Tim Cook says future iOS updates will give users the choice to disable throttling feature

[BreakingKayfabe]

I think you guys are only focusing on one aspect of the word “forced”. There are varying interpretations of the word. If I want to get to point C, and both path A and path B can get me there, but path B is closed, technically I’m “forced” to take path A. Just because I have the option to forgo my trip doesn’t change the fact that in the context of the situation, I was forced to take one path.

“4. required by circumstances;”

If that's true then where's the "force" in upgrading to only an Apple product? The word is being thrown around way too easily around here. Quite honestly it's not even you. You're the only cooler head around here that doesn't use that word and put your perspective on this whole thing more eloquently. I think other people throwing that term around carelessly just don't know how to put their perspective into better terms which leaves them more open to being challenged.

 

[tadpoles]

I know there are some who love Apple and feel they didn’t (or possibly even couldn’t) do anything as “shady” as let us believe that the only option available was to buy a new phone. I don’t subscribe to that and I don’t believe Apple has any more moral forthrightness than any other tech company with a product to sell.

Does Apple make more money if we buy new phones as opposed to upgrading batteries? Yes. So that was the option that was often, if not always, presented. Apple would rather you buy a new phone than a new battery.

Shocker.

This is not molecular science. They got caught being less than as communicative as they could have been about a less expensive option.

Shocker.

That doesn’t change my opinion of them because my opinion was never to place them on an underserved pedestal. I like Apple and I like their products. However, I know that they’re not a church or a charity. There goal is to make money by providing products we often think we need. They do a fine job of that as is evidenced by their valuation.

They’re no better or worse, to me than, Huawei, LG, Samsung or many others.

So yes, they may have “forced” (by a low level definition) some to get a new phone. If that bothers some a lot, vote with your wallet and shop elsewhere. Otherwise just realize you’re dealing with a corporation whose position is to make money.

 

[Tartarus]

I just call it how it is. As I’ve said many times here not once was I given the option to replace the battery and the fact that apple throttled the processor on older phones was never disclosed. So being told I need to replace the phone by an apple employee is forcing me into a new phone. I’m going to call American Express tomorrow and dispute the transaction now that it came out that apple was throttling the processors.

Were you held on gun point ?

Edit: I see someone else already beat me to the punch.

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

Where you held on gun point ?

Edit: I see someone else already beat me to the punch.

Then he said it went down like that. He called American Express instead.

 

[Annie_M]

I've been sitting here on the sidelines watching posts fly back and forth and feeling that I was at a high speed ping pong match. I had an iPHone 6s. The battery was bad, and I was having to plug it in to a charger frequently, and because of this, I have several portable chargers. I never noticed the phone being slower. At one point, I had an appointment with the genius bar, and they said I didn't need a new battery. I accepted this at face value. I kept the phone for another year. The battery life diminished even further, but I never noticed it being slower. And then it was time to get a new phone. This decision had nothing to do with crappy battery life, or the phone being throttled.

It had everything to do with the fact, that I WANTED a new phone. The decision was all mine, and I came to it all by myself. It was my own free will. That said, was I disappointed to hear that Apple had indeed throttled phones? Initially, yes. After learning more facts about the entire issue, I gained more of an understanding and my feelings about Apple improved. I do think that transparency is a good thing, and that we have all learned something here.

As for the issue of Force, that is being debated in this thread, I do not think Apple forced anyone to get a new phone. Rather, the issue of a poor battery compelled you to feel the need to get a new phone... perhaps sooner than you normally would have. In all seriousness, wouldn't you have been getting a new phone sooner than later anyway? I ask this because it just seems that most people here on iMore get a new iPhone once every 1 or 2 years.

I am sorry for those of you who feel that you were. Either way, it seems that Apple is taking good strides to prevent this type of issue from happening again.

 

[Tartarus]

Then he said it went down like that. He called American Express instead.

The vast majority of smartphone users upgrade every two years, some even every year, others on the other hand upgrade less often.

Those who don’t upgrade annually or every two years won’t even realize about their phones being throttled because frankly, and this is only in my personal opinion, they don’t care about speed at all.

 

[tadpoles]

For those that just feel grumpy about this how do you think Samsung or LG or others would have handled the whole thing? No exploding phone jokes please.



RE: Tartarus
Two years seems like an absolute cruel and painful eternity to have the same phone...to me. We’re on 2-year cycles at work and it’s dreadful.

 

[Tartarus]

For those that just feel grumpy about this how do you think Samsung or LG or others would have handled the whole thing? No exploding phone jokes please.

They wouldn’t have done anything at all.
The fact that most Android devices don’t even get security updates after 2 or so years is proof of that.

RE: @Tartarus
Two years seems like an absolute cruel and painful eternity to have the same phone...to me. We’re on 2-year cycles at work and it’s dreadful.

My father has had his iPhone 6 for 3 years already and is still rocking it with joy.
A friend of the same age as me, 37, doesn’t even use half of the features his iPhone 5 offers, which he bought when the iPhone 5S was already out for 4 months.
He is still using the same iPhone 5 now.
Another friend of mine still uses his iPhone 4 or 4s.

What I’m trying to say is that not everybody cares about their smartphone as we do.

I agree that having the same phone for more than 2 years is pure cruelty.

 

[anon(5630457)]

We must have a different definition of "force". If you said that they compelled people to upgrade, I'd start agreeing. But "forced" is pretty strong.

It's quite absurd at the lengths many will go to defend Apple on this issue. I own an iPhone X right now and I refuse to defend Apple on this. Many people were screwed out of millions of dollars (collectively) because none of them were told that all they needed to do was replace the battery in their phone. They were told that the phone itself was the problem and they needed to get a new phone to get a fully functioning device again.

 

[metllicamilitia]

Bottom line. Apple made a change in iOS to slow the CPU’s in aging batteries so the phones didn’t die. I believe this because it’s basic business economics, phones dying before they should is bad for business. True, they didn’t tell us about it, and true they should have. Fact, it probably wasn’t told even to Apple Store employees so that they wouldn’t technically be lying when the only option appeared to be needing a new phone. This is where that whole being forced to upgrade aspect comes in to play. And also fact, Apple will be giving us the ability to turn off that optimization and give us more battery health information directly in iOS. Apple made a business play that affected a lot of people, people were upset, Apple apologized multiple times and gave us things we’ve wanted and needed for years on iOS. Regardless of where you stand on the matter, more good than bad came of it.

 

[tadpoles]

It's quite absurd at the lengths many will go to defend Apple on this issue. I own an iPhone X right now and I refuse to defend Apple on this. Many people were screwed out of millions of dollars (collectively) because none of them were told that all they needed to do was replace the battery in their phone. They were told that the phone itself was the problem and they needed to get a new phone to get a fully functioning device again.

Yeahps, a corporation doing what corporations do, trying to make more money instead of less. Par for the course.

 

[Tartarus]

It's quite absurd at the lengths many will go to defend Apple on this issue. I own an iPhone X right now and I refuse to defend Apple on this. Many people were screwed out of millions of dollars (collectively) because none of them were told that all they needed to do was replace the battery in their phone. They were told that the phone itself was the problem and they needed to get a new phone to get a fully functioning device again.

Are we doing this dance again?
No, people weren’t forced, no people weren’t screwed over.

People tend to upgrade, regardless of the performance of their phones.
People tend to upgrade every year or every two years. Some even every three years.

There are even people using their phones longer than that.

The negligible few that did upgrade because of this throttling will hardly amount to even 1 or 2 percent.

 

[tadpoles]

Apple is almost giving away replacement batteries to make amends. I’m not sure how much more is reasonable to expect. Worse come to worse some bought new phones with newer features than they otherwise might have. Good for them. No one is forced to use an iPhone or to buy one. There are other options. Heck, I’ve seen new phones as low as $30 (ZTE Android hardware). Anything more than the basics is a choice.

 

[ItnStln]

I think you guys are only focusing on one aspect of the word “forced”. There are varying interpretations of the word. If I want to get to point C, and both path A and path B can get me there, but path B is closed, technically I’m “forced” to take path A. Just because I have the option to forgo my trip doesn’t change the fact that in the context of the situation, I was forced to take one path.

“4. required by circumstances;”

Exactly!

 

[ItnStln]

I don’t think disputing the transaction is going to get you very far honestly.

Probably not, but I want to curse them out anyway because I was out of town the last week and they locked my card out.

 

[Just_Me_D]

Except that people were forced to get a new phone. They were never given the option from Apple Store employees to fix the battery. They either had to deal with a terribly slow phone or get a new one, and since that nobody wants to use a slow device, they were forced to get a new one.

Nope. That’s a choice they opted to make. Not wanting to choose a slower phone is not ‘forcing’ someone to upgrade. Sure, a majority of the people chose the new phone and even considered it the only “logical” choice. Nonetheless, it was still a choice they themselves made.

 

[ItnStln]

I know there are some who love Apple and feel they didn’t (or possibly even couldn’t) do anything as “shady” as let us believe that the only option available was to buy a new phone. I don’t subscribe to that and I don’t believe Apple has any more moral forthrightness than any other tech company with a product to sell.

Does Apple make more money if we buy new phones as opposed to upgrading batteries? Yes. So that was the option that was often, if not always, presented. Apple would rather you buy a new phone than a new battery.

Shocker.

This is not molecular science. They got caught being less than as communicative as they could have been about a less expensive option.

Shocker.

That doesn’t change my opinion of them because my opinion was never to place them on an underserved pedestal. I like Apple and I like their products. However, I know that they’re not a church or a charity. There goal is to make money by providing products we often think we need. They do a fine job of that as is evidenced by their valuation.

They’re no better or worse, to me than, Huawei, LG, Samsung or many others.

So yes, they may have “forced” (by a low level definition) some to get a new phone. If that bothers some a lot, vote with your wallet and shop elsewhere. Otherwise just realize you’re dealing with a corporation whose position is to make money.

Well said

 

[ItnStln]

For those that just feel grumpy about this how do you think Samsung or LG or others would have handled the whole thing? No exploding phone jokes please.

I don’t think they’re so unethical they’d intentionally throttle the processor.

 

[Tartarus]

I don’t think they’re so unethical they’d intentionally throttle the processor.

So in your words it’s ethical to allow phones to shut down with 30% or 40% charge left?
Are those people affected by that not buying new phones?

 

[ItnStln]

It had everything to do with the fact, that I WANTED a new phone. The decision was all mine, and I came to it all by myself. It was my own free will.

By your own admission you “WANTED a new phone” so you got one.

As for the issue of Force, that is being debated in this thread, I do not think Apple forced anyone to get a new phone. Rather, the issue of a poor battery compelled you to feel the need to get a new phone... perhaps sooner than you normally would have. In all seriousness, wouldn't you have been getting a new phone sooner than later anyway? I ask this because it just seems that most people here on iMore get a new iPhone once every 1 or 2 years.

By apple hiding their throttling the processors from consumers they did force the customer into a new phone. When the apple employee told me that I needed a new phone and said nothing about a new battery it was force. That phone was used for work and literally all I did on it was make and receive phone calls and the occasional text or email. So no, I wouldn’t have been getting a new phone sooner than later as that phone wasn’t my primary phone. However, on my primary phone I do get a new phone every year but that is beside the point.

I am sorry for those of you who feel that you were. Either way, it seems that Apple is taking good strides to prevent this type of issue from happening again.

I don’t feel I was forced into a new phone, I know I was. Having previously been in sales for over ten years I know shady sales tactics when I see it. If apple was transparent about what they were doing I would have accepted it for what it is, forcing consumers to purchase new phones.