Apple Slowing iPhone-$29 Battery / Google Tracking

[CRTGAMER]

Planned Obsolescence is now a crime in France
Programmed Obsolescence is defined by the totality of the techniques used by a brand to deliberately target the useful life of the product in order to increase the rate of replacement. Prohibits “the use of techniques by which the person responsible for the marketing of a product aims to deliberately reduce the duration to increase the replacement rate.“

http://www.sgs.com/en/news/2015/07/built-to-last-a-law-in-france-to-combat-planned-obsolescence-for-appliances

A law in France to combat planned obsolescence for appliances
Planned obsolescence occurs when a product is designed with the intention of it breaking, failing or becoming unfashionable after a determined period of time. A new government decree in France no. 2014-1482, which came into force in March 2015 is aimed at fighting this business practice in the appliances industry. The new decree is only applicable in France, to French manufacturers, who will now be required to tell consumers how long their appliances are intended to last. If they want to avoid a potential fine of EUR 15,000 manufacturers must also notify buyers about the period of time that spare parts will be available for each product, after its release date. And that’s not all – from 2016, manufacturers are required to repair or replace, free of charge, any defective product within two years from its original purchase date. This will effectively create a mandatory two-year warranty for products such as stoves, washing machines, and mobile phones.

Planned Obsolescence Is the Tip Of The Iceberg
A fast product turnover on the market is a well-known way to boost the economy and encourage growth. But in the long term, it might generate a purchasing frenzy that induces tension in consumer’s budgets, and the frustration of not being able to acquire the latest, state-of-the-art devices. It also accelerates the depletion of natural resources and increases the pressure on the environment.

The law applies only in France, carries a penalty of a maximum sentence of two years in prison and up to 5 per cent of a company’s annual turnover. China now speaking out. With France taking the lead, more countries need to pass laws against planned obsolescence. Slowing down the iPhone to conserve the battery and NOT informing customers the cause of the slow down obvious a push to out date the older phone.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/16/apple-asked-to-respond-to-china-consumer-group-about-slowing-older-iphones/

Apple asked to respond to China consumer group about slowing older iPhones
Apple is now facing questions about how it slows down older iPhones in China. The Xinhua state news agency reported yesterday that the Shanghai Consumer Council has written to Apple asking it to explain the performance hit and any remedies it is offering to consumers. The company has been asked to respond to the Council’s letter by Friday.

Earlier this month French authorities opened an investigation into the performance issue following a complaint by a French consumer group that campaigns against planned obsolescence. A 2015 law made programmed obsolescence illegal in the country. Apple has also been on the receiving end of a letter demanding answers on the issue in the US — with Republican Senator John Thune writing to the company with his concerns earlier this month.

In December Apple publicly acknowledged the performance hit which affects the iPhone 6, 6S, 7 and SE, responding to online complaints that it throttles performance on the older iPhones by saying it was doing so to prolong the life of devices which could suffer unexpected shutdowns because older batteries were not able to handle peaks of processing power. It subsequently apologized in a message to customers for not being more transparent about how it handles performance. And began offering a battery replacement for the out-of-warranty affected devices for a reduced $29.

http://bgr.com/2017/12/21/iphone-battery-life-vs-slow-performance/

We’re looking at three lies at least

Lie One: That the iPhone performs great at all times, even when it ages. It’s this percent faster than the previous model when it comes to CPU performance and that percent faster when it comes to graphics. That’s what Apple tells us every year. It should also tell us that performance will drop once your battery degrades.

Lie Two: That the iPhone’s battery will deliver the same quoted battery life as the phone ages. Well, Apple does offer “up to X hours” estimates on its website, but I’m willing to bet most iPhone users wrongly expect their two-year iPhone to last just as long as it did when they first purchased it. It’s only in the fine print section that Apple warns users that battery issues are expected after a certain number of recharge cycles. That’s really not embracing the issue, and Apple could do better. And that fine print doesn’t mention CPU throttling whatsoever.

Lie Three: That Apple doesn’t intentionally degrade iPhone experience. I’ve been defending Apple for a while on this one, but it turns out I’ve been also lying for at least a year. Apple chose to pretend the iPhone is perfect, by quietly slowing it down and hoping nobody will notice.

Why wasn’t Apple ready to share with the world its new battery-and-performance policy when it introduced it last year? Why not inform users of what’s going on? Why not offer them the ability to choose between performance and battery life via a Settings option that would enable or disable CPU throttling? Apple chose to pretend the iPhone is perfect, by quietly slowing it down and hoping nobody will notice.

A few special tools needed if changing the battery yourself. Apple has limited time offer of $29 battery replacement.

https://www.macrumors.com/2018/01/03/how-to-get-29-dollar-iphone-battery-replacement/

How to Get Your iPhone's $29 Battery Replaced at Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider
iPhone users in most countries can initiate the battery replacement process online by scheduling an appointment with the Genius Bar at an Apple Store. The reduced price is also available at some third-party retailers and repair shops, as long as they are designated as an official Apple Authorized Service Provider.

To get started, head to the Contact Apple Support page, click on See Your Products, and sign in to your Apple ID account.

After this article was published, MacRumors received a tip claiming Apple has reduced the price it charges Apple Authorized Service Providers for iPhone batteries to $5, down from $55, but some repair shops are still charging more than $29 for replacements to maintain reasonable profit margins for time and labor.

[samsonlonghair]

I just used the link that CRT posted above to schedule a phone call with Apple support to replace my iPhone battery. Let's see how well this works out.

[marurun]

As if Apple's response wasn't already promising enough, there's more:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01 ... s-destiny/

tl:dr

Apple will be including in future updates the ability to disable battery-related throttling, and will also be developing tools to check and monitor the health of the battery.

[CRTGAMER]

I just used the link that CRT posted above to schedule a phone call with Apple support to replace my iPhone battery. Let's see how well this works out.

Good for you, take advantage of the $29.00 battery. From what I read, your existing battery does not have to be worn down on the first service and any followup visit would require a test of worn battery. Pleas post the outcome, recommend visiting your local service center (not contracted 3rd party) directly instead of shipping out.

As if Apple's response wasn't already promising enough, there's more:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01 ... s-destiny/

Apple will be including in future updates the ability to disable battery-related throttling, and will also be developing tools to check and monitor the health of the battery.

You beat me in posting, heard that on the radio today while driving. This is very good news giving the consumer the control.

I read thru the Tim Cook ABC news interview and saw a few sites stating the throttle opt out option for consumers. The ABC interview focused on Apple investing in stateside jobs and only alluded to an indicator on the screen when the throttling was taking place. No control of opt out in the beta update mentioned, hopefully the finalized version will include the shut off?

An outright lie on ABC interview by Tim Cook, Apple did NOT inform consumers on the throttling until consumer back lash.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/apple-make-350b-contribution-us-economy-years/story?id=52405662

Cook on Apple’s battery debacle
Last month, Apple reduced the price of out-of-warranty batteries for certain iPhones from $79 to $29 after it was scrutinized for allegedly slowing down processors in older phones. When asked about the incident, Cook apologized to Apple users who believe that the company deliberately slowed the processors down in older models. He hypothesized that when Apple released software updates to slow down older devices in older models to keep up with the new features, people may not have been “paying attention” when they explained what it was. "Maybe we weren’t clear," he said. "We deeply apologize for anyone who thinks we have some other kind of motivation."

In addition to the lowering the price of the batteries for certain phones, Apple will release software to allow people to see how healthy their batteries are, saying “all batteries age over time.” Cook said it was "rational" to offer the less expensive battery option -- instead of free batteries -- considering that “most people kind of expect to get a [new] battery at some point in time.” When asked about the possibility of a cheaper iPhone, Cook said that he believes the phone as priced "at a level that is consistent with the value of the phone."

[marurun]

My understanding is that the throttling was indicated in the release notes for the release of 10 that introduced it initially for a limited set of devices.

This language was used for the 10.2.1 release that introduced this feature:

"iOS 10.2.1

iOS 10.2.1 includes bug fixes and improves the security of your iPhone or iPad.

It also improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone."

It may not be layman's language, exactly, but if improved power management during peak workloads doesn't mean throttling, I don't know what else it could mean.

[CRTGAMER]

Has iPhone X sales been low due to the intentional worn battery slowdown on older phones? Hopefully the investigation exposure will help to prevent anything like this from happening again thru out the industry. Perhaps the Planned Obsolescence law that France has implemented should be the law here?

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/371587-apple-confirms-government-probe

Apple confirms government inquiry over device slowdowns
Apple said on Tuesday that it has been contacted by government agencies about the intentional slow down of older devices and that it is in the process of answering their questions. “We have received questions from some government agencies and we are responding to them,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement emailed to The Hill, without specifying which agencies. “As we told our customers in December, we have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades,” the spokesperson noted. Bloomberg on Tuesday reported that Apple had been contacted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over if Apple broke securities laws in revealing that it slows its phones down as they age to preserve deteriorating battery life.

Apple apologized to consumers in after disclosing this in December. “We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize,” they said in a statement at the time. The company then announced that it would offer discounted battery replacements to all customers with affected phones and that it will be more transparent about the updates in the future. Letters from agencies aren’t the first inquiries that Apple has received from the government on the matter. Earlier in January, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) sent a letter to the company asking for more answers on why it wasn’t transparent in its practice of slowing batteries.

The company is also facing a class-action lawsuit from customers who say Apple mislead them by slowing iPhones down without publicly disclosing it.

[dsheinem]

^woah, an argument for federal regulation of private business from CRTGAMER!

[CRTGAMER]

^woah, an argument for federal regulation of private business from CRTGAMER!

I'll give you that one, touche!

[marurun]

I don't think there's any legal argument to prevent Apple from doing what they did. And Apple's decision did make sense. Their communication of the issue didn't make sense and has been the problem all along. Apple has not been clear with the details of their action and rationale for doing so. All we had for a while was, "Power management fix to prevent unwanted shutdowns".

Also, Apple's sales issue with the iPhone X has a lot more to do with the design issues and cost of the iPhone X than any of this power-related stuff. You'll notice there was no mention of a slowdown in iPhone 8 and 8S production. To be frank, the facial recognition tech, while neat, is less secure than fingerprint tech, and Apple only committed to it this early because they were failing to find usable solutions for through-screen fingerprint tech. Ideally, the iPhone X should have had the fingerprint tech AND the 3D camera. But Apple is also now having to contend with the problem of the cutout (only a minor inconvenience but inexplicable as a design choice). With all the flaws of the iPhone X, the price tag just makes it horribly unattractive.

[MrPopo]

That law in France doesn't actually combat planned obsolescence; it just requires you to inform a customer if when the thing will fall apart and stop being supported. So I guess the theory is that if a company says it will only last three years that customers will shop elsewhere.