Apple slows your iPhone down "to conserve battery"

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drunkenmaster said:
There are so many issues with older iPhones which Apple is trying to all broadly put down to older degraded batteries reducing clock speeds. I've never had an iPhone so can't attest to it but many people are saying that on installing a new iOS, usually launched with a new phone afaik, that all of a sudden their battery life drops through the floor. So with the same battery they can get 5 hours usage in the morning on the old OS and 2 hours usage from a full charge on the new OS later that day on the same battery.
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I can comment on this - When a new version of iOS is installed, the first day or two battery life is always dreadful. The phone does all kinds of indexing in the background and it absolutely destroys the battery. What you're describing on that first (and sometimes second day) is very typical, I've experienced just this but it's always very quickly gone back to normal.
 
I wonder if this will affect used prices. Second hand buyers will now know they will get a significantly downgraded phone.
 
Hades said:
Apple deserve to get a roasting over this. It's not the fact they did it (potential totally a good solution), but the complete lack of transparency that makes it seem like they have utter contempt for their customers.
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This is spot on. I have have a 5S and 6S+ as spares and I don't really mind Apple trying to save the older batteries but to do it without telling the customer is really shoddy
 
always late said:
That's a good point actually, never thought of that.
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It's certainly making me think twice. I am about to buy a newer (used) iphone 7 Plus to replace my daughters 5s that needs a new battery. But I'd probably have to buy a new battery for the 7 which defeats the point of upgrading the 5s in the first place. I'd still buy one but the price would have to be low enough to allow for a battery soon after.

My wife will probably keep her 6 Plus for a few years. But my son also needs a new phone soon and isn't too bothered about iOS or Android. So I'll probably steer towards an Android phone on that one.
 
The conversation at Apple probably went something like this.

Apple Techy: "The battery in an iPhone over time will degrade, it may cause a restart under load in rare cases."
Apple Exec: "So how can we fix this?"
Apple Techy: "I suppose we could reduce the performance of the phone, making it slower"
Apple Exec: "Sounds like a great idea, it also means we can ensure people will need to upgrade every 2 years!"
Apple Techy: "Should we tell our customers about this change?"
Apple Exec: "Don't be silly, they don't need to know."
 
LiE said:
Apple Exec: "Sounds like a great idea, it also means we can ensure people will need to upgrade every 2 years!"
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If Apple wanted to force people into upgrading phone every two years, the best way would be to stop offering 4-5 years of free software upgrades.
 
I really don't understand how people struggle to understand how technology works.

You but a brand new phone with a brand new OS on it and it will perform as the manufacturer intends it unless there are issues.

You have that for a few years and a number of things will happen.

1. Your battery will degrade lowering battery life and apparently performance to keep the OS stable.
2. The manufacturer will release more phones with faster processors, better RAM and companies who make apps will take advantage of that. The OS will probably use that extra power as well.
3. Your phone will get security updates.
4. Your phone will generally slow down for all the reasons above combined and then seeing a brand new phone will make that even more apparent.

1. So you want apple to stop doing this, you phone is perhaps unstable and the battery degrades even quicker because its being hammered harder all the time. Instead of a 2-3 year battery that is usable you perhaps get under 2 years.
2. You don't update your OS or apps and eventually you can't use the apps or OS because they are unsupported.
3. Your phone is at risk as well as your personal information. Yay
4. This is how technology moves when it comes to computers. That 10 year old PC will not run windows 10 well.

Phone manufacturers cater to the mass customer base. That isn't people who want a rugged device with 2 day battery life in a phone that looks like a childs toy. They want sleek and beautiful. Most people don't buy phones our of necessity, they buy them because they want the latest tech, the best camera, the new bigger screen or simply because they like them. I could get by with an iPhone SE but I don't.

If most of the people complaining about these issues were allowed to design a phone we would end up with something like the car Homer designs in the simpsons.

There are millions and millions of people with iPhones, Android phones etc that use them for 4 years plus quite happily. If your phone is unreasonably slow suddenly then there is probably a reason for this and its unlikely that apple have just turned your power down by 50%.
 
Tunney said:
If Apple wanted to force people into upgrading phone every two years, the best way would be to stop offering 4-5 years of free software upgrades.
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But how would that work if software updates is what slows the phone down in the first place? The amount of times Ive heard "I'm not going to update to the latest iOS incase it slows down my phone"
 
If their story is true......then the issue I have with it is the transparency of this information.

This should be optional.

I would sooner have a phone that didnt underclock its cpu knowing that I would have to replace the battery every now and again. 100% my choice.
 
Kinda suspected this was the case and I don't really see a problem with it tbh... seems like it's got a benefit in that it extends the usability of the phone in terms of battery life (duration) as it ages rather than run maxxed out regardless of the battery condition giving you less and less usable power-on time.

I assume that an 'old' phone with a new battery (either replaced or unused) were upgraded, it wouldn't be affected by the slow downs.

It seems like a design choice:
a) phone that runs at max and the on-time gets shorter and shorter as the battery degrades
b) phone that gives consistent on-time duration but gets slower and slower as the battery degrades

Either way, the battery needs to be replaced.
 
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The sensible approach would have been to make this information available earlier and provide a paid service to replace the battery. That should extend the life of many phones, which means less upgrades, so naturally Apple won't want to do this.

It's seems hugely wasteful that we will have to change our phone because the battery is baked into the product, and the battery only has a certain life span. I mean it's genius from a business perspective, but not great for people who are happy with keeping a phone for longer.
 
People are making it seem like an iphone that is a few years old is so slow that its unusable. Reality is that this decision really extends the life of the phone for most. A phone is SIGNIFICANTLY less useful if you do not have the battery to keep it on all the time. A slow phone may be annoying at times, but its not like its functionality goes out of the window.

Imagine if they did nothing to extend battery life, people would be complaining about manufacturers putting crap batteries in, forcing people to buy new phones.
 
Avenged7Fold said:
People are making it seem like an iphone that is a few years old is so slow that its unusable. Reality is that this decision really extends the life of the phone for most. A phone is SIGNIFICANTLY less useful if you do not have the battery to keep it on all the time. A slow phone may be annoying at times, but its not like its functionality goes out of the window.

Imagine if they did nothing to extend battery life, people would be complaining about manufacturers putting crap batteries in, forcing people to buy new phones.
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Imagine if you could pay to have a new battery.
 
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