Apple's Alleged Throttling of Older iPhones With Degraded Batteries Causes Controversy (macrumors.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: A Reddit post over the weekend has drawn a flurry of interest after an iPhone 6s owner reported that a battery replacement significantly increased the device's performance running iOS 11. The ensuing discussion thread, also picked up by readers in the MacRumors forum, has led to speculation that Apple intentionally slows down older phones to retain a full day's charge if the battery has degraded over time. According to TeckFire, the author of the original Reddit post, their iPhone had been very slow after updating to iOS 11, especially compared to their brother's iPhone 6 Plus, so they decided to do some research with GeekBench and battery life apps, and ended up replacing the battery.

Comments

Unlike samsung

[Anonymous Coward]

Who makes their phones BLAZING fast

Might be a nice option

[Anonymous Coward]

But they shouldn't force it.

Re:Might be a nice option

[Oswald McWeany]

But they shouldn't force it.

You think that because you come from Android. Obviously I'm talking generalities here and there are plenty of exceptions but Apple and Android have a different philosophical approach.

Apple try to provide a good service, in part by making it simple to operate so the end-user doesn't have to make any decisions. They make an educated decision on behalf of their user base. (many who are old and don't really understand the technology, so appreciate that).

Android try to leave many decisions in the hands of the users. A lot of them make poor decisions, but it is their decision to make. A lot of them are uneducated about the decisions, but again, if they wanted to they can learn and customize the operating system and the whole experience much more minutely than can be done on Apple's part.

Apple understands their customer base. By and large, it's older and more wealthy than the Android customer base. It's less tech savvy, and wants an experience provided for them. They don't want an operating system that is work for them to configure. Yeah, it might be nice to default it on and give them an option to change it, but the more options there are, the more complexity there is in configuring.

Re:Might be a nice option

[TWX]

And basically this is entirely invalidated by designing the phone such that the battery is not user-replaceable.

Apple designed a device that will intentionally run slower without the end user paying someone else to disassemble the phone to replace parts. Given the cost to service an older device weighed against the cost of a new device, a lot of users are going to opt for the new device, especially if they don't realize that the reason the phone is operating poorly is because of the battery.

Re:Might be a nice option

[jon3k]

And basically this is entirely invalidated by designing the phone such that the battery is not user-replaceable.

First of all, I've replaced batteries in iPhones many times and its incredibly easy. Here's a guy replacing one in four minutes. And you can even get a specific set of tools that will make it simple including the battery for around $25.

If that's too complicated there are thousands of places both local and online that will replace your battery for a very nominal fee.

It would take me probably half an hour to replace the PSU in my PC but I don't refer to it as being "not user-replaceable".

Re:Might be a nice option

[TWX]

And you're a tech enthusiast, possibly a tech professional.

Now, how does the average nontechnical end user even know that the battery is why the phone is running slowly to begin with?

Re:Might be a nice option

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had to completely remove the motherboard to get the power supply out on several computers. Yes, that is a bad design.

Re:Might be a nice option

[TheRaven64]

Not voiding the warranty is not really a good argument, because if the battery needs replacing in warranty then Apple will replace it for you. I assumed that this was normal across computer vendors, but had a recent experience with a Dell laptop whose battery failed after about a year and was told that the battery wasn't covered by the warranty because batteries are consumables. I couldn't be bothered to take them to court over it, but hopefully we can knock Dell of the approved supplier list at work, which would likely cost them a lot more than replacing a battery.

Re:Might be a nice option

[Archangel Michael]

How many people have access to a tech enthusiast or professional who can perform such a thing? And in every mall is a kiosk that will do it for $25 plus parts while you wait (30 minutes tops)

This is not a problem.

Re:Might be a nice option

[pastafazou]

Because the cables from the old PSU are run under the motherboard, through all sorts of openings in the chassis, and zip tied to everything? It's 5 minutes to actually change the power supply, but 25 minutes of cable management.

Re:Might be a nice option

[TheRaven64]

Apple rates their laptop batteries as retaining 80% of their initial charge after a fixed number of recharge cycles. If they die in the three-year warranty, they'll replace them anyway. If they die after the warranty has expired, but within the number of recharge cycles that they advertise, then they'll also replace them. I had a battery die in my Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro after 4 years. System Profiler shows the number of charge cycles and the full charge capacity (for me, this was down to about 20% of what it was new). I called up Apple's customer support line at 3pm and after quoting these two numbers they shipped a new one that arrived at my house at 9am the following morning. I expected Dell's in-warranty service would be as good as Apple's out-of-warranty support, but I was mistaken. After three hours of arguing with various people, I eventually gave up. Dell machines just aren't worth my time - those three hours of my time are worth more than the price differential.

Speculation

[Anonymous Coward]

So when does speculation make the leap to fact?

No real controversy, IMO

[scourfish]

When a phone is in a lower power state, power management can do several things to extend longevity: run the processor slower, dim the screen, operate the cellular radio in a lower power state. A worn out battery could potentially cause one or more of these things to happen.

Re:No real controversy, IMO

[Bing Tsher E]

The real controversy is the lack of communication to the owners of the devices. They should be fully informed of this 'innovative technology' so they can spend the $40 to get a new battery installed, instead of giving up and buying a new iGadget.

Re:No real controversy, IMO

[DontBeAMoran]

But in case of an emergency, will Apple's "help" drop your call to 911 because the cellular radio is in a low-power state?

Re:No real controversy, IMO

[blackomegax]

Dialing 911 triggers a special mode in most radios. It ramps the power to absolute max, connects to *ANY* nearest base station as far back as GPRS tech, etc.

Huh - a subject I'm entirely divided on

[jareth-0205]

On the one hand it's eminently sensible to slow the device if that will eek out enough battery for the expected usage - a dead phone has zero performance. And batteries degrade as they get older, that we know... but if the user has no visibility of this, if they have no idea that it's happening or how to fix it then their device is being hobbled without an obvious fix.

Everybody knows that if battery doesn't last, you should replace the battery. But if the phone gets slower... the fix isn't visible. And we know Apple employees aren't the most honest when you ask for diagnosis...

Sensible thing to do, but as all closed-source bundles, if the user isn't informed then it's still pretty anti-consumer.

Re:Huh - a subject I'm entirely divided on

[Bing Tsher E]

Too confusing. Apple gadget buyers are paying for a streamlined experience where they can know almost nothing about the technology they use.

Re:Huh - a subject I'm entirely divided on

[Ol Olsoc]

Then the story will be "Apple makes users decide, reduced battery life, or slower performance." Just another attempt by Apple to make their clueless users spend money.

Re:Huh - a subject I'm entirely divided on

[jareth-0205]

"eke". Not "eek". That's the sound a mouse makes.

Actually, the original spelling was correct. I use a hamster-wheel generator to charge my phone.

Re:Huh - a subject I'm entirely divided on

[marcansoft]

This isn't about making the battery last longer. It's about making the phone work at all. It has to do with battery chemistry.

Old batteries don't just "last less". They also have an increased internal series resistance. That resistance actually limits the amount of power you can pull out of it. The more current you draw, the more energy is wasted as heat, and the lower the output voltage. As internal series resistance increases, it becomes physically impossible to get more than a certain amount of power out of the battery, and this limit also decreases as the battery drains during a given discharge cycle. It's a hard physical limit. The I-V curve just never hits your power target. If you try, your voltage sags and then the phone shuts down. This is what triggers a common syndrome in old devices, where the battery meter shows 30% but then you try to open up a CPU-intensive app and the device immediately shuts down. Chances are that's not the battery meter being wrong or miscalibrated: there really was 30% charge remaining in the battery. It just wasn't capable of handling that much power draw at that charge level. There's 30% charge remaining and there's a hidden limit as to how fast you can drain it.

It's almost certain that what Apple did here was start throttling phone performance when battery voltage sags below a critical threshold, to prevent hard shutdowns. On older batteries, this would appear as a performance limit as the battery empties. But it was never about making the phone last longer. It's just a physical limitation. The alternative is your phone shuts down. That's obviously not good.

The right solution, of course, is to have a notification or something that tells users when this is happening. Something along the lines of "Your battery cannot supply enough power to keep your device working at full performance. To maintain optimum performance, a battery replacement is recommended.".

Re:Huh - a subject I'm entirely divided on

[leonbev]

The thing is that Apple DOES give the user some visibility to this issue. When iOS senses that the battery is failing, it puts up a "Battery Performance Degraded" warning in the Battery section of the Settings screen. I saw it on my iPhone 6, but not until it got to the point where the phone would only last 3 hours on a charge and the phone would just randomly power itself off when the battery got below 40% charge. I got the battery replaced, and now it goes 2 days on a single charge again.

They might want to put that battery warning in a place more prominently, but it is there.

Why is this a problem?

[leeosenton]

So Apple checks my battery voltage, sees that it is below spec, and then they limit performance to ensure the phone keeps working. Sounds like a good plan to me. Perhaps they could/should add a battery health report in settings>battery so I know when to take it in for a new battery. Not a Apple freak, unlike many that act like phone OS is a religion. I have a 6S Plus 64GB and a Pixel XL 128GB. Love both and switch daily driver every few months.

Re:Why is this a problem?

[Bing Tsher E]

Perhaps they could include a battery door so you can swap in a fresh battery at a small cost.

Give us OPTIONS

[DontBeAMoran]

Yes I know, most Apple users aren't nerds, etc.

However, it would be nice to do the same thing Tesla does with their cars: always keep the battery between 30~70% (or was it 40~80%?). Letting the phone charge its battery to 100% every time and letting it drop to 0% just kills lithium-ion batteries.

Just let the user set "maximum battery run time" or "maximum battery longevity".

Re:Give us OPTIONS

[jeff4747]

You're assuming that 100% on the battery meter corresponds to 100% of the chemical potential in the battery.

There's no particular reason Apple has to do that. And they don't.

Re:Give us OPTIONS

[Megane]

Apple learned a long time ago to wait until the battery discharges below 95% before charging again. That last 5% is really hard on Li-ion batteries. I know this because I had a "Pismo" Powerbook back in 2000-2001 and the battery died after just a year of use, probably because I kept sleeping it, then plugging it in. (It didn't help that I ran OS X beta on it, which didn't sleep everything properly.) A couple of years later they added the 95% recharge threshold.

I see this behavior all the time on my current MacBook Pro. The battery is still good over five years later. (The cycle count in its stats is only 76!)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

My phone (and battery) worked fine in iOS 10

[alms]

Your explanation makes sense, but if that's what's happening Apple is being overly cautious.

My iPhone 6 worked fine running the final version of iOS 10. I can remember 2 spontaneous shutdowns over the last two years. Those were annoying when they happened, but they didn't happen often.

The day I upgraded to iOS 11, performance on my phone went into the toilet. It was sluggish. The screen stuttered. I had trouble switching between apps. I had to tap buttons on the screen several times before the taps registered. It has gotten better since then, but my phone still is much less usable than it was with iOS 10.

I get hit by this every day. I would much rather have my phone spontaneously shut down once a month or even once a week than have it be unusable for long periods of time every day.

And yes, it does appear to be directly related to the battery. If my battery charge level is 93% or greater, my CPU runs at 1125 MHz. When the battery charge drops to 91% the CPU drops to 818 MHz. When the battery charge drops to 89% the CPU drops to 600 MHz.

If I could go back to iOS 10, I would. But Apple makes that impossible. They could, however, release a software fix that would make my phone usable again. If there are tradeoffs, they should let me choose among them.

6s had large number of defective batteries

[NTesla]

It was not "over time" - it was in less than 4 months. Apple would not or replace my battery until some lawsuit came about. "Apple has admitted that some iPhone 6S devices can suddenly shut down for no apparent reason. The tech giant is offering owners of the problematic smartphones free replacement batteries. ... Apple's battery replacement offer for the iPhone 6S applies worldwide."