Unless you have been living under a rock during the past few weeks, you probably know by now that Apple have admitted throttling overall performance for phones that have an "old" battery.

After years of rumours, Apple has confirmed that it does indeed slow down older iPhones, a feature introduced last year to protect against problems caused by ageing batteries.

The feature was implemented on the iPhone 6, 6S and SE last year during a software update, and on the iPhone 7 as of December with the release of iOS 11.2. The feature is planned to be rolled out to newer devices in the future. [...]

The reason invoked by Apple is to prevent phones from shutting down completely when batteries don't have enough power.

The company explained that when a battery is in a poor condition it may not be able to supply the required maximum current demanded by the phone’s processor at full speed. If that happens, the iPhone can shut down unexpectedly to protect the internal components.

Where do you stand on the matter? Do you believe this makes sense from a technical standpoint? Or do you think it is an elaborate scheme to get people to buy new phones every couple of years? Vote and tell us what you think.

 

[Xzi]

I've been told that lack of headphone jack is a feature because everybody should enter the future and use bluetooth headphones.

Every good pair of headphones I've ordered still come with a 3.5mm cable, even if they are Bluetooth. So basically that's a line given to charge you more for the same product. Apple even made available an "adapter" for 3.5mm which I believe is like $35.

 

[kevin corms]

This poll is pointless, most people have made up their minds long before this came to light. Samsung and others have spent billions every year to convince people that Apple and its customers are the dumbest and most evil people in the world.

 

[TVL]

I really dislike it. It's possible to change the battery if you have to. And that's just utter bullshit, it's planned obsolescence.

 

[Foxi4]

I've been told that lack of headphone jack is a feature because everybody should enter the future and use bluetooth headphones.

We're getting rid of the Home button next, the X is the first of many.

Every good pair of headphones I've ordered still come with a 3.5mm cable, even if they are Bluetooth. So basically that's a line given to charge you more for the same product. Apple even made available an "adapter" for 3.5mm which I believe is like $35.

Tune up your sarcasm detector.

 

[grossaffe]

Every good pair of headphones I've ordered still come with a 3.5mm cable, even if they are Bluetooth. So basically that's a line given to charge you more for the same product.

Stop living in the cretaceous period, you pre-neanderthal. Headphones that require devices that use bluetooth and that require batteries are the future and everything else is obsolete and has zero benefit.

 

[Xzi]

Tune up your sarcasm detector.

I had a suspicion but impossible to know for sure without the /s.

 

[grossaffe]

I had a suspicion but impossible to know for sure without the /s.

I prefer a dry delivery.

 

[mbcrazed]

Might get some hate for this, but I understand why it is done. HOWEVER, it should have been talked up in the update notes of iOS releases to let the consumer know. Conservation/ Consumption of battery power should be an option not something forced on you. Hopefully they lose the case, and learn from their mistakes. Only thing that can be said about it

 

[SirNapkin1334]

I don't really care, I'm not updating-my friend has an iPhone 6 and updated to iOS 10, or whatever the newest one is, and noticed major performance issues, so no way I'm updating my iPhone 4.

 

[Foxi4]

I prefer a dry delivery.

On a more on-topic note, I looked into what Apple had to say in more detail to see if they have a legitimate excuse. They kinda do, but it's a bad excuse. Essentially they claim that the feature was implemented as a hotfix for iPhones 6/6S and SE randomly shutting down due to the power consumption exceeding the maximum discharge rate of a degraded battery. This is all well and good, they're right - lithium ion batteries lose capacity over time, however they also lose the ability to deliver energy as their internal resistance rises over time. Thing is, that's shitty design. I'm working on a battery system based on Li-ion cells right now and it's specifically designed to discharge at a maximum rate of 2.5 times the maximum power consumption. Why? Because the device shouldn't shut down due to battery degradation, consumption should never exceed discharge rate - I know this and I'm not a professional engineer. By the time my battery system degrades to that extent, it won't have much capacity to speak of anyways, so there's no danger of a "random shutdown", only a controlled one. So yeah, this was a fix introduced to solve an issue that shouldn’t have popped up in the first place. Incompetence patched up with more incompetence.

 

[froggestspirit]

For apple to have such great products, its a shame that their batteries cant handle it.
^sarcasm^

Ive never heard of other companies doing this.
^I really haven't^

 

[Deleted User]

The phones shutting down shouldn't be because the battery doesn't hold as much charge as it used to. The battery in every single rechargeable electronic device ever slightly degrades over time. You don't see, for example, Nintendo lowering clock speeds on the 3DS because "the battery is old". If phones shutting off really was an issue, I hadn't heard of this prior, lowering the clock speed really is just a lucky fix for Apple.

They've been slowing down devices since the beginning, its painfully obvious when I turn on my old Gen 1 iPad and iPhone 4 and things are painfully slow and even system apps crash a lot.

Don't buy Apple products, they're not even that good when they work as intended.

 

[Kioku]

The phones shutting down shouldn't be because the battery doesn't hold as much charge as it used to. The battery in every single rechargeable electronic device ever slightly degrades over time. You don't see, for example, Nintendo lowering clock speeds on the 3DS because "the battery is old". If phones shutting off really was an issue, I hadn't heard of this prior, lowering the clock speed really is just a lucky fix for Apple.

They've been slowing down devices since the beginning, its painfully obvious when I turn on my old Gen 1 iPad and iPhone 4 and things are painfully slow and even system apps crash a lot.

Don't buy Apple products, they're not even that good when they work as intended.

Faulty batteries and battery readings are an issue. My brother had a problem with his Note 4. It would shut off after allegedly reading ~50%.

 

[Foxi4]

Faulty batteries and battery readings are an issue. My brother had a problem with his Note 4. It would shut off after allegedly reading ~50%.

It's rarely a faulty reading, the phone just demanded more power than the battery was able to deliver, so it shut down. It's a standard safety measure to prevent overdischarge which can cause permanent damage to the cell. Faulty readings only really occur on damaged batteries that survived overdischarge already and their chemistry is no longer stable.

 

[Kioku]

It's rarely a faulty reading, the phone just demanded more power than the battery was able to deliver, so it shut down. It's a standard safety measure to prevent overdischarge which can cause permanent damage to the cell. Faulty readings only really occur on damaged batteries that survived overdischarge already and their chemistry is no longer stable.

Yup. I completely misunderstood the context oh my. My bad!

 

[Foxi4]

Yup. I completely misunderstood the context oh my. My bad!

It's a bit of a catch-22 situation. If you connect a battery like that to a meter, it will show nominal parameters... *until* you connect a load to it. Normally Li-ion cells have a very predictable discharge pattern - they charge to peak, usually around 4.2V, quickly discharge to nominal voltage, around 3.6V, and continue to discharge linearly until they release most of the stored energy, at which point they rapidly drop to 2.6V, the safety cut-off. Once a battery reaches that state, the battery protection kicks in and disconnects the load to protect the cell. If the cell shows nominal voltage and drops to that level randomly due to damage, the system has no idea what to do because it's unexpected behaviour.

This is a safety note to all Tempers, since no manual mentions this explicitly - never leave your Li-ion devices discharged for an extended period of time. Li-ion batteries can last for a really long time if you take good care of them, and while the self-discharge rate is very low, a discharged Li-ion cell will get damaged irreversibly if it's stored in a discharged state.

 

[VinsCool]

It's a bit of a catch-22 situation. If you connect a battery like that to a meter, it will show nominal parameters... *until* you connect a load to it. Normally Li-ion cells have a very predictable discharge pattern - they charge to peak, usually around 4.2V, quickly discharge to nominal voltage, around 3.6V, and continue to discharge linearly until they release most of the stored energy, at which point they rapidly drop to 2.6V, the safety cut-off. Once a battery reaches that state, the battery protection kicks in and disconnects the load to protect the cell. If the cell shows nominal voltage and drops to that level randomly due to damage, the system has no idea what to do because it's unexpected behaviour.

This is a safety note to all Tempers, since no manual mentions this explicitly - never leave your Li-ion devices discharged for an extended period of time. Li-ion batteries can last for a really long time if you take good care of them, and while the self-discharge rate is very low, a discharged Li-ion cell will get damaged irreversibly if it's stored in a discharged state.

View attachment 109363

Well crap. Now I have multiple devices stored with completely discharged battery.
Too late to come back.

 

[SG854]

Well crap. Now I have multiple devices stored with completely discharged battery.
Too late to come back.

They mention it in instruction manuals on handheld consoles and other devices to not store it discharged.

 

[VinsCool]

They mention it in instruction manuals on handheld consoles and other devices to not store it discharged.

Let's be honest, who ever reads instruction manuals?

Actually I have read them, but I could swear on my sister's head I didn't remember seeing any battery warning.

 

[Foxi4]

Well crap. Now I have multiple devices stored with completely discharged battery. Too late to come back.

If the battery hasn't dropped below 2.6V much, it can be recovered if it's charged "gently", modern smart devices call this a "pre-charge", "pre-conditioning", or in the cases of deep (over)discharge, "reconditioning". This process minimises the risk of permanent capacity loss by limiting charge current in the initial charging stage. Charge them without actually turning the device on, there's hope, battery circuits are pretty smart these days.

They mention it in instruction manuals on handheld consoles and other devices to not store it discharged.

Normally they just say to charge the device as soon as possible, they never explain why. The battery chemistry is a mystery to most users even though it's technically an explosive device that you keep in your pocket. I'm yet to see a device that has a storage mode too, since batteries feel most comfortable when stored at nominal voltage, not peak which they normally charge to. A storage mode would be pretty great, but at the end of the day, storing at peak is still better than storing flat.