Apple slows down last year's iPhones with IOS 12.1 | iPhone 8 and X customers beware

[Ross Siggers]

@D13H4RD I mean, my point was for the standpoint of a general consumer, but if iPhone batteries are quicker to replace than I thought, then so be it

The difference here is that I was kinda referring to how, before, anyone could do it. I'd bet the majority of users would pay a shop to do it now, if they even bothered at all. It's important to point out that we're not the majority of users  

[XenosTech]

1 minute ago, D13H4RD said:

An iFixit toolkit or a basic toolset for electronics should be fine.

Speaking of these, can't wait to get mine then order the manta kit lol

[D13H4RD]

2 minutes ago, Ross Siggers said:

@D13H4RD I mean, my point was for the standpoint of a general consumer, but if iPhone batteries are quicker to replace than I thought, then so be it

The difference here is that I was kinda referring to how, before, anyone could do it. I'd bet the majority of users would pay a shop to do it now, if they even bothered at all. It's important to point out that we're not the majority of users  

The only roadblock is getting genuine batteries yourself. For removable batteries, the store would sell them back in the older days. 

 

These days, people just take it to a store to do it for them because phones are getting harder to open up these days. That's what I did for the M7 and Moto Z. 

[RedRound2]

29 minutes ago, XenosTech said:

Considering majority of android phones out in the wild aren't premium phones and are budget phones that my mom would buy because it costs $30. Those tend not to last long but premium phones from apple and premium phones running android last about the same (depending on the user.)

Not really. Samsung phones are notorious for performance degradation after two years. Last year's Pixel 2 has also slowed down heavily and 1st gen Pixel isn't even much in the picture. Sure maybe it's still usable but iPhone 7 is still an extremely fast and popular phone from two years ago.

[Ross Siggers]

3 minutes ago, D13H4RD said:

The only roadblock is getting genuine batteries yourself. For removable batteries, the store would sell them back in the older days. 

 

These days, people just take it to a store to do it for them because phones are getting harder to open up these days. That's what I did for the M7 and Moto Z. 

I'm happy enough to try changing the battery in a phone...but for the last 5-6 years I've been using Sony handsets that're all ip68 rated. And I kinda don't want to mess that up, so I would probably send mine off as well. Now the rest of the industry is catching on to that standard, that may reduce the number of people self-servicing their devices even more.

[BuckGup]

26 minutes ago, 79wjd said:

My only point of problem is if it enables the throttling without warning you (after an unexpected shutdown occurs) -- there should be a pop-up upon reboot if a shutdown occurs saying that throttling has been enabled because 'blah'. Now, it might entirely be the case that it works that way, there's no way anyone can know the answer to that question until the issue actually occurs in the real world.

Pretty sure it does

[D13H4RD]

9 hours ago, RedRound2 said:

Not really. Samsung phones are notorious for performance degradation after two years. 

Mostly the older ones. The newer models are chugging along pretty well. 

 

The Pixel seems to be suffering from degraded NAND, because the extent of its slowdown seems too extreme to just be software related. 

 

The OnePlus phones seem to be aging quite gracefully on the performance front, however. As performance on Android goes, I'd say they're the closest to the UX performance on an iPhone, sometimes better. 

 

9 hours ago, Ross Siggers said:

I'm happy enough to try changing the battery in a phone...but for the last 5-6 years I've been using Sony handsets that're all ip68 rated. And I kinda don't want to mess that up, so I would probably send mine off as well. Now the rest of the industry is catching on to that standard, that may reduce the number of people self-servicing their devices even more.

It's hard to self-service your device these days as many are completely sealed up. 

 

The worst example I know of is my old HTC One M7. It was impossible to open up without damaging the rear case. 

[Misanthrope]

I'm going to take a position that many of you will probably not expect from me: While this is shitty I really don't think Apple users can complain at this point. I just don't believe the iPhone sales would be where they're at if their loyal userbase wasn't switching phones every 2 years or even sooner. 

[EarthWormJM2]

5 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

True, but everyone should know by now, and if they don’t then they’re the type who won’t really care and will just upgrade to the latest iPhone anyways. 

Problem is, it shouldn't be that way. Most of the general public who buy iPhones are fairly, if not completely, uninformed about things like this. And if they have no idea this is even happening, and Apple is turning it on by default, not informing the user about it, they will just think "it's old now, or defective and must be time for a new one" which is exactly what Apple wants. They are all about 'dispose and replace' rather then 'repair and reuse'. It ends up hurting the average consumer as they will to continue to unknowingly replace devices where there is no major issue or could be a quick cheap fix (like replacing the battery) and spend more money then they really have to. It's shady to say the least.

 

And I know all companies have some shady practices, I mean the goal is to make money, but Apple is now the most valuable company in the world, calm down a bit on these practices, be more transparent with the average consumer, and maybe offset the "losses" in sales from not upgrading as frequently by opening up your supply chain and making all your repair parts more available. People will buy the crap out of their parts if they did.

[Zando_]

1 hour ago, EarthWormJM2 said:

Problem is, it shouldn't be that way. Most of the general public who buy iPhones are fairly, if not completely, uninformed about things like this. And if they have no idea this is even happening, and Apple is turning it on by default, not informing the user about it, they will just think "it's old now, or defective and must be time for a new one" which is exactly what Apple wants. They are all about 'dispose and replace' rather then 'repair and reuse'. It ends up hurting the average consumer as they will to continue to unknowingly replace devices where there is no major issue or could be a quick cheap fix (like replacing the battery) and spend more money then they really have to. It's shady to say the least.

 

And I know all companies have some shady practices, I mean the goal is to make money, but Apple is now the most valuable company in the world, calm down a bit on these practices, be more transparent with the average consumer, and maybe offset the "losses" in sales from not upgrading as frequently by opening up your supply chain and making all your repair parts more available. People will buy the crap out of their parts if they did.

Yep, though apparently once it kicks in you get a notification and such, so they seem to have fixed that (still should put it on the front page of the little patch notes blurb when updating to iOS 12.1 though). 

 

"People will buy the crap out of their parts if they did."

Heck yeah. I don't think they realize how massive the parts market is, but if they actually designed things to be repaired instead of replaced and recycled (which loses lots of valuable elements you can't pull out of tech once they're put in) and sold the parts, they'd make a killing. 

[TechGod]

6 hours ago, Drak3 said:

Because if "Apple phones can't realistically be usable for more than 2 to 3 years, no phone can be" logic.

 

Android phones regularly see much longer usable lifespans than iPhones. Boils down to better batteries and the construction of older Android phones being far more durable than the "premium" but fragile older iPhones.

 

Which just makes the "five year support" argument for Apple a joke for 99% of iPhone users.

What a load of Grade A bullshit. 

[AnonymousGuy]

The fuck is with this clickbait title being allowed by mods?  They throttle performance if your battery is so degraded that it crashes under load.  No one has trashed their iPhone 8 battery anyways at this point.  Even my 7 Plus that's 2 years old and full drained every day is reported at 89% capacity and unthrottled.

[ZacoAttaco]

I didn’t see on the article, there are no actual figures on what throttle we should expect? I guess it directly relative to the health of your battery?

 

Oh and @AluminiumTech -20 Community Rep for using triggering hashtags in news post 

[Drak3]

32 minutes ago, TechGod said:

What a load of Grade A bullshit. 

Plastic (what people wrap their "premium" phones with to make them more durable than a thin layer of glass) is what most Flagship Android phones used to be made out of. It absorbs impact far better and no manufacturer accounted for it then (most still don't).

 

Apple also used absolutely anemic batteries for most of their phones, relative to the time. Most Android manufacturers didn't.

 

iPhones weren't made to last more than a couple of years. Android phones were, whether intentional or not.

[ZacoAttaco]

5 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Apple also used absolutely anemic batteries for most of their phones, relative to the time. Most Android manufacturers didn't.

 

 iPhones weren't made to last more than a couple of years. Android phones were, whether intentional or not.

If you're saying iPhones contain batteries reasonably smaller than most Android devices than you're correct there. Again, though, iOS simply isn't a resource heavy so you can achieve a similar battery life with a considerably smaller battery on iOS.

 

I can't agree with you there, why would Apple support the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 with iOS 12 if they were only supposed to last a couple of years or so? They simply wouldn't, but Apple's commitment to support their devices with major software updates long after launch proves your point invalid.

[Arika]

9 hours ago, BuckGup said:

Literally has the option to be turned off. I don't understand why this is a big deal again we already went over it.

I dont care if they do it. My issue is that they don't tell the user its happening. Which is just as bad as making an update to purposely slow down phones to make people upgrade.. 

 

All they would need to do is to make a pop up saying "your phone performance has been slowed down to preserve your battery load fe, would you like to turn this off?" 

 

They don't seem to do this on the ipad as far as I can tell, so why is it done on their phones? 

[TechGod]

1 hour ago, Drak3 said:

Plastic (what people wrap their "premium" phones with to make them more durable than a thin layer of glass) is what most Flagship Android phones used to be made out of. It absorbs impact far better and no manufacturer accounted for it then (most still don't).

 

Apple also used absolutely anemic batteries for most of their phones, relative to the time. Most Android manufacturers didn't.

 

iPhones weren't made to last more than a couple of years. Android phones were, whether intentional or not.

Please tell me more about why the 5S got iOS 12 then if Apple is planning obselence?

[ZacoAttaco]

5 hours ago, Arika S said:

They don't seem to do this on the ipad as far as I can tell, so why is it done on their phones? 

The iPad battery is kind of insane. It's never been an issue through my use of the iPad, it does take some time to charge but has a slow discharge rate at the same time. If it becomes an issue, Apple will probably implement a similar system on their tablets too.

 

5 hours ago, TechGod said:

Please tell me more about why the 5S got iOS 12 then if Apple is planning obselence?

Just checked, iPhone 5S was released in September 20, 2013 so that's 5+ years of support. The defence rests.

[Drak3]

6 hours ago, ZacoAttaco said:

Again, though, iOS simply isn't a resource heavy so you can achieve a similar battery life with a considerably smaller battery on iOS

You really can't though. iOS is less resource heavy, but not to the extent where is can get the same battery life out of batteries half the size of the competition.

6 hours ago, ZacoAttaco said:

They wouldn't but Apple's commitment to support their devices long after launch proves your point invalid.

No, it doesn't. Because everything is designed in house, mobile processors haven't changed much, and the same hardware as the iPad.

 

Because businesses tend to hang onto their ipads for years, there isn't much reason to put in the EXTREMELY minimal effort to backport to older iPhones. As multiple people on this forum demonstrate, it makes for great misleading advertising.

 

5 hours ago, TechGod said:

Please tell me more about why the 5S got iOS 12 then if Apple is planning obselence?

Physical phones failing because they're not designed to last a ling time and software support aren't correlated in any capacity.

 

Unless you're also saying that machines nearly two decades old being supported by Windows 10 means that they were designed to last more than a decade.

[ZacoAttaco]

5 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

You really can't though. iOS is less resource heavy, but not to the extent where is can get the same battery life out of batteries half the size of the competition.

I mean, you're probably not wrong there, iOS has had a bad reputation with battery life and it would be nice to include a larger battery.

 

But we're in agreement that iPhones have smaller batteries because the operating system isn't as demanding.

5 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

No, it doesn't. Because everything is designed in house, mobile processors haven't changed much, and the same hardware as the iPad.

 

Because businesses tend to hang onto their ipads for years, there isn't much reason to put in the EXTREMELY minimal effort to backport to older iPhones. As multiple people on this forum demonstrate, it makes for great misleading advertising.

I'm confused by this though, my point was that Apple clearly wants their devices to have longevity to them, and the main evidence was the extent of their device support for major updates.

 

Even if that point is not convincing enough, I'd still argue that the old iPad that hasn't had updates in years would still be more usable than an Android device from a similar period. It's not purely on device support but also device usability after many years. I mean Linus said in a recent video that his iPad 2 only just became unusable and that device was released in 2011 so 7 years ago.

 

Also if you're asking whether or not I would want a new iPhone or an older iPhone, I understand the newer device will perform significantly better but that the older device would still be very usable. I'm sorry I've probably misinterpreted what you were saying, forgive me. 

[Drak3]

12 minutes ago, ZacoAttaco said:

my point was that Apple clearly wants their devices to have longevity to them

No, they don't. They want people to think that. Otherwise, the iPhone would look like a CAT phone. The design choice of the iPhone pursues the "premium" feel over durability and longetivity.

[ZacoAttaco]

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

No, they don't. They want people to think that. Otherwise, the iPhone would look like a CAT phone. The design choice of the iPhone pursues the "premium" feel over durability and longetivity.

We can agree to disagree on this one. 

[D13H4RD]

1 hour ago, Drak3 said:

iPhones weren't made to last more than a couple of years. Android phones were, whether intentional or not.

Older Android phones definitely had that sturdier vibe to them. The LG V10 I fondly remember for its tough construction and super solid hand feel. It actually felt like an actual tool.

 

These days though, many phones, regardless of platform, just feel a lot more fragile. I used to use my phones without cases because I didn’t need to at the time. Meanwhile, my Note8 lives in a Tough Armor as it felt so slippery and I knew that if I dropped it, it’s likely something would crack.

 

That’s one of the reasons why the Pocophone was so refreshing to me. So sick of this silly glass trend.

 

Another thing I thought I find rather awkwardly funny was that my older Android phones were pretty straightforward to take apart and reassemble compared to iPhones but my recent models with sealed-in batteries were significantly harder.

[DrMacintosh]

48 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

You really can't though. iOS is less resource heavy, but not to the extent where is can get the same battery life out of batteries half the size of the competition.

Nobody is claiming those stats though. Saying iPhones can get more screen on time out of a smaller battery is true thanks to Apples massive lead in SoC efficiency which also yields best in class performance. 

[Drak3]

7 minutes ago, D13H4RD said:

Older Android phones definitely had that sturdier vibe to them. The LG V10 I fondly remember for its tough construction and super solid hand feel. It actually felt like an actual tool.

 

These days though, many phones, regardless of platform, just feel a lot more fragile. I used to use my phones without cases because I didn’t need to at the time. Meanwhile, my Note8 lives in a Tough Armor as it felt so slippery and I knew that if I dropped it, it’s likely something would crack.

 

That’s one of the reasons why the Pocophone was so refreshing to me. So sick of this silly glass trend.

 

Another thing I thought I find rather awkwardly funny was that my older Android phones were pretty straightforward to take apart and reassemble compared to iPhones but my recent models with sealed-in batteries were significantly harder.

Man, if only I had used a past tense word like 'were.'