5 ms·

My previous iPhone 8 lasted from 2016 to 2023. The only reason I stopped using it was because I accidentally broke the screen and the touch panel under it. It s

My previous iPhone 8 lasted from 2016 to 2023. The only reason I stopped using it was because I accidentally broke the screen and the touch panel under it. It still received new iOS versions and updates. What exactly is throwaway about that when compared to the hundreds of variants Samsung and others produce with a 2 year lifespan and then no updates after?

DrThunder 4y ago
[flagged]
- sbuk 4y ago
  Re Samsung, they sold 258.3M phones last year; approximately 60 SKUs--with < 3% having user replaceable parts. They are equally responsible. Do you hold them to the same standard?
- selykg 4y ago
  > I never mentioned Samsung, so that's just a useless strawman argument you're making. I was with you to some extent in your original post... sort of.. But this last response made me go from with you to thinking you have some sort of agenda, with a real bias and aren't actually interested in a real conversation, you just seem to want an argument that you feel you can win.
- ericpauley 4y ago
  The slowing down was necessary to not overload the batteries (very obviously necessary since phones were resetting otherwise), and apple offered replacement batteries almost at cost. What more do you want??
  - alexdbird 4y ago
    It was a perfect engineering solution, poorly communicated to users. I'll take a slightly slower phone (in reality not noticeable on most tasks) over unplanned restarts. My partner only just stopped using the iPhone 6 I bought in 2014, original battery all the way, and she had the throttling turned on for years without knowing or caring.
  - meragrin_ 4y ago
    Apple did not communicate to users they were slowing down the phone to prevent issues. They did it silently so users would upgrade rather than replace the battery. > apple offered replacement batteries almost at cost. Only after they were caught slowing down phones without informing users.
    - rootusrootus 4y ago
      > They did it silently so users would upgrade rather than replace the battery. That's a deliberately uncharitable interpretation. It could just as easily be explained by them wanting the customers to not have a crashing phone tarnishing their opinion of the brand. If it were about money, they should have popped up a message saying "The phone is going to be slower because the battery is dead, contact your Apple Store to buy a new battery."
    - kube-system 4y ago
      It was not and still is not commonplace for any company to discuss the deep engineering details of a product's battery management logic with customers. The majority of products just stop working, some have an indicator of "bad battery".
    - easeout 4y ago
      Apple has a long record of making decisions for users without presenting options about them. Having these problems solved for us rather than being bothered with them is part of what we've paid for all these years. But their audience is broader now, they're much more successful, and when this practice rubs people the wrong way we all hear about it in the press as if it's some Antennagate-level flaw or scandal with which they were "caught." So they put in an option to make the phone worse but the user happier and move on. I would say "but the reputation damage is done" if it wasn't a foregone conclusion to so many that Apple must be up to no good.
  - DrThunder 4y ago
    Ok... and if I could replace the battery myself easily then that would not be a concern would it? I told you, I want the ability to replace the battery myself. Do you like losing your phone for a few hours/days so you can get the battery replaced?
- throwaway2990 4y ago
  It’s not a useless straw man argument. iPhones typically have a longer life cycle than android phones. That is a fact. User replaceable batteries lower the quality and aesthetics of the phone. So there’s no benefit to having a better replaceable easily. Just take it to an Apple Store.
  - jackmott42 4y ago
    >User replaceable batteries lower the quality and aesthetics of the phone That is an often repeated lie. Companies like Framework have proved it a lie and appear to be making good money by doing it.
    - throwaway2990 4y ago
      The visual aesthetics of the framework don’t leave much to be desired. The build quality is a fraction of MacBook. So I’m unsure how it’s a lie? Framework made an incredible device. But it pales to a MacBook.
  - DrThunder 4y ago
    I did not make a comparison to Samsung, the op did. I am not arguing which phone is better, that's you and OP. I was discussing apple's flaws and OP/you decided to talk about another company that was worse in an attempt to convince everyone that it's ok for apple to act a certain way.
- GeekyBear 4y ago
  > have been caught multiple times slowing phones down Both Apple and Google found themselves in a situation where phones would suddenly go dead when the device was under high load despite the battery reporting that it had a charge, although with the Nexus 6P it was happening to devices that were only a year old. > your phone will randomly shut down and completely die, even though your battery indicator might have said you had plenty of juice left. It's not a simple system crash, because your phone will stay dead until you connect it to a charger. We've seen reports of the battery dying from a charge as high as 67% to as low as 15% on both Android Marshmallow and Android Nougat. https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/nexus-6p-battery-randomly-dying-its-not-just-you-0175625/ https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/nexus-6p-battery-random... Google's solution to the problem was to tell users they were out of warranty and to buy a new phone. A class action lawsuit eventually forced them to issue refunds. > Google, Huawei Agree to Pay Nexus 6P Owners Up to $400 for Faulty Devices https://www.droid-life.com/2019/04/11/google-huawei-nexus-6p-class-action/ https://www.droid-life.com/2019/04/11/google-huawei-nexus-6p...
layer8 4y ago
“Throwaway” may be hyperbole, but the average lifespan in terms of iOS versions for an iPhone is about 5-6 years. (On the low side, someone who bought an iPhone SE in September 2018 only got four years.) The issue is that the hardware often works fine for 10 years or more. Nowadays it’s usually software that makes devices obsolete, without any real necessity.
- naravara 4y ago
  > The issue is that the hardware often works fine for 10 years or more. I don't know about that. It technically still works, but you will feel it being slow because developers keep updating their apps to take advantage of new technologies and features. Even browsing the web keeps getting worse because web developers seem to cruft up their websites as much as the hardware can bear. I really think around 5 years is the limit to be able to use your phone as an general purpose, internet connected device. If you want to repurpose it into an iPod Touch or Smarthome remote controller or something after that that's still doable even if you're using a deprecated version of iOS. The story with iPads is a little different. If all it is for most people is a streaming service and article-reading machine those can last 10 years or more and the OS probably should have a longer life and a higher priority on making the batteries easily serviceable. I'd actually love a stripped-down, barebones version of iPad OS that makes it dumber but more secure. Sort of like booting in safe mode, for when people want to repurpose old devices.
  - layer8 4y ago
    This is part of the criticism, though: There is no inherent need for the software to become slower (and less efficient). Throwing the hands up on that front just means we’ll eternally keep churning, in the name of “progress”.
    - Gigachad 4y ago
      I think you are forgetting what phone apps 10 years ago looked like and the features they had. It’s not useless bloat that’s slowing them down, it’s the addition of actual features people like and take advantage of.
powellzer 4y ago
Not to be pedantic but the iPhone 8 came out in late 2017. Still a good lifespan!
- tgv 4y ago
  To offset that: I'm still using an iPhone 7. I'm stuck on iOS 15, but that doesn't matter to me.
  - cmsj 4y ago
    To which it is worth noting that Apple is still issuing security updates for iOS 15, the most recent was ~3 days ago.
    - tcmart14 4y ago
      That is why I left the google Pixel for iPhone. I liked my Pixel, but at the time, they only did 3 years of support and security updates, I understand they recently upped it to 4 or 5 years? Sure, my iPhone costs more, but if I use a phone for its total life span (when it stops getting security updates), the iPhone comes out cheaper if you divide the cost of the phone by the number of years it gets supported.
- trevcanhuman 4y ago
  I'm using an iPhone 6S, I changed the battery after around three years. The only issue is it gets pretty hot sometimes, still not sure what it is but it's manageable.

DrThunder 4y ago

[flagged]

sbuk 4y ago
Re Samsung, they sold 258.3M phones last year; approximately 60 SKUs--with < 3% having user replaceable parts. They are equally responsible. Do you hold them to the same standard?
selykg 4y ago
> I never mentioned Samsung, so that's just a useless strawman argument you're making. I was with you to some extent in your original post... sort of.. But this last response made me go from with you to thinking you have some sort of agenda, with a real bias and aren't actually interested in a real conversation, you just seem to want an argument that you feel you can win.
ericpauley 4y ago
The slowing down was necessary to not overload the batteries (very obviously necessary since phones were resetting otherwise), and apple offered replacement batteries almost at cost. What more do you want??
- alexdbird 4y ago
  It was a perfect engineering solution, poorly communicated to users. I'll take a slightly slower phone (in reality not noticeable on most tasks) over unplanned restarts. My partner only just stopped using the iPhone 6 I bought in 2014, original battery all the way, and she had the throttling turned on for years without knowing or caring.
- meragrin_ 4y ago
  Apple did not communicate to users they were slowing down the phone to prevent issues. They did it silently so users would upgrade rather than replace the battery. > apple offered replacement batteries almost at cost. Only after they were caught slowing down phones without informing users.
  - rootusrootus 4y ago
    > They did it silently so users would upgrade rather than replace the battery. That's a deliberately uncharitable interpretation. It could just as easily be explained by them wanting the customers to not have a crashing phone tarnishing their opinion of the brand. If it were about money, they should have popped up a message saying "The phone is going to be slower because the battery is dead, contact your Apple Store to buy a new battery."
  - kube-system 4y ago
    It was not and still is not commonplace for any company to discuss the deep engineering details of a product's battery management logic with customers. The majority of products just stop working, some have an indicator of "bad battery".
  - easeout 4y ago
    Apple has a long record of making decisions for users without presenting options about them. Having these problems solved for us rather than being bothered with them is part of what we've paid for all these years. But their audience is broader now, they're much more successful, and when this practice rubs people the wrong way we all hear about it in the press as if it's some Antennagate-level flaw or scandal with which they were "caught." So they put in an option to make the phone worse but the user happier and move on. I would say "but the reputation damage is done" if it wasn't a foregone conclusion to so many that Apple must be up to no good.
- DrThunder 4y ago
  Ok... and if I could replace the battery myself easily then that would not be a concern would it? I told you, I want the ability to replace the battery myself. Do you like losing your phone for a few hours/days so you can get the battery replaced?
throwaway2990 4y ago
It’s not a useless straw man argument. iPhones typically have a longer life cycle than android phones. That is a fact. User replaceable batteries lower the quality and aesthetics of the phone. So there’s no benefit to having a better replaceable easily. Just take it to an Apple Store.
- jackmott42 4y ago
  >User replaceable batteries lower the quality and aesthetics of the phone That is an often repeated lie. Companies like Framework have proved it a lie and appear to be making good money by doing it.
  - throwaway2990 4y ago
    The visual aesthetics of the framework don’t leave much to be desired. The build quality is a fraction of MacBook. So I’m unsure how it’s a lie? Framework made an incredible device. But it pales to a MacBook.
- DrThunder 4y ago
  I did not make a comparison to Samsung, the op did. I am not arguing which phone is better, that's you and OP. I was discussing apple's flaws and OP/you decided to talk about another company that was worse in an attempt to convince everyone that it's ok for apple to act a certain way.
GeekyBear 4y ago
> have been caught multiple times slowing phones down Both Apple and Google found themselves in a situation where phones would suddenly go dead when the device was under high load despite the battery reporting that it had a charge, although with the Nexus 6P it was happening to devices that were only a year old. > your phone will randomly shut down and completely die, even though your battery indicator might have said you had plenty of juice left. It's not a simple system crash, because your phone will stay dead until you connect it to a charger. We've seen reports of the battery dying from a charge as high as 67% to as low as 15% on both Android Marshmallow and Android Nougat. https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/nexus-6p-battery-randomly-dying-its-not-just-you-0175625/ https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/nexus-6p-battery-random... Google's solution to the problem was to tell users they were out of warranty and to buy a new phone. A class action lawsuit eventually forced them to issue refunds. > Google, Huawei Agree to Pay Nexus 6P Owners Up to $400 for Faulty Devices https://www.droid-life.com/2019/04/11/google-huawei-nexus-6p-class-action/ https://www.droid-life.com/2019/04/11/google-huawei-nexus-6p...

layer8 4y ago

“Throwaway” may be hyperbole, but the average lifespan in terms of iOS versions for an iPhone is about 5-6 years. (On the low side, someone who bought an iPhone SE in September 2018 only got four years.) The issue is that the hardware often works fine for 10 years or more. Nowadays it’s usually software that makes devices obsolete, without any real necessity.

naravara 4y ago
> The issue is that the hardware often works fine for 10 years or more. I don't know about that. It technically still works, but you will feel it being slow because developers keep updating their apps to take advantage of new technologies and features. Even browsing the web keeps getting worse because web developers seem to cruft up their websites as much as the hardware can bear. I really think around 5 years is the limit to be able to use your phone as an general purpose, internet connected device. If you want to repurpose it into an iPod Touch or Smarthome remote controller or something after that that's still doable even if you're using a deprecated version of iOS. The story with iPads is a little different. If all it is for most people is a streaming service and article-reading machine those can last 10 years or more and the OS probably should have a longer life and a higher priority on making the batteries easily serviceable. I'd actually love a stripped-down, barebones version of iPad OS that makes it dumber but more secure. Sort of like booting in safe mode, for when people want to repurpose old devices.
- layer8 4y ago
  This is part of the criticism, though: There is no inherent need for the software to become slower (and less efficient). Throwing the hands up on that front just means we’ll eternally keep churning, in the name of “progress”.
  - Gigachad 4y ago
    I think you are forgetting what phone apps 10 years ago looked like and the features they had. It’s not useless bloat that’s slowing them down, it’s the addition of actual features people like and take advantage of.

powellzer 4y ago

Not to be pedantic but the iPhone 8 came out in late 2017. Still a good lifespan!

tgv 4y ago
To offset that: I'm still using an iPhone 7. I'm stuck on iOS 15, but that doesn't matter to me.
- cmsj 4y ago
  To which it is worth noting that Apple is still issuing security updates for iOS 15, the most recent was ~3 days ago.
  - tcmart14 4y ago
    That is why I left the google Pixel for iPhone. I liked my Pixel, but at the time, they only did 3 years of support and security updates, I understand they recently upped it to 4 or 5 years? Sure, my iPhone costs more, but if I use a phone for its total life span (when it stops getting security updates), the iPhone comes out cheaper if you divide the cost of the phone by the number of years it gets supported.
trevcanhuman 4y ago
I'm using an iPhone 6S, I changed the battery after around three years. The only issue is it gets pretty hot sometimes, still not sure what it is but it's manageable.