“China’s Consumers Association (CCA) has formally asked Apple to investigate and answer why a number of iPhone 6 and 6s devices in the country have been shutting down without explanation,” Vlad Dudau writes for Neowin.
“According to the official information, a ‘considerable number’ of users have been experiencing issues with Apple’s older iPhones,” Dudau writes. “They are reporting that iPhone 6 and 6s models simply shut themselves off, despite having plenty of battery life left, around 50-60 percent. The devices can’t be rebooted afterwards, despite being connected to power outlets and used in adequate temperature conditions.”
Dudau writes, “Apple hasn’t commented publicly on the issue yet.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Could it be something as simple as people using non-Apple MFi knockoff chargers?
That said, we did have one old iPhone 6 Plus unit that “simply shut itself off” in August. Apple couldn’t explain what caused the issue. We only use Apple or Apple-certified MFi chargers for all of our Apple devices.
We ended up buying a new iPhone 6 Plus (at a reduced price from Apple, as offered by an Apple Store employee without any knowledge of our MacDailyNews ties) that was used for those three weeks, sold for about $75 less than we paid for it, and then replaced with an iPhone 7 Plus.
Sounds like the usual and seasonal effort by a Chinese officials to give Apple a bad reputation. I assume this will be followed by fake celebrities tweeting that their iPhones no longer work, or similar nonsense.
Until we find out what a “considerable number” of users means, speculation is worthless.
Regardless, better to shut off than to erupt in flames…
Who said anything about flames?
Not just a china issue. Had this issue for the longest. My iPhone 6 kept dying within just a few hours off hook. One day it died immediately after unplugging it and never came back on. Just about exactly 2 years after purchasing it (planned obsolescence) Apple Store got it back on by restoring it (and deleting everything). There diagnosis, the battery was consumed. Only about 40% capacity. The cost to repair was equal to a Genius Bar replacement. $300. I ended up going for a 7 instead.
Strange. I’ve had my iPhone 6s suddenly die while switching apps. When I tried to turn it back on, I got the animation for “Connect to power, battery dead (the Lightning cable and the single-red line battery symbol).”
The first time it happened, I tried a force-restart (hold power and home together for 10 seconds) and that worked. The phone started up, and it showed that it had about 50% battery left, as before the sudden shutdown.
The second time it happened (also from 50%), force-restart did not work. I had to plug into power. Then, without waiting more than a minute, I could start it up, and it showed about 50% battery.
Fortunately I have AppleCare, so I’m going to take it tot he Apple Store and see what they say. I plan to purge a bunch of old apps before I do that so I don’t load any replacement phone I might get with a bunch of old crap.
So if I understand your last paragraph, iPhones (and possibly iPads) don’t allow you to select which apps to restore on a cleared/new device and just put everything back even if you don’t want to have certain apps reinstalled?
Had my 6S pull a dead battery at 40% stunt like that 2 or 3 times. Good charge overnight seems to have cleared it. Hasn’t happened again for a while.
I do have a consistent problem that when I try to take a Photo, the focus stays blurry. Have to swipe to Video or one of the other options (which works) and then back to Photo, which *usually* gets the focus for Photos working again, but not always. Really odd.
Shit, they made them.
Could be the batteries are failing early. My father’s 6+ started swelling up last week and he had to swap it for a 7+. In itself not a bad thing, but because it was leased Sprint hit him for a damage/return fee even though the damage wasn’t his fault.
Apple to china: “We found the problem, as it turns out, we found a bug that when ever your china’s party officials are trying to break into their own people’s phones, the iPhone shuts down to prevente the access. We are sorry we did not provide a reliable back door to your socialist regime.”
Communistsocialist
I can’t believe China hasn’t figured that out yet. I thought everyone knew that most of the stuff coming from that country is big on hype, low on delivery.
The exception being of course war and other barbaric practices like torture, crimes against humanity and so on.
“The exception being of course war and”
eh, not arguing for Chinas repressive regime but ‘war’?
count the wars China has been engaged in the last 50 -60 years vs USA….
( USA: vietnam, bunch in South America like Nicaragua, Cuba, all over Middle East, Afghanistan, a whole bunch of smaller engagements, a whole bunch of proxy wars like In Syria …)
what I’m saying friends is that when the Chinese look at us and accuse them of stuff like ‘war’ instead of more realistic ‘domestic oppression of their own people’ they say we are inaccurate , prejudiced, or lying.
Canadian PM was over there recently and before criticizing China on human rights had to say that international bodies had also criticized Canada’s treatment of it’s Indians (First Nations peoples)
Thanks for your posts, I’ll try to answer though I have trouble understanding your point.
The topic: China to Apple: Why do iPhone 6 and 6s models suddenly stop working?
Potentially I feel it is a very strong possibility that there is something in the manufacturing process of the units, or the batteries that is causing this issue. That was the idea behind my original comment.
Potentially there is a also a possibility that MDN is right “Could it be something as simple as people using non-Apple MFi knockoff chargers?”
Both nations have oppressive regimes.
China, stop putting government tracking devices in them during assebly.
Well, it’s been two years this month for my 6 Plus and next month for my wife’s iPhone 6. So far working just fine, and I hope I haven’t just jinxed myself because I’m just not ready to move up yet.
Just had my iPhone 6S swapped out for this issue. Explanation from them: motherboard not correctly interpreting battery level. Or something.
I had one month left of my product warranty. 🙌🏼
I have to go get mine looked at then. My 6s does this, my daughter’s 6s does this, and my other daughter’s 6 does this. It does seem to be a problem.
My wife is having this problem on her iPhone 5s. (must be the battery)
Theory: China had infected the phones with poorly coded surveillance malware that wrecked the iOS kernel so badly, it gave up and locked up. AKA, blame China: Criminal Nation’s own lousy spyware coders.
Theory: Apple has implemented a voltage check on the battery to avoid boot on uncharged phones. When battery goes old this control makes the phone unusable.
Apple makes errors. It would be nice if people at MDN sometimes admitted it.
Yes indeed! Actually, a lot of us who hang out at MDN are just as ready to criticize Apple when they blunder as praise them when they do their usual wonders. If you click on my avatar, then click on the link to my Mac-Security blog, you’ll find that my current article is about Apple blunderingly allowing a pile of fake apps (apparently from China) onto the iTunes iOS App Store. Apple has been cleaning out the mess since October but are reluctant to admit that they allowed it to happen. Instead, they’re using the excuse of removing old, dead and unwanted apps from the App Store. That’s fine, but they haven’t admitted that they’re cleaning out the fake crapware as well. Calling Apple on such blunders is and excellent idea. They require a swift kick up the backside on occasion, just like any human endeavor. They typically respond and avoid the blunder in the future, which of course is another reason we bother to criticize them when they deserve it.
My 6s plus also is now acting quirky!
I keep powering off and on to clear it.