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Apple Confirms iPhone With Older Batteries Will Take Hits On Performance (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Reddit users have noticed that Apple appears to be slowing down old iPhones that have low-capacity batteries. While many iPhone users have experienced perceived slowdowns due to iOS updates over the years, it appears that there's now proof Apple is throttling processor speeds when a battery capacity deteriorates over time. Geekbench developer John Poole has mapped out performance for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 over time, and has come to the conclusion that Apple's iOS 10.2.1 and 11.2.0 updates introduce this throttling for different devices. iOS 10.2.1 is particularly relevant, as this update was designed to reduce random shutdown issues for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S. Apple's fix appears to be throttling the CPU to prevent the phone from randomly shutting down. Geekbench reports that iOS 11.2.0 introduces similar throttling for low iPhone 7 low-capacity batteries.
When reached for comment, Apple basically confirmed the findings to The Verge, but disputes the assumed intention: "Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components. Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We've now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future."
When reached for comment, Apple basically confirmed the findings to The Verge, but disputes the assumed intention: "Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components. Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We've now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future."
Seems like Apple could have avoided some of this by making the battery a commodity item and easily replaceable.
Well for $79 or free with AppleCare+ we can fix it
If Apple is so concerned about the impact of old batteries, then why don't they make the batteries user-replaceable?
It's not like Apple hid what they were doing. This was all spelled out clearly in Apple's release notes: "Bug fixes and feature enhancements."
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Apple has neither the time nor the inclination to explain itself to a user who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the patches that it provides, and then questions the manner in which they provide them! We all would rather you just said "thank you", and went on your way. Otherwise, we suggest you pick up an SDK, and stand at post. Either way, nobody gives a damn what you think you are entitled to!
that they denied and lied about this all the way up until someone definitely proved it. What else that they're currently denying, or have been denying in the past, is not true?
Slashdot has posted this at least three times. Either get better editors or watch your traffic dwindle to nothing.
Well, the Earth is flat, for starters.
I'm still on iOS9 on my 6S+. I'm not an uberbeard that waits for something to be in the wild for 5 years before beginning to adopt it. I had an iPhone 4. It worked well. No slowdowns, no battery problems. Apple released the iPhone 5, and my phone still worked well. I upgraded to the most recent iOS , and my battery which previously lasted for 2 days was barely staying alive for 6 hours, and everything was slow - even browsing the exact same sites I was before the upgrade. Maybe as a result of that, they decided to throttle the speed to spare old batteries as this article says, but the tinfoil hat in me says they made the old phones obsolete with the software update so that there's more reason to drop another $800 on the next phone. Either that or they were willfully ignorant to supporting the old phones.
The problem here isn’t that iOS throttles the CPU when your battery can no longer properly power the phone.
(This is a really nice feature, compared to, e.g., sudden shutdown when voltage drops too low to run the CPU at normal speed.)
The problem is that iOS doesn’t alert you about what’s happening. If it said something like, “Your battery needs to be replaced. Until it is, your phone will run with reduced speed. Stop being poor and buy AppleCare+” Then you would have the information you need to make an intelligent choice.
You have to suspect Apple doesn’t do this because if you don’t know what’s going on you’re likely to assume your phone is just old and needs to be replaced.
You go to an Apple Store or other third party, and have them replace the battery.
It's pretty easy and then you don't have to think about it for a while.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Buy a new iPhone!!!! Thanks!
Yours truly,
Apple shareholders
Are those devices performing without slowdowns when connected to a charger?
whenever you need to be productive.
I think this is a nice feature - but only if it's something that the user can enable/disable. I'm going to take a wild guess and say there are probably plenty of people out there that would rather have the phone perform to its potential and just have to charge the battery periodically throughout the day.
iPhone 6s release date, September 25, 2015. Barely two years old. I would prefer to swap the battery myself rather than purchase a newer model,
I am so tired of stuff like this. Especially with batteries.
With Android, for another example, it's the "I'm going to poll - oops, I mean accept pushes - less and less frequently if you aren't waving the phone around. Because battery." So if you want Gmail to beep at you when the boss or the wife emails, too bad - it will beep at you only when it's good and ready, because battery!
But I want you to perform, battery be danged! "I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you do that. I can't let you jeopardize the battery."
(Yes, I've twiddled every setting that supposedly will change this, and none of them do. I ended up having Gmail forward certain emails to my carrier's email to text service. Because texts are important, ya know, so you always get those.)
Then do it you lazy piece of shit.
I have tested this with the Battery Live app on my three years old iPhone 6: My battery has degraded by 3% now. And accordingly I have not noticed any slow-down or diminishing of battery live on my iPhone. So I now understand why I was so perplexed by people complaining about slow-downs: Their batteries may have degraded much more for some reason and so they had good reasons to be angry. And I hadn't.
But if your old iPhone is still going strong otherwise and you would keep it for another year or two otherwise, spending $50 or $80 to have your battery replaced may be just worth it.
"We've now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future"
Should be
"We will slow down every previous iPhone when a new one releases"
Personally I could but not everyone is willing or able to watch a youtube video, acquire specialty tools then make the repair. Thanks for your suggestion though.
Funny, I get updates on my Samsung Note 5 fairly regularly... Last update was November 28th, and prior to that was November 1st. This is for a 3 year old phone. Battery still gets me through the entire day, too!
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
It's not *just* about battery age. It's age + operating temperature + momentary peaks in power usage.
The 6S in particular had a lot of issues where fairly new phones would just stop working at 20-30% battery when outside in the winter months.
Well for $79 or free with AppleCare+ we can fix it
Free with AppleCare only if Apple decides the battery needs to be replaced. And Apple has decided you don't need a new battery.
I'm using a OnePlus One, and hope to upgrade to a 5T one day when Resurrection Remix runs on it.
Support my political activism on Patreon.
They deliberately designed the system to degrade. Customers are being hurt by their actions. Lawyers can smell the money from a mile away.
(Really, Apple could have saved everyone a headache by creating the option to improve performance or save battery life, just like on Windows or Android.)
to get the most out of your iphone hook it up to a car battery
This is a good feature and makes a lot sense speaking as both a user and an engineer.
Is that the one that catches fire, or was that a different model?
<ducks>
Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. There is no question about it. I'm afraid. ... Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a SIRI 9000 computer...'Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you...'
Siriously, as long as throttling is easy to turn off, I'm okay with it. Although, it would also be polite if a message warned the user about throttle mode with an option or link to instructions to turn it off (accepting shorter charge cycles). HAL is so rude.
Table-ized A.I.
my phone back to iOS 8 I encourage everyone to do the same, to saturate their service and give them a clear message to fuck off from the device that we purchased
even just running the clock app, will eventually crash.
can barely run settings
can barely run safari to any page - stupid react pages shit designs.
can barely run the app store app - downloads 100s of images.
Apple - you cant code for shit.
This just goes to show how people's expectations and tolerances get more and more demanding (and forgetful) over time as technology improves.
Before Apple and others made this move to maximize battery space by removing the capability to user-replace, everyone complained about battery life.
Now, despite battery life being hours more than before, we forget how much benefit the capacity benefit has brought, and move on to the next complaint about how the battery isn't user replaceable and eats into performance when it gets old (mind you, performing and delivering usable hours far beyond what was possible before).
So users, which is it? Is this not the nightmare of technology developers, when people keep on demanding the next thing, and you no longer get acknowledgement / it's just table stakes for the achievements you've made so far.
customers to easily change the battery.
Different model. They don't throttle the battery like some other iCompanies...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
"It just works..." It just works the way Apple tells it to. Oh you'd rather have a shorter battery life because you want the increased battery life? Tough shit, Apple already made that decision for you.
how well supported is the typical Android phone past the first year (let alone 2nd or 3rd)? How well do the batteries hold up in them?
I don't know what's typical, but I replaced the battery in mine in the middle of year three, and it's good as new.
As to support, that's an entirely different issue from batteries -- but here's my take: Some people (such as yourself) care a great deal about it, and they should select what they buy accordingly. Other people (such as myself) really couldn't care less, and they should select what they buy accordingly.
The shit apple does and their vacuous user roll over and take it. Some of these morons are actually saying how its great apple does this. You idiots deserve however apple screw you over next. What a disgrace to the entire tech industry apple is.
What the fuck is Apple updating with every new iOS? Seems mostly bug fixes for major security issues they left open in the last update. These bug fixes require slow downs? I don't believe it. Yet to see any major new feature that is rally worthy of a new iOS version number!
Steve jobs is gone and Apple is going to shit!
...waiting....
The batteries come with the tools. Step by step instructions here: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/i...
You can skip taking off the screen, so it's only 4 screws and a couple pieces of adhesive to pull. It's about as simple as anything inside a modern device gets.
And they'll fix that for free: https://www.apple.com/support/...
Apple could just make the battery of their phones removable; instead, they ask their customers to throw away half a day of their life in order to drive to an authorized extortion center and wait for hours for the battery to be replaced, while paying 89 € (plus 12,20 € of shipping fees) for the privilege of the experience.
All the phones I own have user replaceable batteries, and I will never have this problem. Those who choose phones with integrated batteries need to accept this limitation and move on. Phones either will become commodities themselves at low price points (sub 100 dollars) and be throw away items (landfill filler) or companies will accept that if we pay over 300 for a phone we expect it to last for at least five or six years. Personally I like phones to last 10 to 12 years for the simple reason that I swap the batteries and use the older phones on trips where I care less if they get lost than my newer good phone. I have not purchased a phone since they became throw away's (sealed in battery). When the crowd realizes the trade off of thinness for usefulness has gone too far they will demand replaceable batteries and those of us who also demand them will buy phones again. I personally don't even really need a mobile phone. I remember when it was nice that no one could reach you when you were out.
$29.99, and under an hour of your time. You might even find tinkering with your device fun!
Not worth your time? Find a local phone repair shop and they'll do it for $50-60.
have you seen the idiots that own iphones, they couldn't find their arse with both hands. and you expect them to use tools ha ha ha ha ha ha, stop it hurts...
So let me get this straight. Apple (and others mind you), purposely build crap products whose battery knowingly gets worse over time and has no easy way to replace it, so to 'fix' this issue they build crappier products (slow down the software). Here's an idea, replace the phones with new ones with new batteries, sure that's expensive...but maybe it will teach these companies to actually make better products.
What amazes me more though is people will pay >$600 for crap like this. Proving I guess that people really do have more money than brains.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/battery-data-cycles-health-etc-gone-in-ios-10.1977954/
The whole thing is as LIE.
There is no reliable way for them to tell if a battery is still good or not. Lithium batteries can look bad and still work pretty well, and they can look fine and have very short life.
Tell me, do they base it on voltage, or the current, or time to charge or what?! Exactly what do they use to determine the battery is old?
I know what they do....they simply say "this phone was releases x months ago, so we will just assume all batteries this old are bad"? And just screw all their customers.
It seems we know have official proof that Apple slow down our phones. But is it the same thing with Android phones? Does 3 years old android phones have the same/similar slowdown?
iPhone Need a Battery Replacement, How to Check? Are you experiencing a performance issue or slow speed on iPhone? Apple officialy confirmed that the iOS would throttle the performance of iPhones with an older battery. This makes sense, and you can speed up iPhone and get the performance back by replacing the old battery. In addition to this worn iPhone battery, there may have other reasons that may affect your iPhone performance, and the main reason is lack of free spaces. Before you start to replace iPhone battery, make sure the iPhone required a new battery. The battery test on iPhone can give you an exact figure of iPhone battery wear level. Remaining battery life, some battery cycles run, the full charge capacity of iPhone battery, etc. Here, we are going to present you three best solutions to check iPhone battery. More:https://mashtips.com/iphone-battery-check-solutions/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NCwBkNgPZFQ