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Has the throttling issue been blown out of proportion?

  • No. In fact, there should be more outrage.

    Votes: 115 33.8%
  • No. Apple has received the appropriate amount of backlash and loss of trust.

    Votes: 68 20.0%
  • Yes. It’s not as big a deal as people are making it out to be.

    Votes: 157 46.2%

  • Total voters
    340

44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,492
On a tech forum, it has been blown out of proportion on different levels. I think Apple could have been more transparent, and I think they will be in the future from this point forward. But outside of a tech form, for those around me who are involved as Tech enthusiasts, have barely even mentioned this topic at all. I think Apple offered suitable a remedy for the time being, and at least addressed the concern, which it's time to move forward.
 
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Calebtt

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2012
104
56
Apple should have been upfront with the OS update power management feature, and added some sort of pop up warning, letting people no there options. Upgrade to new phone, change battery, or phone will be slowed to prevent damage to hardware.
 
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Hal~9000

macrumors 68020
Sep 13, 2014
2,155
2,084
Has the throttling issue been blown out of proportion?

Oh boy... soon as I saw the thread title I thought:

dgbg.gif


On a more serious note, I’ll give it a “maybe”... but also preface that with Apple definitely shouldn’t have acted as shady as it did.

Silently slipping throttling into a software update without telling anyone in an effort to avoid a huge recall. They should have been transparent from the start, sucked it up, and done whatever was needed to ensure they maintained the public’s trust. Apples lie by omission caused this whole situation to stink and they should be held to a higher standard than that.

Personally I hope they go down in flames with the lawsuits all over the world, thus giving Apple a huge slap in the face to knock off the Orwellian type **** and give users control over their own iOS devices via software options they can control in the settings... much like they should have done with this throttling “feature” which would have avoided the whole mess.

Probably won’t happen and they’ll continue to be arrogant to the point of not even letting users control their devices... but a guy can dream right? :p
 
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fs454

macrumors 68000
Dec 7, 2007
1,980
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Los Angeles / Boston
I’ve never seen something go so overboard. Android fanboys are arguing all over reddit that it’s because Apple won’t step up to the plate and use LiPo instead of Li-ion. It’s flat out wrong because Apple IS using Lithium Polymer but doesn’t change their naming convention. Lithium polymer is a type of li-ion.

They rain down links to Apple’s “why lithium ion” page and assume that because the parts say ion and the site says ion that it must be a different thing than lipo, which is exactly what they’ve been using since the iPod Classic.

It’s just given Apple critics a new base of falsehoods to try and claim against Apple devices.

If I see “dude, it says right on the battery, li-ion” one more time I’m gonna scream.
 

Ralfi

macrumors 601
Dec 22, 2016
4,341
3,048
Australia
Comes down to certain consumers situations I guess - if you upgraded your phone because it slowed down over time, thinking it was an 'old phone' issue, then you're entitled to feel let down as a new battery would've kept it going for a little longer, saving you the extra money spent on a new phone.

But if you didn't notice any slowdown, & just upgraded because you wanted the latest iPhone (which I think many here do anyway, but the haters will still exaggerate), then it's a non-issue to you.

I'm more the latter, but haven't upgraded as yet. But I still feel a little let down due to the people who fall into the former who were owed a little more transparency by Apple. In fact, we all were.
 
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JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
12,749
23,789
The proportionality of the response to Apple's actions was fair.

iOS 10.2.1 was released nearly a year ago. Apple had plenty of time to inform consumers and their own technical support staff.

For the average consumer, they read the headline today and it confirms that Apple discretely slows down their iPhone.

All Apple needed to do was inform the user their phone was being throttled and this situation could have been avoided.
 

joeblow7777

macrumors 604
Original poster
Sep 7, 2010
7,086
8,859
Personally, I have two minds about it.

I feel that the effect has been overblown. I was using an iPhone 6 until very recently, and I regularly tinkered with my previous 5s, both still using their original batteries and on the latest OS. If they were throttled, I can't say that I noticed a significant drop in their performance, yet many have described it as Apple "crippling" old phones. That aspect is way overblown in my opinion. I wonder how many people really noticed the "crippling" without running benchmarks. And batteries becoming less dependable as they age is a legitimate issue. Just the other day a friend of mine complained that his LG phone now dies abruptly at 30%. I think that he'd probably choose throttled performance over his phone abruptly dying when it says it still has power.

On the other hand, Apple ABSOLUTELY should have informed users and made the throttling optional. It's their typical "we know what's best for you" approach. They do deserve backlash for that.
 

Altis

macrumors 68040
Sep 10, 2013
3,167
4,897
No, they absolutely deserve it.

- Apple throttled devices based on battery health without telling anyone
- Apple removed access to device battery health information
- Apple begins the throttling while the battery still reports as "Healthy" by Apple's diagnostics and they wouldn't replace it
- Nobody suspected the battery as a cause of slowdown (it never was and wouldn't be unless deliberately added)
- People would buy a new phone when all they needed was a battery change
- It took a third party to figure out about the throttling

Now Apple's playing the plausible deniability angle by telling us with big puppy eyes , "Oh, we're just trying to help you get the best experience" etc after they were caught (and it still took them a bit to fess up while waiting to see if it would blow over).
 

jbizzybeetle

macrumors 6502a
Mar 9, 2015
501
195
Before throttling explosion: I thought my iP6s+ was slow on IOS 11. Upgraded, sold it.

After throttling explosion: Buyer of iP6s+ thinks it works great.

It is, however, good to know he can get a new battery should he like.

I think Apple made one reasonable choice and should have offered the battery replacement as another.
 

apolloa

Suspended
Oct 21, 2008
12,318
7,802
Time, because it rules EVERYTHING!
No, they absolutely deserve it.

- Apple throttled devices based on battery health without telling anyone
- Apple removed access to device battery health information
- Apple begins the throttling while the battery still reports as "Healthy" by Apple's diagnostics and they wouldn't replace it
- Nobody suspected the battery as a cause of slowdown (it never was and wouldn't be unless deliberately added)
- People would buy a new phone when all they needed was a battery change
- It took a third party to figure out about the throttling

Now Apple's playing the plausible deniability angle by telling us with big puppy eyes , "Oh, we're just trying to help you get the best experience" etc after they were caught (and it still took them a bit to fess up while waiting to see if it would blow over).

You forgot to add the Apple store staff telling people to upgrade because of their slow phones, even though it was Apples throttling that was slowing them down. Apple deliberately slows your phone down, doesn’t tell you this, but instead tells you to buy a new iPhone because your iPhone is slow after they also tell you your battery is perfectly fine and you cannot pay them for a replacement.
And people are fine with this, even though Apple could have effectively conned thousands into this upgrading with these tactics.. lots of AAPL share holders on here.
And now we have glass back iPhone’s that only Apple can replace for hundreds of dollars. The 4 and 4’S were never like that, but of course it’s another ‘upgrade’ path for Apple.

This story has only just begun.
 
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trifid

macrumors 68020
May 10, 2011
2,070
4,945
Those voting yes, please consider what would have happened if some reddit guy wouldn't have published his findings, Apple would have kept their little gem secret probably through 2018 and beyond and would have kept milking the userbase.

The revelation has significant repercussions, hence it deserves all the backlash it received and more.
 

macTW

Suspended
Oct 17, 2016
1,395
1,975
Oh boy... soon as I saw the thread title I thought:

dgbg.gif


On a more serious note, I’ll give it a “maybe”... but also preface that with Apple definitely shouldn’t have acted as shady as it did.

Silently slipping throttling into a software update without telling anyone in an effort to avoid a huge recall. They should have been transparent from the start, sucked it up, and done whatever was needed to ensure they maintained the public’s trust. Apples lie by omission caused this whole situation to stink and they should be held to a higher standard than that.

Personally I hope they go down in flames with the lawsuits all over the world, thus giving Apple a huge slap in the face to knock off the Orwellian type **** and give users control over their own iOS devices via software options they can control in the settings... much like they should have done with this throttling “feature” which would have avoided the whole mess.

Probably won’t happen and they’ll continue to be arrogant to the point of not even letting users control their devices... but a guy can dream right? :p
Glad to see you have irrational hatred towards Apple. This is a nonissue yet you hope they “go down in flames” because of it.
 

Altis

macrumors 68040
Sep 10, 2013
3,167
4,897
There is no throttling issue. Only used iPhones and old batteries.

What does throttling have to do with batteries getting old? Nothing, unless programming is introduced to link them.

The main issue is that it was kept secret.

The throttling starts well above 80% battery health where Apple considers the battery "Healthy" so saying "old batteries" is wrong and misleading.
 

fs454

macrumors 68000
Dec 7, 2007
1,980
1,865
Los Angeles / Boston
I love apple products but people on this forum being ok with what apple did just shows how many sheep are on here.


What'd they do? Opt for a different solution instead of unexpectedly shutting down when the aging battery is suddenly spiked with loads that bring it below minimum safe voltage?

It makes sense why they did it, and I'm glad they opted to not just have the phone shut down like a garbage android device would. The only issue I have is with the way it was communicated to customers.
 
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boltjames

macrumors 601
May 2, 2010
4,876
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What does throttling have to do with batteries getting old? Nothing, unless programming is introduced to link them.

The main issue is that it was kept secret.

The throttling starts well above 80% battery health where Apple considers the battery "Healthy" so saying "old batteries" is wrong and misleading.

Most iPhone batteries go to 80% after 2 years which is certainly "old" in smartphone years.

The throttle only affects phones in certain situations, and two of the most prevalent situations are 1) old battery, 2) cold temperature. Being near 80% and it being winter can be a trigger.

The main issue is not that anything was 'kept secret'. The main issue is that people's expectations of a 2 year old smartphone with a 2 year old battery running a brand new OS designed for a smartphone that's 2 years newer are out of whack. It's no 'secret' that the newest iPhones are launched with much hoopla around the central point that they are faster than older models and have sexy new processors, anyone who has owned a few iPhone's know that updating the OS is going to have a tradeoff to performance. Add to that an older battery, it's a recipe for the throttle.

Apple was trying to protect you from a shutdown because your phone is old and your battery is tired. Their thought, which anyone would agree with, is that it's better to have a slightly slowed phone than no phone at all.
 
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apolloa

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Oct 21, 2008
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Time, because it rules EVERYTHING!
Most iPhone batteries go to 80% after 2 years which is certainly "old" in smartphone years.

The throttle only affects phones in certain situations, and two of the most prevalent situations are 1) old battery, 2) cold temperature. Being near 80% and it being winter can be a trigger.

The main issue is not that anything was 'kept secret'. The main issue is that people's expectations of a 2 year old smartphone with a 2 year old battery running a brand new OS designed for a smartphone that's 2 years newer are out of whack. It's no 'secret' that the newest iPhones are launched with much hoopla around the central point that they are faster than older models and have sexy new processors, anyone who has owned a few iPhone's know that updating the OS is going to have a tradeoff to performance. Add to that an older battery, it's a recipe for the throttle.

Apple was trying to protect you from a shutdown because your phone is old and your battery is tired. Their thought, which anyone would agree with, is that it's better to have a slightly slowed phone than no phone at all.

You’ve got that totally wrong, iPhone batteries can drop to around 80% in a year, and the throttling is ALWAYS active no matter what the temperature is. I’ve tested my 6S so I know.
And considering I’ve also never had any of the 8 or 9 iOS devices I’ve owned over the years shutdown with a battery at 30%, in fact I’ve never owned any device that did that, then that is a faulty device, did Apple not hold a battery replacement peogramme for this fault on the 6S?

My battery at full charge is around 92% yet CPU DasherX clearly shows my 6S being constantly throttled on speed. Indoors or outdoors cold or warm and doesn’t matter what the phone is doing either.
 
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joeblow7777

macrumors 604
Original poster
Sep 7, 2010
7,086
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Most iPhone batteries go to 80% after 2 years which is certainly "old" in smartphone years.

You’ve got that totally wrong, iPhone batteries can drop to around 80% in a year,

What are either of you basing these statements on? Seems to me like it depends on the user. Supposedly it takes 500 full charge cycles. Some people go from multiple cycles in a single day. Others may take 2 or 3 days to go through one.
 

trifid

macrumors 68020
May 10, 2011
2,070
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What are either of you basing these statements on? Seems to me like it depends on the user. Supposedly it takes 500 full charge cycles. Some people go from multiple cycles in a single day. Others may take 2 or 3 days to go through one.

My SE was 330 cycles and only about a year old and it was being throttled, most of the time running at 600-900mhz. The minute I changed the battery it jumped to 1800-1848mhz and phone is far more responsive now. So in my experience you can now expect throttling to kick in easily within 1-2 years of your $800-1200 iPhone purchase which to me is unacceptable.
 

apolloa

Suspended
Oct 21, 2008
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Time, because it rules EVERYTHING!
What are either of you basing these statements on? Seems to me like it depends on the user. Supposedly it takes 500 full charge cycles. Some people go from multiple cycles in a single day. Others may take 2 or 3 days to go through one.

My own testing I’ve been doing over the last week. As my battery drops in charge so does the estimated quality and the throttling gets more and more aggressive, it’s supposed to run at 1850, the max it gets is 1511 and it drops to between 600 and 933 MHz when the battery is at 60 to 70% charge and stays there.
I bought my 6S in November 2016 brand new.
 
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