5 ms·

Throttling down speed because the battery was so old that it couldn’t supply the power needed to run at full speed.

aaomidi 6y ago
Which is something you should've communicated to the user. How many people needlessly bought a new device because they didn't realize why their phone was slow?
- 2fast4you 6y ago
  This didn’t happen to new devices. The throttling was only activated after the battery failed to supply enough power and the phone shut off unintentionally; an event that only occurred after years of use.
  - aaomidi 6y ago
    Which was not properly communicated to the user.
  - emn13 6y ago
    You're looking at those memories wearing rose-tinted glasses. The amount of battery degradation was not clear (to this day AFAIK apple has not admitted by how much it typically decayed), but it was enough to be noticeable quickly - in some cases reports of less than half capacity in less than a year. In any case; ref https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate - the problem had been swirling online for some time before apple finally responded in December 2016, talking about battery defects in models manufactured in September and October 2015 - i.e. the problem had been bad enough on a large scale to become noticeable for long enough for apple to respond within a little more than a year. Maybe some devices were usable for a full year, but this certainly didn't take years of usage as you suggest. This is not normal, reasonably-designed Li-ion degradation. Likely apple's battery usage patterns were at fault, because heavy load (or charge) under high temperatures causes very quick degradation, and likely the batteries had issues too. Apple's batteries still seem to degrade more quickly than those of other Li-ion devices, so I suspect they're still overusing the battery in circumstances they shouldn't, but it's nothing near as bad as it used to be. Or maybe apple is charging them to a too-high voltage. Who knows? In any case: these issues are not equally strong in any old Li-ion system; design choices matter, and apple's were not only terrible, they also mislead their customers about the issue initially.
    - mattigames 6y ago
      Thanks for being a voice of reason around here, the Apple fanboysm around here is sickening, always trying to justify and rationalize every single bad thing Apple does.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
mattigames 6y ago
Doesn't seem like a feature if they had to pay 500 million dollars in a lawsuit thanks to doing this: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/02/apple-to-pay-up-to-500-million-to-settle-lawsuit-over-slow-iphones.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/02/apple-to-pay-up-to-500-milli...
- sukilot 6y ago
  $25/phone. A small fee to compensate for a weakness in the $800 device.
- kube-system 6y ago
  The same laws of physics apply to other devices. You can either throttle the device, or let it crash. All phones do one or the other.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
pbhjpbhj 6y ago
Erm, you keep having a panel in the back through which the battery can be easily replaced; users buys a battery - you provided the full specs for to the market to avoid obsolescence, right - and replaces it when you warn "battery should be replaced; do you want to downgrade performance to extend battery life". Apple are served by keeping a closed ecosystem, making repairs only possible by licensed people, not enabling device longevity but instead fetishising updated hardware. Society should be punishing this sort of behaviour as it stands firmly against sustainable use of resources.
- 29athrowaway 6y ago
  And messing up the environment.
emn13 6y ago
That excuse by apple (it was so old!) is nonsense; Li-ion batteries should not degrade nearly as quickly as they did during the whole apple-battery saga (less than a year to less than half capacity sometimes!) Clearly apple had a design defect (whether in its use of the battery or in the battery itself), and equally clearly apple didn't admit it until the public uproar was significant. The timeline of the whole thing involved a whole series of phones only a little more than a year old, and by that point there had already been a bunch of grumbling online. Anecdotally, the situation has improved in those I know, but the batteries still degrade more quickly than those in similarly-priced android phones or windows laptops. But perhaps that's just sampling bias. In any case - the issue is not huge now, but it was a real issue a few years back, and apple tried to cover it up, which pisses me off to this day. Yay for screwing over your customers, and not offering refunds or repairs under reasonable terms until the public outcry is huge: i.e. they certainly will screw you over to cover their collective ass if they can get away with it. Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate talks of sept/oct 2015 phones and apples dec 2016 response; so: not old phones.
- scarface74 6y ago
  You’re comparing the battery degradation of a phone that almost always works disconnected to a battery in a laptop that almost works connected?
  - emn13 6y ago
    If anything, being constantly connected is a risk factor for batteries, not a boon. If your laptop is constantly connected (mine usually aren't anyhow!), your battery will likely degrade faster due to the interacting effects of higher heat (because laptops run in higher performance modes usually when connected to the grid) and high voltage across the cells (because laptops usually charge to close to 100% when connected). But nowadays we have tons of Li-ion devices; compare to pretty much any. Battery robot mowers, cars, hedge trimmers, roombas, dust devils, home automation stuff, bikes, and of course competing phones. I've never owned even a single device that degraded as quickly as iPhones a few years ago; not one; not even close. And you don't need to take my word for it; Apple eventually admitted the faults, right?

Which is something you should've communicated to the user. How many people needlessly bought a new device because they didn't realize why their phone was slow?

2fast4you 6y ago
This didn’t happen to new devices. The throttling was only activated after the battery failed to supply enough power and the phone shut off unintentionally; an event that only occurred after years of use.
- aaomidi 6y ago
  Which was not properly communicated to the user.
- emn13 6y ago
  You're looking at those memories wearing rose-tinted glasses. The amount of battery degradation was not clear (to this day AFAIK apple has not admitted by how much it typically decayed), but it was enough to be noticeable quickly - in some cases reports of less than half capacity in less than a year. In any case; ref https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate - the problem had been swirling online for some time before apple finally responded in December 2016, talking about battery defects in models manufactured in September and October 2015 - i.e. the problem had been bad enough on a large scale to become noticeable for long enough for apple to respond within a little more than a year. Maybe some devices were usable for a full year, but this certainly didn't take years of usage as you suggest. This is not normal, reasonably-designed Li-ion degradation. Likely apple's battery usage patterns were at fault, because heavy load (or charge) under high temperatures causes very quick degradation, and likely the batteries had issues too. Apple's batteries still seem to degrade more quickly than those of other Li-ion devices, so I suspect they're still overusing the battery in circumstances they shouldn't, but it's nothing near as bad as it used to be. Or maybe apple is charging them to a too-high voltage. Who knows? In any case: these issues are not equally strong in any old Li-ion system; design choices matter, and apple's were not only terrible, they also mislead their customers about the issue initially.
  - mattigames 6y ago
    Thanks for being a voice of reason around here, the Apple fanboysm around here is sickening, always trying to justify and rationalize every single bad thing Apple does.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

mattigames 6y ago

Doesn't seem like a feature if they had to pay 500 million dollars in a lawsuit thanks to doing this: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/02/apple-to-pay-up-to-500-million-to-settle-lawsuit-over-slow-iphones.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/02/apple-to-pay-up-to-500-milli...

sukilot 6y ago
$25/phone. A small fee to compensate for a weakness in the $800 device.
kube-system 6y ago
The same laws of physics apply to other devices. You can either throttle the device, or let it crash. All phones do one or the other.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

pbhjpbhj 6y ago

Erm, you keep having a panel in the back through which the battery can be easily replaced; users buys a battery - you provided the full specs for to the market to avoid obsolescence, right - and replaces it when you warn "battery should be replaced; do you want to downgrade performance to extend battery life". Apple are served by keeping a closed ecosystem, making repairs only possible by licensed people, not enabling device longevity but instead fetishising updated hardware. Society should be punishing this sort of behaviour as it stands firmly against sustainable use of resources.

29athrowaway 6y ago
And messing up the environment.

emn13 6y ago

That excuse by apple (it was so old!) is nonsense; Li-ion batteries should not degrade nearly as quickly as they did during the whole apple-battery saga (less than a year to less than half capacity sometimes!) Clearly apple had a design defect (whether in its use of the battery or in the battery itself), and equally clearly apple didn't admit it until the public uproar was significant. The timeline of the whole thing involved a whole series of phones only a little more than a year old, and by that point there had already been a bunch of grumbling online. Anecdotally, the situation has improved in those I know, but the batteries still degrade more quickly than those in similarly-priced android phones or windows laptops. But perhaps that's just sampling bias. In any case - the issue is not huge now, but it was a real issue a few years back, and apple tried to cover it up, which pisses me off to this day. Yay for screwing over your customers, and not offering refunds or repairs under reasonable terms until the public outcry is huge: i.e. they certainly will screw you over to cover their collective ass if they can get away with it. Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate talks of sept/oct 2015 phones and apples dec 2016 response; so: not old phones.

scarface74 6y ago
You’re comparing the battery degradation of a phone that almost always works disconnected to a battery in a laptop that almost works connected?
- emn13 6y ago
  If anything, being constantly connected is a risk factor for batteries, not a boon. If your laptop is constantly connected (mine usually aren't anyhow!), your battery will likely degrade faster due to the interacting effects of higher heat (because laptops run in higher performance modes usually when connected to the grid) and high voltage across the cells (because laptops usually charge to close to 100% when connected). But nowadays we have tons of Li-ion devices; compare to pretty much any. Battery robot mowers, cars, hedge trimmers, roombas, dust devils, home automation stuff, bikes, and of course competing phones. I've never owned even a single device that degraded as quickly as iPhones a few years ago; not one; not even close. And you don't need to take my word for it; Apple eventually admitted the faults, right?