Slashdot Mirror


Apple Investigated By France For 'Planned Obsolescence' (bbc.com)

AmiMoJo shares a report from the BBC: French prosecutors have launched a probe over allegations of "planned obsolescence" in Apple's iPhone. Under French law it is a crime to intentionally shorten the lifespan of a product with the aim of making customers replace it. In December, Apple admitted that older iPhone models were deliberately slowed down through software updates. It follows a legal complaint filed in December by pro-consumer group Stop Planned Obsolescence (Hop). Hop said France was the third country to investigate Apple after Israel and the U.S., but the only one in which the alleged offense was a crime. Penalties could include up to 5% of annual turnover or even a jail term.

5 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. samsung by geekymachoman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Related to this.. but not 100 % ontopic..
    Every time I updated my samsung s3 (i still use it) it got slower and slower.. until i just gave up.

    Everybody I talked to said the same thing, about other manufacturers too.

    I gave up updating my phone. I don't have anything I cannot live without on it (it's a phone people).. I don't install apps on it except maybe 2-3 apps such as Chrome, Guitar Tuner and LINE Messanger.

  2. Re:What Apple was doing was opposite, going longer by gravewax · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I could believe that IF they were popping up a message on users screen explaining the slowdown and that users could just buy a new battery so that they don't think it is time to buy a new phone.

  3. Re:$$S by gl4ss · · Score: 5, Interesting

    you don't really get it do you? they made it run slower on purpose.

    but they will use their excuse that it was to save battery life and money for the customer.

    never mind dude that.. it's made on purpose to not be repairable and you cannot change the battery and the battery fails after 2 years as per spec to the level where they started slowing them down on purpose, without telling the customer.

    and yeah most people would accept such tradeoffs. but you can't buy a high end internals phone with a removable cover and battery nowadays.

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  4. Re:What Apple was doing was opposite, going longer by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They implemented a technical solution that saved them money. As I have explained before, it's a design flaw caused by specifying an inadequate battery and then not doing a full life cycle test on it.

    This issue is well understood. The datasheet for the battery will give you the current delivery capability over its lifetime, specifying the worst case. You can also buy rather expensive battery simulators to test your hardware with an aged battery.

    Other manufacturers did that. Apple either did it or got lucky on older phones. With the 6 they screwed up. In Europe design flaws have to be resolved in the customer's favour, and if found to be deliberate they can be a crime.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  5. Re:What Apple was doing was opposite, going longer by not+flu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The battery indicator doesn't work under these conditions. I had a couple of random shutdowns when battery indicator was over 30% on my iPhone 5 before I started wondering how come my phone lasts for days now without a recharge. If it wasn't for the lack of security updates for a 5-year-old phone I wouldn't even be looking for a replacement.