“Remember how crazy all those conspiracy theorists sounded when they carried on and on about ‘planned obsolescence,’ claiming that Apple was intentionally slowing down older iPhone models to force people to upgrade? Remember how Apple remained completely silent and let everyone go on thinking those people were insane?” Zach Epstein writes for BGR. “Well, Apple was effectively lying the entire time, or at least willingly misleading the public, because those people were correct in that Apple has indeed been intentionally slowing down older iPhone models.”
“Once the company was caught, it finally fessed up to the throttling. According to Apple, however, it slows down old iPhones in order to improve battery life and prevent unwanted shutdowns,” Epstein writes. “Whatever the case, Apple has been beyond deceitful for all this time and the company now faces more than a dozen lawsuits as a result.”
“While iPhone owners wait for things to unfold on the legal front, the only way for people to restore their iPhone performance back to normal is to swap out their old batteries for new ones,” Epstein writes. “But how can you tell if your older iPhone is being slowed down?”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Of course, our iPhone X units are merely months old, so both CPU Actual Clock and CPU Maximum Clock show matching 2.39 GHz in our test unit, so no throttling is taking place, as expected.
If you have an older iPhone, let us know if you find a discrepancy between CPU actual and maximum via Lirum Device Info.
SEE ALSO:
Class action lawsuits against Apple over iPhone throttling now number 30 – January 10, 2018
Republican U.S. Senator wants Apple to answer questions about slowing iPhones – January 10, 2018
French prosecutor launches probe into Apple planned obsolescence – January 8, 2018
Apple’s design decisions and iPhone batteries – January 8, 2018
Apple now faces over two dozen lawsuits for ‘purposefully’ or ‘secretly’ slowing down older iPhones – January 5, 2018
Why aging batteries don’t slow down Android phones like Apple iPhones – January 5, 2018
Apple’s $29 replacement batteries expected to hurt new iPhone sales – January 4, 2018
How to see if Apple’s throttling your iPhone – January 4, 2018
Brazilian agency requires Apple to inform consumers on batteries – January 3, 2018
Analyst: Apple’s ‘batterygate’ solution may mean 16 million fewer iPhones sold this year – January 3, 2018
An Apple conspiracy theory blooms – January 2, 2018
Apple clarifies policy on $29 battery replacements: All iPhone 6 and later devices are eligible – January 2, 2018
Why Apple’s response to iPhone ‘batterygate’ is brilliant – December 30, 2017
Australian lawyers to launch largest-ever class action against Apple over iPhone ‘batterygate’ – December 29, 2017
The most annoying things about Apple’s iPhone ‘batterygate’ apology – December 29, 2017
iFixit discounts iPhone battery replacement kits as Apple cuts prices, apologizes for the confusion – December 29, 2017
15 class action lawsuits filed against Apple for throttling iPhones with aging batteries – December 29, 2017
Apple apologizes for poor communication about iPhone batteries and performance; slashes battery replacement cost from $79 to $29 – December 28, 2017
No, Apple’s throttling of iPhones with aging batteries is not planned obsolescence – December 28, 2017
Apple execs face jail in France after lawsuit over slowing down iPhones – December 28, 2017
Korea seeks explanation from Apple for slowing down devices without warning – December 28, 2017
Apple now facing 8 lawsuits over throttling processors in iPhones with aging batteries – December 27, 2017
Apple tarnished their brand with clandestine iPhone battery management and processor throttling – December 27, 2017
Should Apple replace aging iPhone batteries for free instead of throttling processor speed? – December 21, 2017
Apple confirms iPhones with older batteries will take hits in performance – December 20, 2017
iPhone performance and battery age – December 18, 2017
Apple met with Chinese regulators to discuss iPhone 6s unexpected shutdowns – February 10, 2017
Rumor: Apple may extend iPhone 6s battery replacement program to iPhone 6 – January 17, 2017
A message from Apple about iPhone and unexpected shutdowns – December 2, 2016
Apple offers free battery replacement for ‘very small number’ of iPhone 6s units with unexpected shutdown issue – November 21, 2016
Opinions are like a$$ holes, everyone’s got one.
I’m tired of all the bitching. Don’t like it, then fix it or go buy from another manufacturer. Life really is that simple.
Economic life is that simple, yes. Mental life, however, is complex.. a cauldron of emotions swirling round, poisonous vapours hissing, eyeballs popping and froglegs twitching, a witches’ brew worthy of the cackling hags who foresaw Macbeth’s gruesome death. Maybe he and Lady Macbeth should have bought Android phones and saved the rest of us the melodrama.
The premise of the article is incorrect and misleading, as it has been with most of the news outlets.
Apple is *not* throttling older phones, with the implied goal of forcing people to upgrade. Apple *is* throttling phones with worn-out batteries, in order to keep them functioning, which is exactly opposite of the goal of getting people to replace their phones.
Any other reporting is either maliciously incorrect or just wrong due to stupidity.
I wouldn’t give this guy a click. What Apple did, for better or for worse, was the antithesis of “Planned Obsolescence.” On the contrary, they were trying to keep older phones operational. I am not excusing how Apple went about doing this, but it is whiney bullsh*t when this guy perpetuates the planned obsolescence meme. Nobody in the mobile phone space needs to PLAN obsolescence. It happens all by itself due to rapid change in technology.
Even I don’t think they planned obsolescence by these means. No SD slot will get you there quicker.
But to those so inclined, the behavior is consistent with planned obsolescence. I agree, consistent does not constitute proof.
That said, I’m certainly not letting them off the hook. If a product needs to be serviced so soon, covertly, it’s a poorly designed product, and the behavior is even more consistent in attempting to cover up this fact.
Why not just say “your battery is old and you can either slow down, or replace it”. Why deny the customer the choice over their property, and yes, the opportunity to call it out? (Rhetorical questions).
BTW…
Obsolescence due to progress is not to be confused with obsolescence due to premature failure, or premature inadequacy. You can have a perfectly good horse…!
Is there an easy way to tell if someone is throttling Pipeline Timmy’s throat?
Well his reply to the “fix” was quite throttled, if that’s what you mean… 🙂
Botty is making a homophobic slur right?
Yes. I deflected.
response would be to admonish Botty’s unacceptable behaviour. Your response makes you look complicit, you seem to be joking along with him.
First off, thank you for the opportunity to clarify.
Botty and I, on the best of day’s adamantly disagree, just two days ago, he spoke of “banging my mother”, and you think I’m going to worry about “sticks and stones”?
that your clarification did not contain any remarks about Botty’s homophobic slur. Those kinds of comments go beyond sticks and stones. When you respond as you did to a comment like that you condone it, whether you meant to or not.
I cannot, and will not be accountable to Botty’s language, and the ‘adequateness’ of my response. Doing so censors me, and I will nor be censored. I did not make any homophobic slurs, nor did I condone them. That’s your interpretation and your right. I will not censor you by telling you how to feel.
BTW… that’s why it was a deflection. You could have just as easily said I ignored it, which is the commensurate amount of respect it deserves. But you didn’t.
response says a lot about you… unfortunately.
And yours says volumes about you. Are you asking for my help or just attempting to PC bully me? Because from what I xasn tell you’ve spent more words on me than on Botty. Talk about tepid…
You know… I thought about our exchange, and at least in the sense of asking “you” whether you were asking for my help, I should have stood up for “us”. For that I’m sorry.
As far as my response to Botty goes, the homophobic aspects were not confronted directly in the same spirit as “not justifying it with an answer”.
Yes, the world is worse when “good people do nothing”, I agree, but the significance of Botty is sub-zero, I’m ore concerned about people who’s opinions carry weight.
Regarding PC… There is no PC! We are a democracy under a liberal (liberty granting) Constitution. You can be “PC” without going to “though criminal” shunning.
All that said, I hope I was clear and I apologize.
botvinnik has stated that he is not a literal homophobe (since he neither fears nor is averse to homosexuals), and I believe him. Rather, I detect that he is merely possessed of a cruel sense of humour – a comical disdain for weaklings, for the faint of heart and those of a fluttery disposition.
This is not my attempt to defend him, but to understand his character more precisely for the novel I envision writing about personalities under stress in the twenty-first century, and the ways in which globalism and the internet work to amplify the sketchier elements of their psyches and attenuate their natural caring impulse, if they had one to begin with.
There’s a place for everyone in such a book, sure to be a New York Times best-seller, if it ever gets written. Myself, I’d be the live-in aunt who is always badgering you to clean your room, and who used to be a knife-thrower in the circus.
So, how does one determine if and when Apple is throttling their iPhone? Would you care to share that information?
You might begin by reading the article you are commenting on.
When the first iOS 11 beta was released, it made my 6 unusable. Any task requiring any CPU power resulted in a sudden reboot.
With the second beta, it was better, but still happed with things like editing (just enhancing) images.
They had an issue with 11 being too much for “older” hardware. Instead of making it compatible, they created a bad engineering workaround.
Turned out to be a very bad call, and was bound to happen when you insist on backwards compatibility with old hardware. Android took another route, and we criticize them for it..but it’s why they aren’t facing class action lawsuits.
The article appears to also be showing an older version of the app to which they refer, the lite version does not seem to display CPU information, its grayed out on my iPhone X, which seems to imply that you are being misled by BGR as you probably need the $3 version..
Course I am not spending $3 to find out.. And if its working on MDN’s iPhone they either have an older version or the paid version..
how about some real accuracy for a change..
Like a fool…I had that issue and decided to go with the paid version.
Guess what….still doesn’t display the CPU info!!!
Don’t get it.
You have to touch the upper LEFT hamburger symbol then select This Device. Then you’ll see the specs you’re looking for.
Lol..that wasn’t the issue. I contacted the developer and they got back to me right away with a fix!
Now..recommend the app 😉
You have to force update their database (in app settings), quit the app, then restart the app.
Great support from them.
Wrong. It works perfectly well on iPhone 7+ with the FREE Lite version. Touch the upper left hamburger symbol then select This Device where all is revealed about your device. 😃
It’s perception. My 6s is still reading as Max performance, but I swear it’s slower. I’m the issue, not the iPhone, its much easier to blame Apple than to admit I’m a whiner who forgets what it was like to use a blackberry 10 years ago.
Another deliberately misleading article on this topic. How hard is this to understand? This only effects iPhone 6 and newer handsets, there wasn’t throttling in iOS 11, it was introduced in iOS 10.2.1, and it only effects devices with batteries that have gone past their 80% capacity lower limit (~500 charge cycles)… bunch of misrepresented crap.
The truth wasn’t misrepresented, it was unrepresented…
Exactly! The blogger accuses Apple of being “beyond deceitful”. Apple has never said that iOS updates DON’T slow down iPhones. Saying nothing is not effectively lying. Apple has been accused of slowing iPhones since the original in 2007.
Apple supports older models longer than any other manufacturer with OS updates. New features place greater demands on the processors.
Giving older hardware new functions and keeping it running reliably for longer is the opposite of planned obsolescence.
Meanwhile, Android manufacturers get away scot free with virtually zero support, zero updates. If their customers want new features the majority have to buy new hardware.
Moreover, manufacturers of Android devices face fewer class-action lawsuits than does Apple, for two reasons. First, those OEMs make fewer promises, and have thorough CYA EULAs. Second, they are less conspicuously rich. Lawyers smell money like dogs smell shit.
I have an iPhone 5s with original battery.
Ran Geekbench 4 and my single core score was 1265 and multi-core was 2154. That is better than what is reported on their site.
How does that happen?
As to this article, Your battery is old. Replace it and your phone will be fine. This is a non-issue.
Oh no!!! The app says my iPhone 7+ won’t work with an Apple Pencil! I must start a class-action lawsuit in NoCal.
It’s NorCal and SoCal. I learnt that when I moved here in 2015
Over a year with original iPhone 7+ battery and it still checks out at full 2.34 GHz speed. 😃
The lite version of this app that MDN linked us to does not provide the battery cycle count. However, my old iPhone 5s battery retains 1200mAh out of its design 1560 mAh capacity, or 76.9%. I have no doubt at all that it has far more than 500 cycles on the battery.
The actual CPU clock is 1.3GHz compared to the maximum clock of 1.4GHz.
Frankly, I applaud Apple for its energy management technology. This phone is still going quite strongly after four years. I would be willing to speak in court as an advocate of Apple, were that possible.
The only mistakes that Apple made are in failing to sufficiently publicize its power management strategy and failing to include sufficient information disclosure and notification in the iOS software. During all of this “battery-gate” controversy I have yet to hear of a situation in which Apple concealed a battery issue that should have been covered under warranty. The fact is, Apple devices offer extended useful life, and we should be praising the company, not suing it.
Follow up
CPU DasherX showed both the current and max frequency of my iPhone 5s to be 1300 MHz. As noted in my previous post, Lirum Device Info Lite lists the max CPU as 1400 MHz.
If I get the chance, I might try to load these apps on my old iPhone 4 to see the results.
I suspect the fixes for Meltdown and Spectre in Apple’s recent iOS updates may be the cause of the two sudden massive degradations in performance in Safari and/or internet connection just experienced. Solved in both cases on two different iPads, by a shutdown and restart. For how long, who knows?
This slowdown could be conflated with the battery slowdown problem.