4 ms·

This whole battery scandal is ridiculous. It's literally the opposite of planned obsolescence, they're prolonging the usable life of these phones by underclock

This whole battery scandal is ridiculous. It's literally the opposite of planned obsolescence, they're prolonging the usable life of these phones by underclocking them enough to stay functional for a full day, when otherwise they'd be shutting off randomly. I wish I could underclock even with a fresh battery in order to have solid 2-day battery life.

chowyuncat 9y ago
No, the consumer doesn't have enough information in this case. They are more than likely going to buy a new phone rather than a new battery.
- MBCook 9y ago
  Under the old software, where the phone would randomly turn off on you, what do you think they would’ve done? Probably the same thing. Buy a new phone.
  - singhrac 9y ago
    I think the argument is that one would notice that the battery drains very quickly, and starts shutting off at a certain percent. Then they could know the battery is a problem, and pay $79 to get that replaced, instead of upgrading.
    - MBCook 9y ago
      That makes sense. So I question the question is would users be happier having their phone slow down or having the battery appear to drain extremely fast? I guess my answer to that would depend on how bad the average “slowdown“ is. I think you’re right if the issue is serious, but if most people only take a 10% hit when your phone is old then the slowdown may be a better option.
    - goialoq 9y ago
      That's not how it works. The phone crashes when the CPU load spikes higher than the degraded battery can support.
      - MBCook 9y ago
        I think this Siri there is that if the battery is only capable of supporting full voltage when it’s charged to 80% or more, then you consider that top 20% the full range of the battery and when the battery gets to 80% actual charge you tell the user it’s at zero. I’ll admit that I’m not sure how possible that is. If this technique would let you pretend that the battery only had half its capacity left without slowing down the phone then that maybe one thing. If even a slight battery degradation meant you have to pretend the phone only had 1/20th of its original battery left then obviously that’s pointless.
  - dingo_bat 9y ago
    The random shutdowns sound like a technical problem with the phone. The correct solution is for Apple to fix it. It doesn't happen on any other flagship phone. So you are being disingenuous in listing that as a choice. The real choice is between slowing down the whole phone or the battery lasting a day instead of a day and a half. Or another choice is for Apple to include bigger batteries so that the degraded battery still provides a day and a half of usage.
  - chowyuncat 9y ago
    The consumer-friendly response is a large notification that explains that the battery should be replaced while also downclocking.
    - MBCook 9y ago
      I agree completely. Whatever Apple did, that should have been included. I’m glad they’re doing it now.
Game_Ender 9y ago
Apple knows what typical usage patterns will do to the battery. If most customers hit an issue that degrades their phone performance before 1 year, then Apple made that conscious decision when doing system design (multiple phones have this issue). It’s fully within their power to spec a battery that lasts a bit longer.
kingnothing 9y ago
They always release a new OS when a new phone comes out, which puts more strain on the old phones, causing them to perform worse because they have old batteries. It's pretty similar to planned obsolescence that has a good technical explanation.
ricardobeat 9y ago
Do you own an affected phone? Ridiculous is my $800 year-old device stuttering like it was Android 1.5.
- nikisweeting 9y ago
  Yes, I own an iPhone 6 and it works fine. My battery is around ~75% health and I sometimes get underclocked, it's still fast enough for me though.
  - ricardobeat 9y ago
    We must be getting completely different experiences then. I have a couple of friends with the same issues as mine, I know I'm not alone. It started immediately after upgrading to iOS 11. Pulling down search on the home screen: freeze. Typing into search input: freeze. Unlocking from notifications screen: freeze. Freezes every two or three times an app is opened or closed. Screen transitions always stutter a little, Safari hangs, screen becomes unresponsive, sometimes it just starts draining battery and gets hot with no app running at all. I think my mention of Android triggered some emotions here (many downvotes). My first smartphone was a Dell with 1.5 that ran horribly slow, around 2010. That one was really bad, couldn't even answer calls most of that time due to unresponsive UI, and is still my benchmark for bad experience. This iPhone is getting quite close.
yoodenvranx 9y ago
> It's literally the opposite of planned obsolescence Having a too small battery is the exact definition of planned obsolescence! If they hadn't tried to make the phones as small as possible and used a battery with 20% more capacity the problems would not be as severe.
- hk__2 9y ago
  > Having a too small battery is the exact definition of planned obsolescence! That’s not true. Having a too-small battery on purpose is planned obsolescence. Having a small battery (what does "too small" means? Compared to what?) has nothing to do with that. That’s the purpose of "planned" in "planned obsolescence".
  - yoodenvranx 9y ago
    > what does "too small" means If a battery has not enough capacity to carry the phone trough a whole day after 1-2 years of use then it was too small to begin with. I have the feeling that iPhone batteries are just large enough that the phones survives a day of medium use if the phone is brand new. After 1 or 2 years the battery is so bad that it barely holds enough charge for a few hours of usage.
    - hk__2 9y ago
      > I have the feeling that iPhone batteries are just large enough that the phones survives a day of medium use if the phone is brand new. After 1 or 2 years the battery is so bad that it barely holds enough charge for a few hours of usage. That’s just a feeling. I’ve had my iPhone for 3 years now and the battery is completely fine.
xanadohnt 9y ago
Not. Even. I felt forced to upgrade my 6 because it was unbearably slow. The battery? Excellent. In fact, at the time of trade-in, it was lasting longer than my iPhone X does brand new. More proof - the 6 was actually almost brand new itself; 3 months prior I smashed the screen and Apple replaced the entire unit (yes, generous on their part) instead of a screen swap (the body was bent enough to not allow a screen replacement). New unit, new battery, and thus not just anecdotal evidence. Perhaps there is _some_ good intention on Apple's part. But I think it hides a just-as-motivating factor as forcing upgrade purchases. My opinion is their position is disingenuous at best. I would rather see them move toward the customer having the control to choose the experience or not instead of - as they explained - only adding transparency into the decisions into which Apple is forcing you. Plainly, my experience was: I had perfectly healthy hardware, yet my 2-gen old device was almost too slow to be useable. And now here I sit with a $1200 unnecessary replacement.

chowyuncat 9y ago

No, the consumer doesn't have enough information in this case. They are more than likely going to buy a new phone rather than a new battery.

MBCook 9y ago
Under the old software, where the phone would randomly turn off on you, what do you think they would’ve done? Probably the same thing. Buy a new phone.
- singhrac 9y ago
  I think the argument is that one would notice that the battery drains very quickly, and starts shutting off at a certain percent. Then they could know the battery is a problem, and pay $79 to get that replaced, instead of upgrading.
  - MBCook 9y ago
    That makes sense. So I question the question is would users be happier having their phone slow down or having the battery appear to drain extremely fast? I guess my answer to that would depend on how bad the average “slowdown“ is. I think you’re right if the issue is serious, but if most people only take a 10% hit when your phone is old then the slowdown may be a better option.
  - goialoq 9y ago
    That's not how it works. The phone crashes when the CPU load spikes higher than the degraded battery can support.
    - MBCook 9y ago
      I think this Siri there is that if the battery is only capable of supporting full voltage when it’s charged to 80% or more, then you consider that top 20% the full range of the battery and when the battery gets to 80% actual charge you tell the user it’s at zero. I’ll admit that I’m not sure how possible that is. If this technique would let you pretend that the battery only had half its capacity left without slowing down the phone then that maybe one thing. If even a slight battery degradation meant you have to pretend the phone only had 1/20th of its original battery left then obviously that’s pointless.
- dingo_bat 9y ago
  The random shutdowns sound like a technical problem with the phone. The correct solution is for Apple to fix it. It doesn't happen on any other flagship phone. So you are being disingenuous in listing that as a choice. The real choice is between slowing down the whole phone or the battery lasting a day instead of a day and a half. Or another choice is for Apple to include bigger batteries so that the degraded battery still provides a day and a half of usage.
- chowyuncat 9y ago
  The consumer-friendly response is a large notification that explains that the battery should be replaced while also downclocking.
  - MBCook 9y ago
    I agree completely. Whatever Apple did, that should have been included. I’m glad they’re doing it now.

Game_Ender 9y ago

Apple knows what typical usage patterns will do to the battery. If most customers hit an issue that degrades their phone performance before 1 year, then Apple made that conscious decision when doing system design (multiple phones have this issue). It’s fully within their power to spec a battery that lasts a bit longer.

kingnothing 9y ago

They always release a new OS when a new phone comes out, which puts more strain on the old phones, causing them to perform worse because they have old batteries. It's pretty similar to planned obsolescence that has a good technical explanation.

ricardobeat 9y ago

Do you own an affected phone? Ridiculous is my $800 year-old device stuttering like it was Android 1.5.

nikisweeting 9y ago
Yes, I own an iPhone 6 and it works fine. My battery is around ~75% health and I sometimes get underclocked, it's still fast enough for me though.
- ricardobeat 9y ago
  We must be getting completely different experiences then. I have a couple of friends with the same issues as mine, I know I'm not alone. It started immediately after upgrading to iOS 11. Pulling down search on the home screen: freeze. Typing into search input: freeze. Unlocking from notifications screen: freeze. Freezes every two or three times an app is opened or closed. Screen transitions always stutter a little, Safari hangs, screen becomes unresponsive, sometimes it just starts draining battery and gets hot with no app running at all. I think my mention of Android triggered some emotions here (many downvotes). My first smartphone was a Dell with 1.5 that ran horribly slow, around 2010. That one was really bad, couldn't even answer calls most of that time due to unresponsive UI, and is still my benchmark for bad experience. This iPhone is getting quite close.

yoodenvranx 9y ago

> It's literally the opposite of planned obsolescence Having a too small battery is the exact definition of planned obsolescence! If they hadn't tried to make the phones as small as possible and used a battery with 20% more capacity the problems would not be as severe.

hk__2 9y ago
> Having a too small battery is the exact definition of planned obsolescence! That’s not true. Having a too-small battery on purpose is planned obsolescence. Having a small battery (what does "too small" means? Compared to what?) has nothing to do with that. That’s the purpose of "planned" in "planned obsolescence".
- yoodenvranx 9y ago
  > what does "too small" means If a battery has not enough capacity to carry the phone trough a whole day after 1-2 years of use then it was too small to begin with. I have the feeling that iPhone batteries are just large enough that the phones survives a day of medium use if the phone is brand new. After 1 or 2 years the battery is so bad that it barely holds enough charge for a few hours of usage.
  - hk__2 9y ago
    > I have the feeling that iPhone batteries are just large enough that the phones survives a day of medium use if the phone is brand new. After 1 or 2 years the battery is so bad that it barely holds enough charge for a few hours of usage. That’s just a feeling. I’ve had my iPhone for 3 years now and the battery is completely fine.

xanadohnt 9y ago

Not. Even. I felt forced to upgrade my 6 because it was unbearably slow. The battery? Excellent. In fact, at the time of trade-in, it was lasting longer than my iPhone X does brand new. More proof - the 6 was actually almost brand new itself; 3 months prior I smashed the screen and Apple replaced the entire unit (yes, generous on their part) instead of a screen swap (the body was bent enough to not allow a screen replacement). New unit, new battery, and thus not just anecdotal evidence. Perhaps there is _some_ good intention on Apple's part. But I think it hides a just-as-motivating factor as forcing upgrade purchases. My opinion is their position is disingenuous at best. I would rather see them move toward the customer having the control to choose the experience or not instead of - as they explained - only adding transparency into the decisions into which Apple is forcing you. Plainly, my experience was: I had perfectly healthy hardware, yet my 2-gen old device was almost too slow to be useable. And now here I sit with a $1200 unnecessary replacement.