Apple fined for slowing down old iPhones

[Abdullah719]

CHICAGO — IPhone owners from several states sued Apple Inc. for not disclosing sooner that it issued software updates deliberately slowing older-model phones so aging batteries lasted longer, saying Apple's silence led them to wrongly conclude that their only option was to buy newer, pricier iPhones.

The allegations were in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Chicago federal court on behalf of five iPhone owners from Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and North Carolina, all of whom say they never would have bought new iPhones had Apple told them that simply replacing the batteries would have sped up their old ones. The suit alleges Apple violated consumer fraud laws.

A similar lawsuit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles. Both suits came a day after Apple confirmed what high-tech sleuths outside the company already observed: The company had deployed software to slow some phones. Apple said it was intended as a fix to deal with degraded lithium-ion batteries that could otherwise suddenly die.

"Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices," an Apple statement said. It said it released the fix for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE and later extended it to iPhone 7. Apple didn't respond to a message Friday seeking comment.

The Chicago lawsuit suggests Apple's motive may have been sinister, though it offers no evidence in the filing.

"Apple's decision to purposefully ... throttle down these devices," it says, "was undertaken to fraudulently induce consumers to purchase the latest" iPhone.

Plaintiff Kirk Pedelty, of North Carolina, contacted Apple as his frustration grew. However, the lawsuit says: "Nobody from Apple customer support suggested that he replace his battery to improve the performance of his iPhone. ... Frustrated by slowdowns and intermittent shutdowns of his iPhone 7, Pedelty purchased an iPhone 8."

The lawsuit seeks class-action status to represent thousands of iPhone owners nationwide.

Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi said she believes the tech giant was seeking to help consumers extend the lives of the older phones — though it would have been better to disclose what it was doing and why right away.

"Even if you are trying to do something good for your customers, it is going to be perceived as you are sneaking around behind their backs if you don't tell them about it first," she said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-n...ng-owners-buy-new-ones-lawsuit-claims-n832416

 

[finalfantasy7]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fL30bWrGrfE" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>.

 

[finalfantasy7]

I'm not surprised - typical American company

 

[shaz619]

[MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION] ) their gulible marks put over their products a bit too early

 

[Syed1]

But but but iphones are so shiny and they run for a hundred years

 

[giri26]

Horrible if true. My wife was complaining about poor battery performance after the update and I did not think much about it as I don't use IPhone.

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[Varun]

I wonder how history will remember Apple and the Iphone craze say 30 years from now.

 

[CricketCartoons]

Misleading headlines. Apple had slowed down the phones with old batteries, that is called graceful degradation. People should just replace the battery to get back the full power.

 

[Yossarian]

Misleading headlines. Apple had slowed down the phones with old batteries, that is called graceful degradation. People should just replace the battery to get back the full power.

Now that they know, yes. But Apple didn't tell them, they deliberately changed the operating system software so that the phone's processing speed slowed down, even if it was done to conserve battery power.

It's like when your car's fuel tank slowly becomes full of residue and holds less fuel than it did when new, the motor manufacturer secretly changes the software such that it forces the car engine to run slower, even though there's nothing wrong with the engine, and reduces the speed at which you can drive (and/ or the number of passengers the car can carry at that speed).
At the same time, the car manufacturer brings out a newer model, with a key selling point being how fast the engine runs and how fast you can drive (and/or the extra load you can carry at the higher speeds) compared with the previous model..

 

[finalfantasy7]

But but but iphones are so shiny and they run for a hundred years

Of course - thr batteries never die out- supposedly thr that good

 

[CricketCartoons]

That is what some of the lawsuits are about that apple when got complains of slow down instead of recommending $100 battery upgrade recommended a $1000 phone replacement. In my opinion Apple should have at least informed iphone owners about the slowdown. It was marketing blunder by them.

Agree, the user should be informed that it is time for a battery upgrade if she wants the same performance. Otherwise funny to see educated folk ( probably jealous/poor non iPhone owners) crying conspiracy, when it was only to have the device perform optimally with poor battery health.

 

[Pakistanian]

Disgusted

 

[MenInG]

Word of advice for all - Please do not rubbish each other's posts! if you dont agree with a pov, state your response without getting personal

 

[yasir]

Now that they know, yes. But Apple didn't tell them, they deliberately changed the operating system software so that the phone's processing speed slowed down, even if it was done to conserve battery power.

It's like when your car's fuel tank slowly becomes full of residue and holds less fuel than it did when new, the motor manufacturer secretly changes the software such that it forces the car engine to run slower, even though there's nothing wrong with the engine, and reduces the speed at which you can drive (and/ or the number of passengers the car can carry at that speed).
At the same time, the car manufacturer brings out a newer model, with a key selling point being how fast the engine runs and how fast you can drive (and/or the extra load you can carry at the higher speeds) compared with the previous model..

Main problem with what Apple did is transparency, they should have been open about what they were doing to address degradation of battery. What they did in software is not necessarily a bad compromise, but they should be more transparent about it, if I can just replace battery at $80 to get same speed rather than spending another $650, many would choose the former... There was clearly conflict of interest on Apple's part.

 

[Yossarian]

Main problem with what Apple did is transparency, they should have been open about what they were doing to address degradation of battery. What they did in software is not necessarily a bad compromise, but they should be more transparent about it, if I can just replace battery at $80 to get same speed rather than spending another $650, many would choose the former... There was clearly conflict of interest on Apple's part.

Marketing:

Problem:
(Nearly) everyone already has a perfectly working gadget that does everything they need to do. But how do you keep generating more and more revenue?

Solution:
Convince the consumer the gadget they currently have lacks certain functionalities (gimmicks) they aren't even aware they need. Make them feel inadequate 'cos they don't have those additional gimmicks, many of which they will never use, or only use occasionally.

Then create a OS software upgrade which has some of those additional gimmicks/functionalities (which in turn require greater power/resources to function). At the same time, those who provide additional components (apps) are playing the same game, and require greater power/resources to function efficiently.

Put it all together, and surprise, surprise, the current (old) gadget becomes top heavy and unable to cope.

And then you play your ace card:

Tell the consumer you have a newer shinier gadget with extra power/resources which will make all the aforementioned upgrades run much faster (than the now overloaded current model). Just for good measure, also include yet another few additional gimmicks, (most of which again you will hardly ever use) which also require greater power/resources , and hey Presto! You've just convinced everyone to ditch their (previously perfectly working) gadget and purchase the newer shiny one! At a hefty price tag of course.
Problem solved.

Next year, rinse and repeat.

 

[yasir]

Marketing:

Problem:
(Nearly) everyone already has a perfectly working gadget that does everything they need to do. But how do you keep generating more and more revenue?

Solution:
Convince the consumer the gadget they currently have lacks certain functionalities (gimmicks) they aren't even aware they need. Make them feel inadequate 'cos they don't have those additional gimmicks, many of which they will never use, or only use occasionally.

Then create a OS software upgrade which has some of those additional gimmicks/functionalities (which in turn require greater power/resources to function). At the same time, those who provide additional components (apps) are playing the same game, and require greater power/resources to function efficiently.

Put it all together, and surprise, surprise, the current (old) gadget becomes top heavy and unable to cope.

And then you play your ace card:

Tell the consumer you have a newer shinier gadget with extra power/resources which will make all the aforementioned upgrades run much faster (than the now overloaded current model). Just for good measure, also include yet another few additional gimmicks, (most of which again you will hardly ever use) which also require greater power/resources , and hey Presto! You've just convinced everyone to ditch their (previously perfectly working) gadget and purchase the newer shiny one! At a hefty price tag of course.
Problem solved.

Next year, rinse and repeat.

Lets not blow the issue out of proportion. Apple introduce this fix back in iOS 10.2(year or so ago) and that too because some iPhone 6/6S were randomly shutting down, what they find out as battery aged(or not fully charged), its less capable of providing peak current(causing reboots), which was necessary to have peak CPU Freq, they optimize the battery to CPU speed, this was done to protect the electronic of the device. Apple did mentioned, they have a fix of iPhone 6/6S randomly shutting down, later they ported that fix to iOS 11 for other devices. But they did not detailed what and how they fix the crashing problem, that was the core issue...

This does not mean Apple was always malicious about iPhones, they have not being selling 1B iPhone for last 10 years by slowing down CPU Clock, this was not their grand strategy, success of iPhone has very little to do with Battery slowing down...

Lithium-Ion batteries have been used everywhere, they have similar physical properties and limitation, Apple did not intentional used batteries that slow down with time, that is the very nature of those batteries... To be frank, its known in industry, that if you uses Lithium-Ion batteries(which are probably most efficient-cost to performance- batteries in that industry), you will have performance issues as batteries get old...

 

[Yossarian]

Lets not blow the issue out of proportion. Apple introduce this fix back in iOS 10.2(year or so ago) and that too because some iPhone 6/6S were randomly shutting down, what they find out as battery aged(or not fully charged), its less capable of providing peak current(causing reboots), which was necessary to have peak CPU Freq, they optimize the battery to CPU speed, this was done to protect the electronic of the device. Apple did mentioned, they have a fix of iPhone 6/6S randomly shutting down, later they ported that fix to iOS 11 for other devices. But they did not detailed what and how they fix the crashing problem, that was the core issue...

This does not mean Apple was always malicious about iPhones, they have not being selling 1B iPhone for last 10 years by slowing down CPU Clock, this was not their grand strategy, success of iPhone has very little to do with Battery slowing down...

Lithium-Ion batteries have been used everywhere, they have similar physical properties and limitation, Apple did not intentional used batteries that slow down with time, that is the very nature of those batteries... To be frank, its known in industry, that if you uses Lithium-Ion batteries(which are probably most efficient-cost to performance- batteries in that industry), you will have performance issues as batteries get old...

And all those issues go away if Apple had told the owners to just have the batteries replaced. But then the older phones will get a new lease of life at a fraction of the cost versus cost of buying another phone. Not good for Apple's sales figures and the bottom line.

 

[Mamoon]

Not a big deal. Most people upgrade their phones after 3-4 years anyway. Mountain..molehill.

 

[Varun]

Apple posts a message to customers about iPhone batteries and performance

We’ve been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process. We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There’s been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue, so we would like to clarify and let you know about some changes we’re making.

First and foremost, 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. Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.

How batteries age

All rechargeable batteries are consumable components that become less effective as they chemically age and their ability to hold a charge diminishes. Time and the number of times a battery has been charged are not the only factors in this chemical aging process.

Device use also affects the performance of a battery over its lifespan. For example, leaving or charging a battery in a hot environment can cause a battery to age faster. These are characteristics of battery chemistry, common to lithium-ion batteries across the industry.

A chemically aged battery also becomes less capable of delivering peak energy loads, especially in a low state of charge, which may result in a device unexpectedly shutting itself down in some situations.

To help customers learn more about iPhone’s rechargeable battery and the factors affecting its performance, we’ve posted a new support article, iPhone Battery and Performance.

It should go without saying that we think sudden, unexpected shutdowns are unacceptable. We don’t want any of our users to lose a call, miss taking a picture or have any other part of their iPhone experience interrupted if we can avoid it.

Preventing unexpected shutdowns

About a year ago in iOS 10.2.1, we delivered a software update that improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE. With the update, iOS dynamically manages the maximum performance of some system components when needed to prevent a shutdown. While these changes may go unnoticed, in some cases users may experience longer launch times for apps and other reductions in performance.

Customer response to iOS 10.2.1 was positive, as it successfully reduced the occurrence of unexpected shutdowns. We recently extended the same support for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in iOS 11.2.

Of course, when a chemically aged battery is replaced with a new one, iPhone performance returns to normal when operated in standard conditions.

Recent user feedback

Over the course of this fall, we began to receive feedback from some users who were seeing slower performance in certain situations. Based on our experience, we initially thought this was due to a combination of two factors: a normal, temporary performance impact when upgrading the operating system as iPhone installs new software and updates apps, and minor bugs in the initial release which have since been fixed.

We now believe that another contributor to these user experiences is the continued chemical aging of the batteries in older iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices, many of which are still running on their original batteries.

Addressing customer concerns

We’ve always wanted our customers to be able to use their iPhones as long as possible. We’re proud that Apple products are known for their durability, and for holding their value longer than our competitors’ devices.

To address our customers’ concerns, to recognize their loyalty and to regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted Apple’s intentions, we’ve decided to take the following steps:

• Apple is reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 — from $79 to $29 — for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced, starting in late January and available worldwide through December 2018. Details will be provided soon on apple.com.
• Early in 2018, we will issue an iOS software update with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance.
• As always, our team is working on ways to make the user experience even better, including improving how we manage performance and avoid unexpected shutdowns as batteries age.
• At Apple, our customers’ trust means everything to us. We will never stop working to earn and maintain it. We are able to do the work we love only because of your faith and support — and we will never forget that or take it for granted.

https://www.apple.com/iphone-battery-and-performance/

Reducing the price of a battery replacement from 79 to 29 USD is awesome. Unfortunately the circumstances of this price drop are after they were caught with their hands in the cookie jar, slowing down older devices, instead of offering a battery replacement at a reasonable and yet profitable price all through.

 

[shaz619]

Awwww so sweet of you Apple, the GOAT brand

 

[hadi123]

An Apple store in Amsterdam was evacuated after an iPad exploded yesterday according to Dutch outlet AT5.

The confirmation was received by the city’s fire brigade which tweeted that three people who were evacuated from the building were suffering from respiratory problems post the incident.

The tweet further states that the reason behind the explosion was a leakage in the battery pack.

Explosion of iPads have been rare but not unheard of. In 2013, a Vodafone store in Australia was evacuated after an iPad Air exploded.

Previously, Samsung has faced the brunt of its customers when a Galaxy Note 7 exploded in an aircraft leaving Apple to make the most of the situation.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1785110/8-apple-store-evacuated-ipad-explodes/

 

[sweep_shot]

Apple's business is being tested by ongoing weakening of its iPhone sales.

In the most recent quarter, iPhone sales dropped to $33.4bn (£25.9bn), down almost 10% year-on-year.

The fall extended a streak of declines and hit the firm's profits in the quarter, which slipped about 3% year-on-year to $13.7bn.

The firm's profit and revenue for the full financial year also fell for the first time since 2016, weighed down by the iPhone results.

In a presentation after the firm released its earnings, Apple boss Tim Cook hastened to reassure investors that the declines in iPhone sales are slowing, thanks to the popularity of the firm's latest model, the iPhone 11.

"It's early but the trends look very good," he said. "We are bullish."

Mr Cook added that the firm's other businesses were healthy - sales of wearables, such as earphones and watches, surged by more than 50%, while services revenue, which includes Apple Pay and the app store, jumped 18% year-on-year.

That lifted quarterly revenue to $64bn (£49.6bn), up 2% year-on-year.

Mr Cook has been working to make Apple's business less reliant on its phones, with new subscription services for news and television, among other offerings, but iPhones still account for a majority of sales.

Mr Cook said his optimism about the iPhone 11's appeal is reflected in Apple's relatively bright forecast for the upcoming quarter, which includes the festive season - typically a time that sees many hardware purchases.

The firm said it expected revenue growth in the quarter of as much as 6%, above analysts' expectations.

Daniel Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities, said Apple also impressed investors with the resilience of its performance in its Greater China region, which accounts for nearly 20% of its business. Sales there declined less than 3%.

On a call with investors, Mr Cook predicted additional growth in the region and expressed confidence that the US and China would reach an agreement that would avoid additional tariffs.

"The tone, I think, has changed significantly," he said.

Apple shares gained almost 2% in after-hours trade.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50242291.

 

[sweep_shot]

A US financial regulator has opened an investigation into claims Apple's credit card offered different credit limits for men and women.

It follows complaints - including from Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak - that algorithms used to set limits might be inherently biased against women.

New York's Department of Financial Services (DFS) has contacted Goldman Sachs, which runs the Apple Card.

Any discrimination, intentional or not, "violates New York law", the DFS said.

The Bloomberg news agency reported on Saturday that tech entrepreneur David Heinemeier Hansson had complained that the Apple Card gave him 20 times the credit limit that his wife got.

In a tweet, Mr Hansson said the disparity was despite his wife having a better credit score.

Later, Mr Wozniak, who founded Apple with Steve Jobs, tweeted that the same thing happened to him and his wife despite their having no separate bank accounts or separate assets.

Skip Twitter post by @stevewozEnd of Twitter post by @stevewoz
Banks and other lenders are increasingly using machine-learning technology to cut costs and boost loan applications.

'Legal violation'
But Mr Hansson, creator of the programming tool Ruby on Rails, said it highlights how algorithms, not just people, can discriminate.

US healthcare giant UnitedHealth Group is being investigated over claims an algorithm favoured white patients over black patients.

Mr Hansson said in a tweet: "Apple Card is a sexist program. It does not matter what the intent of individual Apple reps are, it matters what THE ALGORITHM they've placed their complete faith in does. And what it does is discriminate."

He said that as soon as he raised the issue his wife's credit limit was increased.

The DFS said in a statement that it "will be conducting an investigation to determine whether New York law was violated and ensure all consumers are treated equally regardless of sex".

"Any algorithm that intentionally or not results in discriminatory treatment of women or any other protected class violates New York law."

The BBC has contacted Goldman Sachs for comment.

On Saturday, the investment bank told Bloomberg: "Our credit decisions are based on a customer's creditworthiness and not on factors like gender, race, age, sexual orientation or any other basis prohibited by law."

The Apple Card, launched in August, is Goldman's first credit card. The Wall Street investment bank has been offering more products to consumers, including personal loans and savings accounts through its Marcus online bank.

The iPhone maker markets Apple Card on its website as a "new kind of credit card, created by Apple, not a bank".

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50365609.

 

[sweep_shot]

An Apple Store employee allegedly texted himself an "extremely personal" photo of a woman from her phone after she took the device to be repaired.

Gloria Fuentes brought her phone to a shop in California last week, after removing some personal data from it.

However, she alleged via Facebook, an employee had found an intimate photo on the device and sent it to himself.

Apple said it had investigated the incident and the worker was no longer associated with the company.

'Rush over'
Ms Fuentes's story was first reported by the Washington Post.

She said she had made an effort to remove personal information, such as financial data, from her iPhone before taking the device in to be repaired.

"I was going to delete all the pictures from my phone too but forgot because they were texting me that they moved my appointment time up, so I was trying to rush over there," she said via Facebook.

The employee who worked on her phone had spent "quite a while" with it and asked her for her passcode twice, she wrote.

'Deeply concerning'
It was only when Ms Fuentes had returned home that, she said, she had realised her phone had been used to send a text to an unfamiliar number.

"This guy went through my gallery and sent himself one of my extremely personal pictures that I took for my boyfriend and it had my geolocation on, so he also knows where I live," she said.

"I could not express how disgusted I felt and how long I cried after I saw this."

Ms Fuentes said she had returned to the Apple Store but the employee in question had claimed he did not know how the text had been sent.

Apple said it was grateful to the customer for bringing the "deeply concerning situation" to its attention.

"Apple immediately launched an internal investigation and determined that the employee acted far outside the strict privacy guidelines to which we hold all Apple employees," the company said in a statement to the Washington Post.

"He is no longer associated with our company,"

In her Facebook post, Ms Fuentes said she would press charges against the former employee.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50405688.

 

[Abdullah719]

Apple fined for slowing down old iPhones

Apple has been fined 25 million euros (£21m, $27m) for deliberately slowing down older iPhone models without making it clear to consumers.

The fine was imposed by France's competition and fraud watchdog DGCCRF, which said consumers were not warned.

In 2017, Apple confirmed that it did slow down some iPhones, but said it only did so to "prolong the life" of the devices.

Apple said in a statement that it had resolved the issue with the watchdog.

Why does Apple slow down old iPhones?

Many customers had long suspected that Apple slowed down older iPhones to encourage people to upgrade when a new one was released.

In 2017, the company confirmed it did slow down some models as they aged, but not to encourage people to upgrade.

It said the lithium-ion batteries in the devices became less capable of supplying peak current demands, as they aged over time.

That could result in an iPhone unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components.

So, it released a software update for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE which "smoothed out" battery performance.

The practice was confirmed after a customer shared performance tests on Reddit, suggesting their iPhone 6S had slowed down considerably as it had aged, but had suddenly speeded up again after the battery had been replaced.

What did the regulator say?

The French watchdog said iPhone owners "were not informed that installing iOS updates (10.2.1 and 11.2) could slow down their devices".

As part of the agreement, Apple must display a notice on its French-language website for a month.

It says Apple "committed the crime of deceptive commercial practice by omission" and had agreed to pay the fine.

Does Apple still slow down older iPhones?

Yes. Since Apple confirmed the practice in 2017, it has implemented it on several more iPhones including:

The setting is only enabled when the battery begins to degrade, and iOS now offers clearer information to consumers about when performance management has been switched on.

"The effects of performance management on these newer models may be less noticeable due to their more advanced hardware and software design," Apple said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724