Alleged Throttling of Older iPhones With Degraded Batteries

ozmo

Sad Professor wrote: »

It says €89 plus shipping here. The US price is also exclusive of shipping.

https://support.apple.com/en-ie/iphone/repair/service/pricing

Ta- When I rang Apple support they suggested Mactivate to me - an Apple approved shop in Blanchardstown - and 110 was the price the shop quoted to me.

Grab All Association

This 6s started randomly shutting down at 40%. iOS11 fixed it. Gets about 2 days moderate usage. 7 was only bought in August reluctantly and i get 3 days normal usage out of it. It’s not too bad the 6s performance wise. As long as I can browse, text, call etc I’m happy. If the cost of a replacement battery goes below €60 I may consider it. My Note 4 switches off under 40% would you prefer that?

ozmo

Grab All Association wrote: »

My Note 4 switches off under 40% would you prefer that?

Absolutely - I use my IPhone 6s and mini 4 for flying my DJI Drones and they cannot be anything but full speed or the picture will break up. Apple sell both from their stores are approved to work together.

If a 1 year old 600+ euro phone cannot run at 100% cpu without crashing - then the phone is faulty by design - end of.

In my opinion Apple chose to throttle and importantly not tell us, to prevent a massive phone recall.

Peatys

Grab All Association wrote: »

My Note 4 switches off under 40% would you prefer that?

of course i would. an obvious fixable fault over a hidden mask, sorry patch, that would have me drop 900 quid on a new phone.. no brainer

Paully D

So will a battery change definitely solve the slowdown issue?

I also note from the statement that the rollout won’t be starting until late January. Then there’s surely going to be the inevitable battery shortage as there was when they had the shutdown issue this time last year?

Grab All Association

Paully D wrote: »

So will a battery change definitely solve the slowdown issue?

I also note from the statement that the rollout won’t be starting until late January. Then there’s surely going to be the inevitable battery shortage as there was when they had the shutdown issue this time last year?

I assume it’s late January to source enough batteries.

Grab All Association

Peatys wrote: »

of course i would. an obvious fixable fault over a hidden mask, sorry patch, that would have me drop 900 quid on a new phone.. no brainer

ozmo wrote: »

Absolutely - I use my IPhone 6s and mini 4 for flying my DJI Drones and they cannot be anything but full speed or the picture will break up. Apple sell both from their stores are approved to work together.

If a 1 year old 600+ euro phone cannot run at 100% cpu without crashing - then the phone is faulty by design - end of.

In my opinion Apple chose to throttle and importantly not tell us, to prevent a massive phone recall.

Fair enough if you need full performance. I’d say the majority of us just need our phones charged so the fiancée/wife doesn’t scream at us.

ozmo

Paully D wrote: »

So will a battery change definitely solve the slowdown issue?

Yes- but... now you will be on the countdown until it starts to slow again.
Replacement battery might get us another year unless they fix or remove this patch/hack properly.

Just to note also; a battery costs Apple $4.50 cents so most of the extra charge seems to be labour costs and postage.

Source:
https://technology.ihs.com/595738/ihs-markit-teardown-reveals-what-higher-apple-iphone-8-plus-cost-actually-buys

Sad Professor

Does anyone know if iPads are affected by this?

ozmo

Sad Professor wrote: »

Does anyone know if iPads are affected by this?

Best bet would to download Geekbench 4 or CPU DasherX - both occasionally free or €1.

And compare the CPU speed they report with what it’s supposed to be.

Copper_pipe

Am I right in saying that if my phone has been repaired by a 3rd party store previously then Apple won’t replace my battery ?

quarryman

Anyone know what the performance drop % requirement to qualify for a new battery?

Edit: it seems the paid replacement doesn’t have a performance requirement, we just need to be willing to pay for it.

Aquos76

Copper_pipe wrote: »

Am I right in saying that if my phone has been repaired by a 3rd party store previously then Apple won’t replace my battery ?

Why wouldn't they, you are paying for the new battery along with the shipping, albeit at a reduced price. Also your device will be outside the original 12 month warranty period.

Paully D

2 hours and 2 minutes of usage before my battery died today. :eek:

I’m no expert, but after running a CPU Dasher test I’m going to guess that the current frequency I’m getting of 911 MHz while the max frequency is 1850 MHz is not good?

FGR

Paully D wrote: »

2 hours and 2 minutes of usage before my battery died today. :eek:

I’m no expert, but after running a CPU Dasher test I’m going to guess that the current frequency I’m getting of 911 MHz while the max frequency is 1850 MHz is not good?

Two standout signs of the problem. My phone jumped from 600mhz to the max 1400mhz the moment the battery was changed. It's like night and day using my iPhone 6 now.

Paully D

FGR wrote: »

Two standout signs of the problem. My phone jumped from 600mhz to the max 1400mhz the moment the battery was changed. It's like night and day using my iPhone 6 now.

Did you get the battery changed via their recently announced replacement program mate?

FGR

I had it done by a third party before Christmas - before Apple acknowledged the problem. That said it's like a new phone.

RedLegend

Has anyone actually had their battery replaced yet?

What phone? Where and did they just replace the battery or give you a refurbished device?

Bummer1234

RedLegend wrote: »

Has anyone actually had their battery replaced yet?

What phone? Where and did they just replace the battery or give you a refurbished device?

Spoke with Apple Chat and they booked me in compub in swords (Closest to me) and they done a diagnostics test on chat and in the store.

Lady in Compub said it could be 2-3 weeks before they come in.(Hopefully sooner for me)

Apple also referenced Harvey Normans in Nutgrove Dublin or Combu b in Dundrum but im sure others do it.

Getting mine changed on Iphone 6.Also Keeping my own device.

quarryman

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Spoke with Apple Chat and they booked me in compub in swords (Closest to me) and they done a diagnostics test on chat and in the store.

Lady in Compub said it could be 2-3 weeks before they come in.(Hopefully sooner for me)

Apple also referenced Harvey Normans in Nutgrove Dublin or Combu b in Dundrum but im sure others do it.

Getting mine changed on Iphone 6.Also Keeping my own device.

Why did they do a diagnostics test? I thought it was enough if you were just willing to pay for the replacement?

waynegalway

RedLegend wrote: »

Has anyone actually had their battery replaced yet?

What phone? Where and did they just replace the battery or give you a refurbished device?

Got a new battery in my 6 yesterday. It was done over the counter in CompuB Galway, so I got my own handset back with a new battery. There’s a chance that if you send it back directly to Apple, then you might get a refurbished handset.

Great improvement in Geekbench cpu score since the new battery went in.

waynegalway

quarryman wrote: »

Why did they do a diagnostics test? I thought it was enough if you were just willing to pay for the replacement?

Good question. I had diagnostic done over Apple Chat. They said it “passed” but that I could avail of the €29 replacement anyway. I knew the battery was affected, so when I pushed them for a number, they said it had between 70-80% of its original capacity. Not a great “pass”.

CompuB ran a diagnostic in store too, and they agreed it was well down.

Not sure how thorough the in store diagnostic is, but maybe it’s a good idea if they pick up any other issues with the phone that might need fixing.

Bummer1234

quarryman wrote: »

Why did they do a diagnostics test? I thought it was enough if you were just willing to pay for the replacement?

No idea why...I could have told them myself that the Battery was fncked. Just wanted to see it on there screen if it was or not.

whiterebel

They run diagnostics to make sure there is nothing else wrong before they open it up. If there is something else wrong they won't open up the phone, such as a previous unauthorised screen replacement etc.

ibFoxer

Are all CompuB's doing the replacements or just some of them? Apple support aren't able to tell me if i can go to CompuB in Limerick or not.

faceman

Been meaning to post to say that the Lirum Info Lite does the same thing as Geekbench, but Lirum is free in App Store.

Cerco

See link below from PC Mag today. Also interesting that you can get battery from iFixit for same price as Apple and install yourself. Might suit some who do not want to be without phone while waiting for repair by Apple / Agent.

LINK

Sad Professor

Yeah but the iFixit batteries aren't genuine. And they are overpriced compared to others. If you don't mind getting a cheap knock-off or rejuvenated battery, you can get one from Ebay for a few euro.

ozmo

Cerco wrote: »

LINK

So Apple are now saying they will add the option to remove the slowdown feature as part of the updates they promised.
This is great news.

duridian

ozmo wrote: »

So Apple are now saying they will add the option to remove the slowdown feature as part of the updates they promised.
This is great news.

Definitely a sensible move, and likely would have avoided the debacle altogether if this approach had been taken in the first place. Let user know via notification that battery is failing, let them decide to throttle or not, and nobody could have accused them of underhandedly throttling to encourage upgrades.

Kind of mind boggling that such a huge and established company couldn't see what a PR mess this might become with the original tactic they implemented.