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Radon87000

macrumors 604
Original poster
Nov 29, 2013
7,775
6,251
iOS 10 lasted 2 hours more in the Geekbench test and an hour more in the YouTube test compared to iOS 12.2 and iOS 11. Battery capacity all at 100%. Is this planned obsolescence?

 
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Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
15,709
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I wonder how many pages this thread will attract. And, simple battery test like that cannot control all variables. Maybe enough to get an idea but insufficient to scientifically prove anything.
Also, who will ever benefit this “amazing” battery life? I bet only a handful of users who are diligent and committed to not upgrade iOS past 10.3.3. All iPhone X, XS and XR users cannot enjoy this “amazing” battery life anyway.
 
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Radon87000

macrumors 604
Original poster
Nov 29, 2013
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I wonder how many pages this thread will attract. And, simple battery test like that cannot control all variables. Maybe enough to get an idea but insufficient to scientifically prove anything.
Also, who will ever benefit this “amazing” battery life? I bet only a handful of users who are diligent and committed to not upgrade iOS past 10.3.3. All iPhone X, XS and XR users cannot enjoy this “amazing” battery life anyway.
It’s a scientific test using Geekbench. All battery capacities at 100%. Drain the battery till 0 on a white screen. A difference of 2 hours is not an anomaly. Even the YouTube test shows a huge difference. The point isn’t that how many would still be on 10.3.3. The point is Apple has destroyed the battery life on older devices so as to get people to upgrade.

Point to note- IPhone 8 Plus has amazing battery life on iOS 11. It doesn’t on iOS 12. With every new iOS, there is a decrease in battery life.
 

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
15,709
11,011
It’s a scientific test using Geekbench. All battery capacities at 100%. Drain the battery till 0 on a white screen. A difference of 2 hours is not an anomaly. Even the YouTube test shows a huge difference. The point isn’t that how many would still be on 10.3.3. The point is Apple has destroyed the battery life on older devices so as to get people to upgrade.

Point to note- IPhone 8 Plus has amazing battery life on iOS 11. It doesn’t on iOS 12. With every new iOS, there is a decrease in battery life.
Geekbench result... ok. I assume its testing method is based on science.
And what you find is hardly anything new. This happens each and every time iOS is updating.
I don’t use iPhone 8 but my iPhone 6s Plus has almost identical battery life in iOS 11 and 12, after replacing the battery.
 
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Radon87000

macrumors 604
Original poster
Nov 29, 2013
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Geekbench result... ok. I assume its testing method is based on science.
And what you find is hardly anything new. This happens each and every time iOS is updating.
I don’t use iPhone 8 but my iPhone 6s Plus has almost identical battery life in iOS 11 and 12, after replacing the battery.

If at 100% capacity older iPhones last 2 hours lesser, than with a deteriorated battery at say 85% capacity or so the problem would be compounded and the battery life would be atrocious. It seems to me that it’s a strategy to not optimise for older phones so as to induce upgrades.
 

donawalt

Contributor
Sep 10, 2015
1,138
562
it’s a strategy to not optimise for older phones so as to induce upgrades.

How is this different than any other operating system in the world? Why do laptops have so much memory for people who browse and do email, compared to 15 years ago?

I for one am happy Apple optimizes for the newer hardware and phones it produces, producing performance, security, functionality, and efficiency worthy of the term "flagship". If iOS optimizes for new phones it can't ALSO optimize for old phones - that's illogical. Maybe consider not upgrading iOS if Apple's strategy is an issue for you, then it will run the same as it always has.
 

eicca

Suspended
Oct 23, 2014
1,773
3,598
I have owned:

iPhone 4 on iOS 8 or whatever it’s final version was

iPhone 5 with iOS 8 through 10

iPhone 6S with iOS 10 through 12.2.

All of them have performed almost identically in terms of usage to battery life, regardless of iOS version, and all of them easily got me to the end of a day with battery to spare.

Geekbench does not reflect real life usage.
 

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
15,709
11,011
If at 100% capacity older iPhones last 2 hours lesser, than with a deteriorated battery at say 85% capacity or so the problem would be compounded and the battery life would be atrocious. It seems to me that it’s a strategy to not optimise for older phones so as to induce upgrades.
Call it all you want. But optimisation is always tricky and hard to do no matter which company does this. And, you do acknowledge that we are living in a throwaway world which products will be thrown away after a certain period regardless of its condition right? So why Apple does that and all of a sudden it is “atrocious”? Planned obsolescence exists across any and all industries.
 

Radon87000

macrumors 604
Original poster
Nov 29, 2013
7,775
6,251
Call it all you want. But optimisation is always tricky and hard to do no matter which company does this. And, you do acknowledge that we are living in a throwaway world which products will be thrown away after a certain period regardless of its condition right? So why Apple does that and all of a sudden it is “atrocious”? Planned obsolescence exists across any and all industries.

I think it’s planned obsolescence simply because if what you say is true and there is genuinely no way to optimise for older devices then there should be a way to downgrade the OS. But there isn’t. Google,allows downgrades on Android.
 
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cola79

macrumors 6502
Sep 19, 2013
380
437
It’s mainly because every OS gets filled with new features. Almost nobody uses AR, however, it’s implemented in every Phone, even those who can’t handle it properly. If you want runtimes of a week and standby of a month, you must buy a simple mobile phone without smart features, basically a phone like you could buy it before 2005.

Also, when you just use your iPhone passive for calls and sms with shut off Internet connection, it does indeed last for a very long time. People forget that the constant connection to a network and the communication of apps and system components is draining the battery.

Apple is really bad in battery runtimes, we all know that. Their batteries have too small capacity and the OS is bad in energy saving. On the other hand it’s the most secure and convenient OS.
 

haruhiko

macrumors 604
Sep 29, 2009
6,535
5,882
iOS 12 uses significantly less resources than iOS 11 which actually stopped the upgrade cycle of some iPhone users. I always don't understand people who don't update their devices. These devices will be infested with security holes, perfect for hackers.
 

Mlrollin91

macrumors G5
Nov 20, 2008
14,125
10,114
I think it’s planned obsolescence simply because if what you say is true and there is genuinely no way to optimise for older devices then there should be a way to downgrade the OS. But there isn’t. Google,allows downgrades on Android.
Two words: Security vulnerabilities.

It’s really that simple as to why you can’t downgrade.
 

Knight3

Suspended
Oct 19, 2018
280
272
If at 100% capacity older iPhones last 2 hours lesser, than with a deteriorated battery at say 85% capacity or so the problem would be compounded and the battery life would be atrocious. It seems to me that it’s a strategy to not optimise for older phones so as to induce upgrades.

I bet it'd run for 4 hours more if the 6s was running iOS 7.

Even if you optimize the software for older devices, you can't push the capacity of the hardware. Newer devices are capable of handling the same tasks a lot more efficiently.
Do you remember how Apple displays a graph in every event that shows how fast the current chip is faster than the previous generations? That was "common sense". If you expect a Nexus One to run Android Pie just as efficiently, it's outright absurd and ignorant.
[doublepost=1554485226][/doublepost]
I think it’s planned obsolescence simply because if what you say is true and there is genuinely no way to optimise for older devices then there should be a way to downgrade the OS. But there isn’t. Google,allows downgrades on Android.

And you wonder why Android is so crippled with all the Malware? Apple's walled-garden structure is what makes it more secure than Android. Even the Play Store is known to host thousands of malicious apps.
Leave your iPhone to known vulnerabilities and you're screwed. If security of your device isn't important than Android really is your best bet. Tons of customizations and a wonderful developer community that provides you with all the cool stuff to try.
 

wikefios2

macrumors newbie
Jun 10, 2019
6
0
it would be great if the user in the video. the iphone jailbreak and see why it uses too much battery.

what runs in the background when geekbnech or youtube is running.

then you could immediately recognize which services are running or not. if none is active, then the reason is clearly the missing optimization.
 

Ruggy

macrumors 6502a
Jan 11, 2017
980
639
The latest OS is optimised to take advantage of the latest hardware. It means that on a more recent phone everything can run much faster, more smoothly, do more things at the same time.
I imagine that iOS10 on an XS would give better battery life too but you would have a diminished experience overall.
It isn't obsolescence it's progress.
If you tried to go from Win95 to XP it wouldn't even fit on the HD.
(My Win 3.1 computer had a 25Mb HD and XP came with 8gb which was considered ridiculously large at the time. That's one longish music track 18 years later).
If you have a 4 year old Android phone you'll be very lucky to have one that can run the latest version. Sometimes, even the next version after the one that came installed on the phone won't run.
The fact that i0S12 runs at all on a 6S with the speed of change of modern technology is pretty amazing.
And in that Youtube test, the latest OS still got over 10 hours battery life so not bad then.
And of course, you have no idea what background apps were on etc.
[doublepost=1560238260][/doublepost]
The latest OS is optimised to take advantage of the latest hardware. It means that on a more recent phone everything can run much faster, more smoothly, do more things at the same time.
I imagine that iOS10 on an XS would give better battery life too but you would have a diminished experience overall.
It isn't obsolescence it's progress.
If you tried to go from Win95 to XP it wouldn't even fit on the HD.
(My Win 3.1 computer had a 25Mb HD and XP came with 8gb which was considered ridiculously large at the time. ).
If you have a 4 year old Android phone you'll be very lucky to have one that can run the latest version. Sometimes, even the next version after the one that came installed on the phone won't run.
The fact that i0S12 runs at all on a 6S with the speed of change of modern technology is pretty amazing.
And in that Youtube test, the latest OS still got over 10 hours battery life so not bad then.
And of course, you have no idea what background apps were on etc.
 

aakshey

macrumors 68030
Jun 13, 2016
2,861
1,346
By the way, I am not seeing any conspiracy here.

The Geekbench version was different.
The YT test results were fairly similar. All iOS versions performed insane. Better than any of my newer devices. Lol.
 

salzrat

macrumors member
Sep 18, 2015
71
30
I disagree that newer IOS need to be less battery efficient. This is the same rationale that means newer IOS needs to be slower. But this needn't be true - Apple itself has demonstrated that it can make an IOS that runs almost as fast as an old IOS on older devices. My 6s is much faster on IOS 12 than on 11, and probably as fast as it was on 10.

They just didn't make it a priority to optimize battery life. It would definitely be possible. Everybody is talking about so many features, but with good engineering, these can be done in a way that doesn't take a huge hit on battery life. Most of the time, nobody is using these features anyway...
 
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