It emerged last week that Apple have been throttling the CPU performance on the older iPhones 6, 6s and SE for about a year and more recently the iPhone 7. Apple then confirmed this to TechCrunch:
“Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components."
"Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future.”
What is happening here is simple and non-malicious; when your iPhone battery ages (you probably charge it at least every night, if not more - deterioration is normal) it can no longer keep up with the power demanded by the processor. To prevent unexpected shutdowns, the phone will slow down temporarily and draw less power instead. The headline here is that Apple never was and still isn’t slowing down your iPhone to make you buy a new one. I can assure you, after working in Apple retail, iPhones sell themselves. Simple as. Apple do not need to intentionally slow down your iPhone because the vast majority of consumers will buy the latest, shiny release anyway.
There was nothing wrong with what Apple did in itself, the actual problem here is how people perceive the issue now that it’s come to light.
This Tweet by Tom Warren sums it up perfectly. To start with, for years people have believed Apple slows down older phones in a move of planned obsolescence. Anyone who understands the topic would’ve told you that the mainstream belief is wrong - just like how you shouldn’t be closing all of your Apps. As a result of this whole situation, as far as ’non techies’ are concerned, Apple have confirmed exactly what has been believed for years. Do literally any amount of research and you will find that this is not the case, again, I repeat: Apple never was and still isn’t slowing down your iPhone to make you buy a new one. Average people don’t have the time or the interest to look into this so they will formulate their own opinions based on what they briefly heard on the news last night. It will be repeated by people who don’t understand for years to come, which is potentially damaging for Apple.
Where Apple did go wrong however, is in their apparent lack of transparency. The argument is that when people’s iPhones slow down with no apparent reason after a year or so, they assume the only solution is to buy a whole new device, rather than just getting a new battery fitted. iOS does warn you in Settings > Battery when your device’s battery reaches 500 cycles, but realistically, not many people go looking there, let alone would act on a message saying your battery may need servicing. Apple could’ve have notified the user when the battery gets to a stage where CPU throttling takes place. This could’ve been done via an on-screen notification or something funky such as changing the battery icon to purple or [insert colour of choice here]. Whilst transparency would’ve been the right thing to do to avoid this drama, it wouldn’t have necessarily pleased users at the time. Apple can’t really win, because people like to complain. Picture this: thousands of iPhone users with 18-month-old devices seeing a purple battery icon one morning in the status bar. Whilst Apple would undoubtably notify them what this means, most people would ignore the notification and get on with their day. Eventually they would take a visit to their local Apple and ask out of curiosity what the purple battery means. The specialist would tell the customer that their device needs a new battery and they would need to pay $79 to maintain proper performance. This would without a doubt anger the customer, as people do not like parting with money. Despite the fact this is simply how lithium-ion batteries work, people do not care about the ‘nerdy’ facts and would just accuse Apple of ripping them off.
Last night Apple released an ‘apology’ letter on their website. In the document they explained their reasoning and their motives for slowing down older iPhones. They also announced the price of replacement iPhone batteries for eligible customers would fall from $79 to $29 in the U.S. and from £79 to £25 in the U.K for the duration of 2018. I think it’s a good move by Apple to reduce the price of battery replacements when they really didn’t have to, and I would like to see the change become permanent, seeing as this is an issue that will be on people’s minds for a long time to come. Apple also announced that there will be an iOS update in early 2018 with more transparent details on battery health in the Settings App for nerds like me, seeing as, compared to some Android devices I’ve owned the battery page in iOS is useless.
The only genuine impact this fiasco has is a negative effect on Apple’s reputation. The sad part is it shouldn’t do so - Apple were working to extend the life of devices and improve user experience yet your average person believes they are doing the exact opposite. People’s ignorance and unwillingness to look even the tiniest distance beyond the surface has resulted in a completely misunderstood PR nightmare. Yes it’s a kicker when you have to pay more money for a battery 2 years after spending almost $1000 on a new phone, but unfortunately that’s how this technology works. At the end of the day, technology reaches into pretty much everyone’s lives whether they like it or not, and only those who spend too much time with it understand the finer details. Unfortunately for big companies like Apple, most of their customers don’t understand, nor do they want to understand because a phone is a phone and they have their own interests. It’s up to the likes of Apple to brace themselves for the criticism, regardless of what they do, and when they do genuinely mess up, take the criticism on board and make their products and services even better than they are today.
:))