4 ms·

Batterygate looks bad, but the technical reason of the battery not being able to supply enough current for the CPU to run at full speed without crashing makes s

Batterygate looks bad, but the technical reason of the battery not being able to supply enough current for the CPU to run at full speed without crashing makes sense, so I think it's mostly a case of communicating the change poorly.

oblio 6y ago
There we go again :-) It's called plausible deniability. They're not stupid. Why would we ever trust the messaging of a company that: 1. Has removed the headphone jack claiming there wasn't enough room inside the phone for it. 2. While "accidentally" deciding to sell a $150 pair of wireless earbuds just as they removed the previous accessory. 3. Now has removed the charger, claiming that they want to reduce pollution. 4. While almost all their equipment is not reparable (which is much, much worse for the environment!). 5. And also "accidentally" introducing a $40 wireless charger just as they removed the old charger from the box. Repeat ad nauseam. Which one is more likely? 1. They had an internal meeting where they had to choose between A) shut up and have people replace their phones, so more $$$ B) say something, deal with angry customers, best case scenario make $0, worst case scenario have to spend some $$$ and they chose A), cause, you know, corporation + $$$. 2. They couldn't figure out how to communicate the issue and its trade-offs correctly? The company that invests probably billions in carefully designed marketing? Oh, and assuming you're right. Why are they losing the lawsuit? Why do they have to pay tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars? Why are they being sued in Europe, too? It's the third time I'm having the same discussion here :-) Apple Shiny Aluminum Distortion Field, I'm telling ya!
triceratops 6y ago
> I think it's mostly a case of communicating the change poorly. Deliberately. The technical reasons are irrelevant. If Apple had slowed down the phones and shown a notification that said "Phone running in reduced mode. Replace your battery to restore full performance." they would be acting ethically. Hiding it was unethical and they deserved their fine and more.
dannyw 6y ago
Android phones don’t have the same problem, because they choose to slowly throttle the CPU only as needed if power delivery is insufficient. On MacBooks, if _one_ of the USB-C ports break, all ports are disabled. On the Intel MacBook, the fan is not attached to the heat sink, making it literally useless and cause the CPUs to fry out in a few years of turbo use.

oblio 6y ago

There we go again :-) It's called plausible deniability. They're not stupid. Why would we ever trust the messaging of a company that: 1. Has removed the headphone jack claiming there wasn't enough room inside the phone for it. 2. While "accidentally" deciding to sell a $150 pair of wireless earbuds just as they removed the previous accessory. 3. Now has removed the charger, claiming that they want to reduce pollution. 4. While almost all their equipment is not reparable (which is much, much worse for the environment!). 5. And also "accidentally" introducing a $40 wireless charger just as they removed the old charger from the box. Repeat ad nauseam. Which one is more likely? 1. They had an internal meeting where they had to choose between A) shut up and have people replace their phones, so more $$$ B) say something, deal with angry customers, best case scenario make $0, worst case scenario have to spend some $$$ and they chose A), cause, you know, corporation + $$$. 2. They couldn't figure out how to communicate the issue and its trade-offs correctly? The company that invests probably billions in carefully designed marketing? Oh, and assuming you're right. Why are they losing the lawsuit? Why do they have to pay tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars? Why are they being sued in Europe, too? It's the third time I'm having the same discussion here :-) Apple Shiny Aluminum Distortion Field, I'm telling ya!

triceratops 6y ago

> I think it's mostly a case of communicating the change poorly. Deliberately. The technical reasons are irrelevant. If Apple had slowed down the phones and shown a notification that said "Phone running in reduced mode. Replace your battery to restore full performance." they would be acting ethically. Hiding it was unethical and they deserved their fine and more.

dannyw 6y ago

Android phones don’t have the same problem, because they choose to slowly throttle the CPU only as needed if power delivery is insufficient. On MacBooks, if _one_ of the USB-C ports break, all ports are disabled. On the Intel MacBook, the fan is not attached to the heat sink, making it literally useless and cause the CPUs to fry out in a few years of turbo use.