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Slashdot Asks: How Should Apple Have Responded To the Battery Controversy?

Posted by BeauHD on from the hindsight-is-20/20 dept.

Yesterday, Apple officially apologized for slowing down older phones in order to compensate for degrading batteries. In a letter to customers, Apple said, "We apologize," offering anyone with an iPhone 6 or later a battery replacement for $29 starting in late January through December 2018 -- a discount of $50 from the unusual replacement cost. They're also promising to add features to iOS that provide more information about the battery health in early 2018.

Apple's response has left many wondering whether or not it is enough. Even though they are discounting the cost of a battery replacement, for example, they are still profiting from each battery replacement. At the end of the day, "Apple only came clean after independent investigation, giving the whole situation an air of underhanded secrecy," writes Macworld. Should Apple have responded differently to the battery controversy? In the first place, should Apple even issue a software update to older devices to purposefully throttle the CPU and prevent the phones from randomly shutting down when experiencing rapid power draw?

Quinn Nelson via Snazzy Labs explains the controversy and how it is largely exaggerated.

3 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Apologize and correct by Baron_Yam · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They should have issued a statement saying the code was written to extend the life of the battery and prevent reboots due to voltage drops.

    Then they could have issued a patch that made the behaviour optional, perhaps with a pop up message suggesting enabling it when the battery started failing.

    Finally, the battery replacement discount is not a bad PR move.

  2. The first "should" of this whole mess... by Stormwatch · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The first "should" of this mess is: batteries should be user-replaceable.

    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.
    1. Re:The first "should" of this whole mess... by JohnFen · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They are.

      Unless you are not a very technically competent user.

      There are a lot of decent defenses for getting rid of user-replaceable batteries (I disagree with them all, but they are reasonable arguments).

      This, however, is just a stupid thing to say. The only reason I'm replying to it now is that I'm seeing it more and more often, and someone has to pipe up about it.

      Everyone (including you) knows what people mean by "user replaceable battery": a battery than an ordinary user can replace. If you need spudgers, soldering irons, and skill to do it, then it's not user replaceable.