. Just test it yourself... moreI used to undervolt AND overclock all my devices after a year once they runned out of the warranty.

                            I always thought that degradation didn't affected the voltages. As many many diagnostics software we run to test OC stability shows battery info, and even when it displayed like -20% capacity, it never ever showed a relevant difference in the voltages. In many devices I had since the galaxy S2.

                            On some phones, it even shows on its own device info config tab.

                            I thought that voltage differences ocurred when the battery got too hot and bloated or stuff like that.

                              Now you know why Apple killed replaceable battery.
                              :)

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • thu
                                • 22 Dec 2017

                                meh

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                                  • Chisslegrog
                                  • SpI
                                  • 22 Dec 2017

                                  Bought my girlfriend an ipad pro 12.9 inch with 256gb storage for her birthday and find out it may be slown down after a certain period for the sake of 'battery preservation' which is hard to determine how apple decides the drain on the battery is sufficient for this. Is is hours of usage, is it length of time you've owned the device, is it just literally how old the device is (regardless of when you purchased it)? To say they already rip people off on products like the fast chargers and accessories along with having a big disappointment with how user friendly it was in regards to sharing the ipad and having multiple accounts / profiles on the same device (like multiple logins on a computer) it will definitely be the last apple product I buy. By the point I upgrade there should be good alternatives for drawing on android hopefully and if not then just a laptop / surface pro style tab computer will have to do.

                                    AnonD-664474, 21 Dec 2017Okay Apple, but I have the iPad Air 2 since 2015, and its p... moreHave you personally used an iPhone which exhibits the slow down that has been reported, if you haven't then you can't make a comment on how it performs, the cup scales all the way down to 600mhz, try using any phone at that speed and it's utter crap.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • 4Hx
                                      • 22 Dec 2017

                                      Having owned multiple iPhone 6 Plus', I can say, Hell yeah, it matters! My current iphone 6 runs about as fast as my iphone 4 did when it was 2 gens outdated! I had Apple Support do a remote diagnostics on my phone.. "everything is fine! it's working within parameters. Your battery is at 86% efficiency". How come when it says I have 56% (like today), it suddenly locks, shuts down, and won't reboot until I plug it in, stating the battery is dead. When I plug it in, I can reboot it within 30 seconds, and suddenly it says I'm at 46% battery life. I unplug it and can use it for another 2 hours+ without incident, aside from the fact that it's slow.. as always...? The past phones didn't have this problem, but the past phones were brand new out of the box with brand new batteries. This one was used for a little over a year before I obtained it, so the battery already had wear on it.

                                      Every laptop I've ever owned, operates at full capabilities unless you tell it otherwise, until it's battery is dead. That means if the battery can only last half as long, it does so, at full power, then you go down. If you plug it in, it runs full power indefinitely. The iphone however says "Nope, battery is old, I'm going to run slow. Plug me in, the battery is still old. I will run slow." This is a crock of crap. Downgrade me because my battery is old? Screw you!

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • dWg
                                        • 22 Dec 2017

                                        Love the Community, 22 Dec 2017Do we care? We buy Apple for the name, the iconic design, t... moreWhen you fix battery issue with performance drop.
                                        Apple.