So, the rumors were indeed correct and Apple had indeed been slowing down older iPhones and all of this wasn’t just another conspiracy theory concocted by unhappy users.
If you don’t know what’s going on or have never used an iPhone before, basically, there has been this long going belief among many users that as their iPhones got older, they started getting slower and the performance of their devices started to decrease and that, this was done deliberately by Apple to make them buy newer phones.
Till now, this was always shrugged off by tech pundits as being either a psychological effect (when new devices are launched older ones ‘feel’ slow) or at the very best, by stating that the older hardware just wasn’t enough to handle the newer iOS versions and its demands.
All the speculation about the whole thing was laid to rest when about two weeks ago, Apple admitted that it was indeed slowing down older iPhones but not to force users to upgrade but for another reason altogether.
Why Did Apple Do So?
It is obvious that anybody would instantly think that Apple did it so that consumers get rid of their old, slow phones and buy new ones, hence increasing the profits for Apple, especially because in the last few years, Apple has indeed come off as more money hungry than ever before.
The company however, claims that they did so to “protect against battery problems and prolong the life of iPhones” and are actually calling it a ‘feature’ that they released with iOS 10.2.1.
Following the backlash by consumers all around the world, the company released an apology on its website to explain the situation and their reasoning behind it. They maintained that they would never intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product.
According to the explanation provided by them, as batteries get older, they tend to hold less charge (which is true of all lithium ion batteries). As this happens, the battery is no longer capable of delivering peak energy loads, which might cause a device to shut down again and again.
To prevent this, they pushed a software update that manages the maximum performance of the hardware to prevent these shutdowns, which resulted in slower functioning of the devices. To restore the full performance of their devices, consumers needed to get their old battery replaced.
A $999 Billion Lawsuit
If that number sounds outright crazy to you, that’s because it is. Even Apple’s market cap is not there yet. But that’s not stopping Violetta Mailyan from suing Apple for an insane $999 billion, alleging fraud through concealment.
There are seven more lawsuits being filed against Apple including one for $100 million by Raisa Drantivy and her legal team which is a saner number at least!
This shows the anger of the people against the tech giant. Really, I think they should have been upfront about it from the get go and should have clearly stated that all consumers needed to do was to get their battery replaced and not mislead them into buying new phones altogether.
As damage control, Apple has launched a battery replacement program for the affected phones (iPhone 6, 6s, SE and 7) under which users can get their batteries replaced for $29 down from $79 that Apple used to charge before. The program will be available worldwide, till December 2018.
Apple was great when it was a fruit
I wish I can upvote 100000x this comment! haha
hi there ... thanks so much
Another similar one is ... I loved life more when apple and blackberry was just a fruit 😜😜😜❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
ha ha ha, really nicely said :-)
Hehe!!!
Now it is a vegetable :D
Ha ha ha ... great one
I'm one of those 2.5 year old iPhone users. Does that mean my class-action payout will be bigger?
I really don't know. Talk to your lawyer.
May be Apple is slowing old iphones by secretly mining crypto-currencies on it....
lol (Top Ten Movie Plot Twists) XD
That would indeed be kind of a genius move... who knows ;)
Hahaha nice one, android ftw
I don't think so. It would have been discovered by now by ios developers.
Never trust an Apple if you can't eat it.
Ha ha ha .... this is not an apple .... some may tell you it’s an apple .... this is not an apple ....
Haha!
LOL
It's not coming as a surprise for me! However, I do think it is stupid that Apple users have to pay to get their batteries replaces since it is a "mistake" from Apple's side, so the least thing they could do would be to provide a free battery for the people whom they affected...
LOL I don't think we should expect anything 'free' from Apple of all companies. hehe
No, unfortunately not. But if they had good costumer service they would've given it to us ;-)
have you seen the price to change the glass back cover of iphoneX ?? ranges from 350$ to 550$
I have, it is absolutely ridiculous. Even the price of the phone is way to expensive in the first place!
A mistake or a plan that netted someone a large bonus for cooking it up?
Big business donates to questionable causes, often helmed by cronies or their offspring while finding all manner of creative ways to maximize their profits, while looking down their noses at all of us struggling in this landscape made less to function well and more to benefit the few.
Imagine if they actually had business ethics. What an immensely different world we would be in right now.
This is exactly why I wrote it like "mistake" ;-) It is unbelievable what it has all come down to these days... All about maximizing profits and forgetting the ethics, like you say. It's quite funny actually because I'm taking an Econ course at uni right now, and they teach us that both firms and consumers act rational and care about fairness. I guess that's just in theory...
I actually already bought a new battery by the time I saw this for my older 5S. here's to hoping that after I get it in and working that I have the performance boost
Nice post. I always love Apple.
They are still doing a good job. But they need to change a few things for sure.
so buy android, once you buy it you are complete owner of it :)
The problem occurs even on android phones. I have seen Samsung Galaxy S series phones get slower just after a year of purchase.
Yes I had an Iphone 4 that I used for nearly 4 years then it started getting slower and some problems started appearing till it crashed. Now I am using Sony Xperia. Till now it is OK and no problem. Lets see for how long it can last :)
I had more problems with Samsung and now I dont want to buy it anymore. I had two Samsung phones in my life and dont understand if Samsung was the problem or the Android system.
Nice post, thank you for sharing !
That's basically what happened to my wife's iPhone 5. She's getting a Moto. I had a Galaxy S3 a few years ago. I liked it, but the power button broke, so it would just restart and restart. ha ha
hhhh My Samsung had problem with battery and the screen was frozen whenever I get a call. Was really annoying :(
I don't think the iPhone 4 was affected by this problem. The company states that only phones starting from iPhone 6 has this "feature". Anyways, I think the slowing down of your iPhone 4 was due to the processor being old.
Hello! nice post!
Thanks! :)
Would a trillion not fit on the form?
Haha, I was wondering the same.
Now it start to make sense why my old iphone se start to get slower
hey Jiren! When did you get off the Tournament of Power?? lol
Yeah, now it becomes clear way.
☺️lol right after defeating Goku
No truth... Its all about the money... Apple..
Yeah, after Steve, they are focusing more on money.
indeed apple company that memukan with different application. amazing to apple
good
Wonderful post my friend thank you for share it
Thank you :)
I think they have too much money in the bank. How can I sue them for all those I products :)
an incredible view
Oh yeah, they have tons of it!
Good post i like it thank you for share it.
Thank you :)
I guess this is called ruthlessness or selfishness in trade.
I think so too.
This may be one of the tips from "How to rip off people and make sales" - by apple hahaha
hahaha! Nice one :D
Thank god that I couldn't buy one ever:)
Even though this thing came out, I still honestly believe that iPhones are really good products. I have owned two iPhones in the past 5 years and I must say, I will still never even think about using any other phone. But that's just me though.
Maybe one day for me as well, if affordability is not a factor anymore hehe
Hey, you can use your Steemit earnings ;) Posts are making 6 times more than their $$ amount, so, you could afford one, I think.
if I am slowing down my laptop how much I will get - just joking
haha!
Really, I can not understand how people are interested in what Apple features are!
They still make quality products though.
Really, I can not understand how people are interested in what Apple features are!
If it's not on the blockchain they'll never prove it.
999 Billion?! jeez thats alot. I think I had an iPhone once, how do I get in on this? haha
I mean I feel like most electronics companies do some form of this, creating products to die after a few year. Probably the same with cars nowadays. This is pretty funny though
Yeah, that is just a ridiculous sum of money to ask. Their entire company's value isn't even that much!!
Alguna estrategia habrá detrás de todo eso.
Yes, might be.
My wife had been noticing that on her phone and it got so bad that she couldn't do much with it. When she heard they were actually slowing the phones down she decided she wanted a new phone. Guess what we went with? Android.
Maybe we can get some money from the class-action suit too. :)
Yeah, Apple should have been upfront about it with the customers. They should have clearly stated that customers would need to replace the batteries to continue to have full performance of their device.
Didn't they also get sued by France?
Anyway, their reasoning sounds more like some made up excuse the employees have been told to try and sell to the public.
I think it was not the country as a whole but the users in France. I think it is damage control at this point.
that's just goofy.
I know right!!
Never use apple..not to my taste.
People will still use it for their likes and preferences.
Apple sucks. Endless hardware upgrades, price too high, now this etc. I'm glad this is happening to them because they are a sh*t company.
They surely need to get their act together. Their image has become that of a huge money hungry company.
Good work! Just a few things I would like to add.
This post confirms the trend that had been going on, as litterally for any new OS update, on the twitter platform I noticed people complaining. They stated that their phones got significantly slower after upgrading their phones to the newest OS.
This phenomenon is not very surprising, as apple ethics have dramatically changed since Steve Jobs passed away. Tim Cook, the current apple CEO has been prioritizing sells, rather than quality. Look at the MacBook for instance. It has not drastically improved since 2012 in terms or design or even processor speed. I actually think that computer products such as LeNovo are now wayyyyy above apple computer product. This guy explains it pretty well, check this out: goo.gl/TUR1UQ
The majority of companies now do what apple does: produce more without really caring about improving the quality. They think that it is the best way to generate revenues in the long term. They think that since they have a really good reputation, they don't have to care no more about the quality of their products. But not all companies are like that. I personally think that companies such as Tesla, SpaceX or Solarus really bring quality to their product and are constantly prioritizing customer satisfaction.
I agree totally with all 3 points. It's sad to see Apple go down this path. Really sad. Steve must be turning in his grave.
I know :/ that really sucks!
the batteries on iPods sucked too
They've been doing this for years and people are just now taking action?
Actually the company has stated that they have started doing this since 2016. But yeah, people have been noticing it since before then too.
I've had iphones for years and they always slow down when you "update" them.
You wish you would have China fake one now he
Naa, those are just worthless.
Well yeah, but you at least know that in advance :)
ridiculous, I can't believe apple stooped this low.
Yup, even if it was to prevent shutdowns of iPhones, they should have been upfront about it.
Well, me too suffering from it. I own an iPhone6 and I can clearly see the responsiveness going awfully bad. I was reading about it and found that similar thing was done earlier as well older versions of iPhones that ended up being almost useless after the upgrade.
I used to stay away from the updates but then there are some banking apps now that fail to work in case you wont upgrade :( ... Had to pay the price and now it feel like what deals are on new phones to get one :D :D
They have launched a battery replacement program and you can get your battery replaced for 2,000 rupees which used to cost 7000 earlier. Then your device will return to its full performance. It is not about updates I think. It is just about a degrading battery.
Hmm, I will try to visit their store over weekend here and check it out. But, thanks for sharing this update as I was not aware they were ready replace the batteries at discounted rates.
I think people buy only name "Apple"not a phone
For some, that is true.
I can very well relate to it as a lot of people in my circle bought apple after saving for months and within a year they were getting frustrated. With new
(and faster) android phones being launched left, right, and center, the frustration of iPhone users is well placed. hopefully it gets resolved soon.
Here in Chandigarh, there's an old iphone market which I am sure has taken a great hit after this news got out
In my own experience, the products only start getting slower in their 4th year of purchase and they work pretty fine in that time period and for those who want to keep getting good performance, can simply change their batteries. I would still prefer iOS over android any day of the year.
Never owned any iPhone so can't say but my iPad just works fine even after 4 years. My friends probably need to calm themselves. However the old iPone market has surely gone bonkers. Prices have come down drastically 😂 Reminds me of bitcoin slump last month.
i love aplle prodact. at this time i am use iphone 6 and ipod. great post sauravrungta (74) thanks
thanks.
Serves them right... Sounds like they are just trying to excuse it.
yeah, seems like a typical PR control.
Thats a bad news for apple.
Maybe. But their stock hasn't taken any hit. So maybe not!
This is sad because even after all this, I still love Apple :P
Me too! The sad part is not what they are doing (they are doing it to prevent device damage) but that they should have told the customers about it first.
yeah..!!
and now we (apple user) will be getting more liners from other ones !
But I would still be from we :D
I know right! Already people were giving Apple users a lot of grief. Now they will get one more excuse to do so. Anyways, who cares what others think, right?
Apple has always been a shameless money grab of a company and this type of behavior from them is not surprising at all. It's also not surprising that they have an excuse for this. I also have no doubt that other Android manufacturers are doing the exact same thing as I've had smartphones go to shit in the past right after a software update.
Yeah, phones in general tend to do that. But I think if the manufacturers are doing it deliberately then they need to be upfront about it.
They are doing it deliberatelly, you can be sure.
My friend was facing some problems with his iPhone for last few days. When I asked him for how long is he been sing it. He said exactly three years before he bought his iPhone. So the news is very true. Apple purposefully slowed his device and forced to buy new iPhone. They lost all morality and ethics.
That means his battery is not performing well and hence the slow device.
Thanks for sharing..I was thinking of taking an Iphone and now after reading your article I will take a look to it..!! :P
I would still suggest you to get an iPhone. In my own opinion, I feel like they are still better than Android. But that is just my opinion.
nice post @ sauravrungta....thanx u for share it.
i hope in future i will buy an Apple.
Thank you :)
Didn't really surprise me. I thought everyone knew that cuz it was so obvious.
Yeah, it was kinda obvious.
Fantastic Article , its great this is now coming to light as many people have been speculating for years that this has been going on.
Yeah, finally the conspiracy lays to rest.
There was a lot of controversy shrouding this topic lately, thanks for the clarification. I know many I-Phone users who were pretty upset about this news. I hope this can shed some light on the reality of the situation and not just a huge conspiracy. They certainly should have been upfront about it, but at least there is some logic behind their procedure.
It indeed happens. I have noticed it too.