It is probably other things, but Apple has been caught intentionally reducing the performance of older iPhones to sell new ones. After a huge scandal, court cases, and an agreement with the feds, they waited a few years and did exactly the same thing again.
There are a ton of things to be upset at Apple for, but as someone who would never consider owning an iPhone I do understand where they were coming from. The problem was the aging batteries no longer being able to source sufficient current to run the processor at full speed. Since the batteries in iPhones are nearly impossible to replace this meant the phones would crash whenever performing a demanding task leaving much of the battery capacity unusable and the phone e-waste. By throttling the processor they reduced the current peaks and allowed these phones to continue operating.
My Moto G4 had the exact same thing happen, but without a software update to throttle the phone and hide the issue from me it started to crash all the time. I simply replaced the battery, but for most people the only option in this case would be to buy a new phone.
Apple probably should have made it an option even if enabled by default on phones with aged batteries. That way you’d need to acknowledge the risk of running at full speed again and not be upset when the inevitable crashes come. Of course Apple being Apple they refused to give the consumer the option so simply throttled them all.
Despite the outcry claiming the opposite, I’d bet that decision significantly reduced the amount of phone waste from non tech savvy consumers.
The right thing to do is offer a program to replace the battery. Even more right would be not designing anti-repairability into your products. 🙊
Throttling the processor to extend the life of the phone is a reasonable temporary alternative IF it’s transparent and opt-in. Effectively forcibly downgrading the hardware spec of a device I own without even telling me is a serious breach of trust at the very least, no?
I agree the decision may have resulted in less e-waste but, even if so (and assuming all is well-intended), that can’t justify hijacking consumer’s belongings. That’s a dangerous precedent to set.
The right thing to do is offer a program to replace the battery.
Who currently offers this?
Even more right would be not designing anti-repairability into your products.
Who currently offers this?
I have an iphone 12 mini and it’s working fine. A couple of times, after an update, I’ve had to manually restart the phone to get rid of mysterious power drain. Other than that, zero problems for me.
I switched to Android when they did this with the iPhone 4S after the 5’s had come out. Fool me once and all that
My wife mentioned going to Android. I told her not to, she would hate it. She’s a lifelong Apple user and she hates figuring things out. Everything would be different for her and her frustration would be even greater than it is now.
I’m a forever Android user and I got given an iPhone for work. I was so frustrated trying to use it.
I had a 6 plus and switched to a pixel 6 pro after the battery scandal and performance issues. It was rough in the beginning, but I’m quite happy with it now.
