APPLE under French Regulator investigation for iphone 'planned obsolescence'

[mark_cameron]

Source BBC:

 

Quote

 

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 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.

But it insisted it was because the phones' battery performance diminished over time.

The French investigation is being led by the economy ministry's consumer protection agency.

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 US, but the only one in which the alleged offence was a crime. Penalties could include up to 5% of annual turnover or even a jail term.

The group alleged that Apple had both deliberately slowed down some iPhone models through a software update and timed the update to coincide with the release of the newer model, the iPhone 8.

 

 

 

As a Samsung Note8 owner I am as concerned about 'planned obsolescence' as anyone.

 

I don't want to see electronics waste mountains in Africa.

 

I don't want to artificially be throwing away a good device simply because the battery needs replacing.

 

This is violating EU electrical waste laws. The phone companies are not routinely paying for phone recycling. Simply passing costs to consumers and maximising excess profit.

 

Imagine what a phone Life Cycle is now due to this?? Artificial shortening of the life of the phone. Which people are paying good money for in the first place.

 

 

[ItsMitch]

What idiots

[Guest]

This isn't how you fix an economy Macron

[arnavvr]

This is really stupid. Apple is a private business, and therefore they should be able to do what they want with the devices that they produce. Also, it can't be planned obsolescence as once a new battery is added to an older device, the performance would be restored back to the original speed.

[You_are_a_cunt]

Isn't end of support also a kind of planned obsolescence? (in the sense that there is an estimated life cycle for pretty much anything)

Sure, when the device can still run just fine, it's clearly a case of "buy our new stuff!", but some devices should go the way of the dodo sooner or later

[mark_cameron]

Just now, arnavvr said:

This is really stupid. Apple is a private business, and therefore they should be able to do what they want with the devices that they produce. Also, it can't be planned obsolescence as once a new battery is added to an older device, the performance would be restored back to the original speed.

 

Consumer protection laws apply friend

 

They protect consumers from illegal company behaviours

 

That for example amounts to fraud

[mark_cameron]

3 minutes ago, revsilverspine said:

Isn't end of support also a kind of planned obsolescence? (in the sense that there is an estimated life cycle for pretty much anything)

Sure, when the device can still run just fine, it's clearly a case of "buy our new stuff!", but some devices should go the way of the dodo sooner or later

 

Most electrical devices are designed for a 7 year lifecycle

 

Which relates to thermal creep and similar issues are arrising within electronics

[arnavvr]

Just now, mark_cameron said:

 

Consumer protection laws apply friend

 

They protect consumers from illegal company behaviours

 

That for example amounts to fraud

This isn't "illegal" it's just Apple trying to preserve battery life on older devices. Sure, Apple should have been more straightforward with what they were doing, but it isn't illegal at all.

[mark_cameron]

Just now, arnavvr said:

This isn't "illegal" it's just Apple trying to preserve battery life on older devices. Sure, Apple should have been more straightforward with what they were doing, but it isn't illegal at all.

 

It is ILLEGAL.

 

In France.

 

Probably UK too.

[You_are_a_cunt]

2 minutes ago, mark_cameron said:

 

Most electrical devices are designed for a 7 year lifecycle

 

Which relates to thermal creep and similar issues are arrising within electronics

In that case the iPhone 5(!) should still be in its lifecycle, yet updates stopped at iOS10 (we're up to 11.x now)

[mark_cameron]

1 minute ago, revsilverspine said:

In that case the iPhone 5(!) should still be in its lifecycle, yet updates stopped at iOS10 (we're up to 11.x now)

 

In which case Apple will need to justify why they removed support for devices that arguably were still in their lifecycle.

[Droidbot]

"Yeah but it was to retain that SoT that you got on day one"

 

Then fucking tell us! Don't hide it away for us to find out and then pull out the anti-trust lawsuits. 

 

and instead of drooping to the lowest possible multiplier step of the CPU, making the device as useful as a fucking paperweight and making Snapchat look like a PowerPoint slideshow, get someone to figure out the lowest possible frequency while still keeping the device somewhat usable. 

[arnavvr]

2 minutes ago, revsilverspine said:

In that case the iPhone 5(!) should still be in its lifecycle, yet updates stopped at iOS10 (we're up to 11.x now)

Actually, according to @mark_cameron 's rule, the iPhone 4S should still be getting software updates.

[mark_cameron]

Just now, arnavvr said:

Actually, according to @mark_cameron 's rule, the iPhone 4S should still be getting software updates.

I would like to know why the usable life time of devices seems to be declining.

 

Week on week it now seems.

 

Despite technology improving.

 

 

French consumer groups obviously not having it any more....

[You_are_a_cunt]

1 minute ago, arnavvr said:

Actually, according to @mark_cameron 's rule, the iPhone 4S should still be getting software updates.

Huh, didn't think the 4S isn't 7 years old yet, that's why I went for the 5 (which you can still find for sale new, for some reason!) <_<

[arnavvr]

Just now, mark_cameron said:

I would like to know why the usable life time of devices seems to be declining.

 

Week on week it now seems.

 

Despite technology improving.

 

 

French consumer groups obviously not having it any more....

It's actually going up, devices can now be used for longer and longer.

[mark_cameron]

Just now, arnavvr said:

It's actually going up, devices can now be used for longer and longer.

 

Not if you're an Apple owner...

[Dabombinable]

4 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

Actually, according to @mark_cameron 's rule, the iPhone 4S should still be getting software updates.

Since the iPad 2 is still getting updates (and that tablet competed with my 2012 Transformer TF201), it should:
http://www.techradar.com/news/ios-11-compatibility-list-does-it-work-with-your-iphone-and-ipad

 

Edit: Note that I still keep up with iOS updates due to my aunt's iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 5s and brother's iPad mini with touch id.

[arnavvr]

1 minute ago, Dabombinable said:

Since the iPad 2 is still getting updates (and that tablet competed with my 2012 Transformer TF201), it should:
http://www.techradar.com/news/ios-11-compatibility-list-does-it-work-with-your-iphone-and-ipad

Nope, iPad 2 software updates stopped at iOS 9.

[Dabombinable]

1 minute ago, arnavvr said:

Nope, iPad 2 software updates stopped at iOS 9.

No, it doesn't. Follow the link

[arnavvr]

1 minute ago, Dabombinable said:

No, it doesn't. Follow the link

Your link shows that the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 2 got iOS 11. Those devices are significantly newer devices when compared with the iPad 2. 

[laminutederire]

2 hours ago, arnavvr said:

 

Okay so they can make all iphone explode then, just because they produced them?

That doesn't make any sense.

2 hours ago, arnavvr said:

This isn't "illegal" it's just Apple trying to preserve battery life on older devices. Sure, Apple should have been more straightforward with what they were doing, but it isn't illegal at all.

What is potentially illegal is that they did that in a timing that could have boosted their iphone 8 sales by scaring off older phone owners with those messages about their batteries and/or by artificially making their old phone feel worse performance wise. What is important here is not what they did, it's how they did it and when, which led people to believe something else and potentially made them buy a new phone because of that.

[mr moose]

4 hours ago, laminutederire said:

 What is important here is not what they did, it's how they did it and when,

Pretty much this is the only reason they are in hot water, had they made the patch optional, there most likely wouldn't be anywhere near the number of lawsuits.   The second issue is that they are occurring inside of 2 years, which makes it look like they are trying to hide something before warranty expires.     Had they sorted those two issues out it almost wouldn't matter that the 8 came out during this time.

[Matu20]

16 hours ago, arnavvr said:

This is really stupid. Apple is a private business, and therefore they should be able to do what they want with the devices that they produce. Also, it can't be planned obsolescence as once a new battery is added to an older device, the performance would be restored back to the original speed.

Cannot agree more. 

[Mira Yurizaki]

15 hours ago, mark_cameron said:

I would like to know why the usable life time of devices seems to be declining.

 

Week on week it now seems.

 

Despite technology improving.

 

 

French consumer groups obviously not having it any more....

I'd argue going forward, aside from not getting OS updates, most devices should last a much longer time than they did years ago. Besides that, cellphones have had the same resurgence of improvements as desktop computers did in the 90s. Coupled with mobile internet still being a wild west until LTE was finally a thing, that didn't really paint a pretty picture for earlier devices to last. Now that mobile technology has caught up with most of the features in laptop and desktop technology, I don't see usable time declining.

 

Also note, the more features and widgets you want on your device, the more it's going to push the envelope of useful life. The only reason why you can probably use a 10 year old flip phone is because the feature list is orders of magnitude smaller than that of a typical high-end smart phone.