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Apple should've been more upfront about throttling iPhones with weaker batteries (poll results)

Apple should've been more upfront about throttling iPhones with weaker batteries (poll results)

Posted: 22 Dec 2017, 05:27 , by Daniel Petrov

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Phonearena polls

Do you think Apple should've been more upfront about throttling iPhones with weaker batteries?: Yes, users should have known 91.19% (1905 votes) (1905 votes); No, it's not a dealbreaker 8.81% (184 votes) (184 votes)

2089 votes

After Apple acknowledged that iPhones with aged or weaker for whatever other reason batteries will take a hit in peak performance, we asked you if Apple could have given the explanation beforehand, along with the introduction of the processor throttling feature in iOS 10.2.1. The vast majority of our 2089 respondents replied in the affirmative, stating that the company should have warned users with iPhones two years and older that their devices might become slower due to processor throttling, unless they visit a service center to swap the battery. Word to the wise for next time, Apple, the ambulance chasers are already circling the wagons.

Today's lithium batteries are rated for a certain amount of charge cycles before they start degrading in terms of capacity or ability to provide peak current. On the other hand, chipsets and other hardware are becoming ever more powerful and demanding, resulting in going over the fence when trying to extract stronger current from a weaker battery. This could result in phones employing shutdown procedures to safeguard the electronics in certain extreme scenario, so last year Apple smoothed out the peak battery demands by dispersing them over several quick cycles with the iOS 10.2.1 update.

Apparently that meant throttling the processor's power, and resulted in 80% fewer iPhone 6 shutdowns, Apple reported at the time. It, however, kept this power management system in the next iOS updates, too, so once the battery in your iPhone 7 ages enough, it will likely become a bit slower and less responsive unless you crack it open and change the power bank with a brand new one.

55 Comments

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posted on 22 Dec 2017, 05:35 6

1. An.Awesome.Guy (Posts: 636; Member since: 12 Jan 2015)

I hope that no company ever do stuff like that and the backlash become a lesson for these companies to avoid planning to obsolescence in which is one of the worst parts of todays technology
Maybe I am hoping for too much ,but why not.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 06:07 4

4. daniyal_05 (Posts: 93; Member since: 15 Nov 2017)

Once again another failure for apple like iphoneX sales

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 06:18 10

6. darkkjedii (Posts: 29089; Member since: 05 Feb 2011)

If iPhone X sales are a failure, then every OEM on earth wants to copy Apple’s failure.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 06:34 4

7. daniyal_05 (Posts: 93; Member since: 15 Nov 2017)

Do u have common sense, why would any company want to fail?

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 06:39 12

9. Peacetoall (unregistered)

relax he was just being sarcastic dude.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 07:03 1

12. daniyal_05 (Posts: 93; Member since: 15 Nov 2017)

Relax i was just being sarcastic dude.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 07:04

13. Peacetoall (unregistered)

so everything alright then cool

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 07:53

19. darkkjedii (Posts: 29089; Member since: 05 Feb 2011)

No you weren’t.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 07:53 3

18. darkkjedii (Posts: 29089; Member since: 05 Feb 2011)

He missed that lol.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 08:05 1

22. palmguy (Posts: 914; Member since: 22 Mar 2011)

There's only one iOS manufacture. It's impossible. Android OEM, hundreds. If I made the only red car I'll be doing very well also.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 06:42 9

10. vincelongman (Posts: 5490; Member since: 10 Feb 2013)

I'm gonna repeat myself because I still I can't believe people are even defending Apple
And I don't want Android OEMs to think they can get away with something similar

Battery degredation is normal and should be taken into account in the design process
Its unexcusable that ~1 year old phones are having shut down issues due to battery degredation

Apple should repaired or replaced people's iPhone 6S and 7 instead of covering up the problem
The Nexus 6P has the same issue
Google replaced faulty 6Ps with refurb 6Ps, then later upgraded people to Pixel XLs

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 11:10 4

37. Guaire (Posts: 841; Member since: 15 Oct 2014)

Do we know actually iPhones out there were shutting down because of battery degredation? It sounds to me like a cover story for -not so well- planned obsolence. I think there must be more sneaky ways yet uncovered.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 08:11 5

23. Mreveryphone (Posts: 1696; Member since: 22 Apr 2014)

All the conspiracy theories were right all along about Apple doing this. No wonder all the 6 and 6s user's are complaining about their phones not working correctly after the ios 11 update. Heaven forbid you are still using the 5 series nowadays...

I guess my X will start to slow down in September making me think it's time to upgrade... Luckily I still have the best phone on the market still Note 8 and the S9+ is shaping up to be nice release with it's rumored specs...

Samsung has been a absolute Savage with it's commercials lately so they should capitalize on this information and go hard on their next comparison campaign with Apple...

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 10:02 3

36. lyndon420 (Posts: 5760; Member since: 11 Jul 2012)

I liked it better when we could just replace the batteries ourselves.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 05:40 15

2. GreenMan (Posts: 2626; Member since: 09 Nov 2015)

Some people (including yours truly) sometimes like to point out the quick OS updates of iPhones.

But we often miss facts like crippled performance, partial features of the new OS and now we have another point in our list...

Throttled performance.

Now, whether it's a mere 'feature' or a 'deliberate act' from Apple's end to force people to buy newer models is still a mystery!

G'Day!

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 06:02 8

3. submar (Posts: 713; Member since: 19 Sep 2014)

Not just Apple, every tech company should be honest to their customers about these issues rather than call it a feature.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 07:53 8

17. HansP (Posts: 542; Member since: 16 Oct 2011)

Samsung had around 30 phones with batteries bloating or catching fire. They recalled millions and stopped selling them. Not once did they call their trusty buyers liars or idiots. Apple however has a 40 year track record of pissing on their buyers and blaming it all on them. I'm mostly amazed anyone is still buying their kool-aid powered devices.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 08:00

20. mrochester (Posts: 838; Member since: 17 Aug 2014)

Samsung’s situation was by far the worst. They ‘recalled’ their dangerous phones, did not fix the issue, and then re-issued the same dangerous phones. Samsung displayed complete and utter disregard for their customers, and some of them are stupid enough to applaud Samsung for the terrible way they handled the situation.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 08:13 3

25. sissy246 (Posts: 5927; Member since: 04 Mar 2015)

"did not fix the issue"
That is just stupid. You think they just turned around and sent out the same phones unfixed.
They fixed what they thought was the problem. Then as soon as they saw it was not they stopped the sales and recalled those.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 09:13 1

32. mrochester (Posts: 838; Member since: 17 Aug 2014)

Exactly, they didn't bother to figure out what the problem was. Like I said, a complete disregard for their customers.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 14:11 3

41. JohnR (Posts: 118; Member since: 08 Sep 2017)

Bulls**t. Samsung took care of their customers.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 09:06 4

30. tedkord (Posts: 16632; Member since: 17 Jun 2009)

LOL at Apple fans still trying to spin that story. Samsung was up front about the issue. They acted quickly to replace the phones. They thought it was constrained to a particular battery, but they were wrong. So, they acted quickly again. They gave me a full refund plus $80, let me keep the 256gb microsd and other accessories and gave me a $400 discount on the Note 8 with the trade in of an iPhone 5 I bought off Craigslist for $60.

In every way their actions were better than Apple's in this situation. Or during bendgate. Or during antennagate...

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 09:14

33. mrochester (Posts: 838; Member since: 17 Aug 2014)

I disagree, I think Apple's actions are better than Samsung's. Re-releasing a dangerous product without bothering to figure out what was wrong with it is far far worse than anything Apple has ever done.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 14:30 1

43. tedkord (Posts: 16632; Member since: 17 Jun 2009)

Except that's not what happened. They thought they'd narrowed the issue down, because it had occurred only with a certain battery. They didn't release it without finding out what was wrong. They immediately owned up to it.

Whereas in almost every iPhone issue, Apple has blamed the user and denied the issue right up until they got dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing. Even then, they denied the issue. To this day they've never acknowledged the antenna issue with the iPhone 4, even after issuing rubber bumpers that solved the issue. The bumpers worked, but it never happened.

Apple's actions are worse.

posted on 23 Dec 2017, 15:51

54. plumix (Posts: 75; Member since: 28 Aug 2014)

Sorry but apple actions are scam, their are more iphone 6-7-8 that cough fire and they just cover it, like that thrilling issue.

They take their customers for sheep's, and may be they really are.

Some people will still ask where the smell come from, even when they have the nose in it.

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 09:48 3

35. ph00ny (Posts: 1840; Member since: 26 May 2011)

Reissued?
Initial finding was blamed on battery from supplier A. They resumed the sales with battery from supplier B but that started causing issues resulting in complete recall and stop sales of the device.

They did a big audit and found supplier A and B batteries of having two different failures mainly due to the fact that Samsung's design requirement was too tight and had very little room for manufacturing defects/issues

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 12:05 4

38. Man_Utd (Posts: 117; Member since: 03 Feb 2015)

Ph00ny well said. That's exactly what happened. mrochester, please do some reading before you speak. Thanks =)

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 14:22 4

42. HansP (Posts: 542; Member since: 16 Oct 2011)

mrochester, try searching YouTube for burning iPhones. Samsung uses the same battery technology as anyone else. Tell me again, how many other brands has recalled their phones over that?
If you want to talk about lethal devices, I know of two stories where iPhone owners has been electrocuted to death while using their phones. What was Apple's scripted response to that again? Oh right almost forgot. I already said that above. :)

posted on 22 Dec 2017, 14:32

44. tedkord (Posts: 16632; Member since: 17 Jun 2009)

Don't absolve samsung. They should have recalled the phone. Others burned, but not nearly as many as the Note 7. They did the right thing, but that doesn't change the fact they put our a faulty product that was dangerous.