Apple Admits Secretly Slowing Down Older iPhones | Zero Hedge
Description: Because it's better to beg forgiveness in humiliation, than simply be honest with your customers...
Keywords: Zero Hedge,Zerohedge,Finance,Economics,Markets,Politics,Analysis,Apple,default,Twitter
Date: 2017-12-21T00:00:00Z

### Why Governments Treat You Like a Number, Not an Individual

by TDB - Dec 21, 2017 3:34 PM

Governments hate anything that empowers individuals. This is because it makes governing harder.

### Wall Street Gunfighter: A Serial Novel. #1

by hedgeless_horseman - Dec 21, 2017 4:58 PM

We'll just see how this goes. If the feedback is good, I will try to post these about once a week.

### Did The Bushes Try To Hide Their Connection To The Second Mile?

by William Craddick - Dec 21, 2017 6:30 AM

Presidential family appears to have concealed former ties to foster care organization that absorbed disgraced Sandusky nonprofit

# Apple Admits Secretly Slowing Down Older iPhones

by Tyler Durden
Dec 21, 2017 6:15 PM
0
SHARES

Apple settled long-standing conspiracy theories surrounding claims that the company was purposefully slowing down older iPhones in order to force people into buying newer models - and there's a "perfectly good" explanation.

Batteries

In early December, Reddit user TeckFire posted a report in the iPhone subreddit, noting that after experiencing a painful slowdown on his iPhone 6S, a brand new battery resulted in significant improvement in benchmark scores - as can be seen in photos posted to the thread:

After testing performed by Geekbench developer John Poole, it was indeed confirmed that iPhones were being throttled to preserve battery life or avoid unexpected shutdowns while the battery degrades.

> So it's true Apple intentionally slow down old iPhones. Proof: My iPhone 6 was bought 3years ago and recently got really slow. APP 'CPU DasherX' shows iPhone CPU is under clocked running at 600MHz. After a iPhone battery replacement. CPU speed resumed to factory setting 1400MHz. pic.twitter.com/pML3y0Jkp2

> — Sam_Si (@sam_siruomu) December 20, 2017

The Cupertino, CA company responded to the internet sleuths, admitting in a statement "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," said the company.

As TechCrunch explains:

> Basically, iPhones were hitting peaks of processor power that the battery was unable to power and the phones were shutting off. Apple then added power management to all iPhones at the time that would “smooth out” those peaks by either capping the power available from the battery or by spreading power requests over several cycles. This is clearly shown in Poole’s charts in his post:

Many have pointed out how bad it looks for Apple - which has been accused of throttling older phones to make them buy new ones, was caught throttling phones. No matter how legitimate the reason, the fact that they were caught - and forced to admit - is going to fuel conspiracy theories for a while.

> For years, we’ve reassured people that no, Apple doesn’t secretly slow down their older iPhones to make them buy new ones.

> If this must be done, it should be a setting. If it’s on by default, the user should be alerted the first time it happens.https://t.co/kRRmd7mN72

> — Marco Arment (@marcoarment) December 20, 2017

> The reputation damage from secretly slowing down old iPhones, regardless of the reason, will likely linger for a decade.

> — Marco Arment (@marcoarment) December 20, 2017

To recap: due to battery performance degradation issues, the power demands of the iPhone processor was causing shutoff issues. To solve this, Apple secretly throttled their phones in order to avoid the issue... and were caught by internet sleuths before issuing a statement with their tail between their legs. Was there any impact on the stock price? Of course not: after all 2018 is the year companies make buybacks great again.

- Apple
- default
- Twitter
- Twitter

- Printer-friendly version
- Dec 21, 2017 6:15 PM
- 68

## Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
eforce Dec 21, 2017 6:20 PM

Wonder if any other manufacturers have been doing this?

LSD - Lower Slo... eforce Dec 21, 2017 6:23 PM

Nokia is throttling my flip phone.

SoilMyselfRotten LSD - Lower Slower Delaware Dec 21, 2017 6:44 PM
Apple Admits Secretly Slowing Down Older iPhones...Doesn't Want Them To Fall And Break A Hip
Red-Pill-Girl SoilMyselfRotten Dec 21, 2017 6:46 PM

Don't fucking update the iOS. Is always a bad ideea.

After 2.5 years and still with factory iOS 9.3.5 my iPhone SE is awesomely fast when loading leaked nude celebrities.

Videos too

VIDEO: WWE Paige all Leaked Sex Tapes with Brad Maddox and Xavier Woods

http://celebrity-leaks.net/wwe-paige-all-leaked-sex-tapes-with-brad-madd...

bluez Red-Pill-Girl Dec 21, 2017 7:29 PM

There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for lithium batteries to cost more than, say, alkaline batteries. NONE WHATSOEVER! If you recycle your old worn out lithium battery, where do you suppose the lithium went? Of course it is still right there in the old battery. It does not turn into pumpkin pulp or tritium gas (except under bombardment with fast neutrons that would kill you). So you can just trot down to your friendly neighborhood blacksmith, and with a trifling little bit of chemical wizardry and new packaging, your old lithium battery is brand-new again! So simple.

Now there might perhaps be patents and rights restrictions that make this a illegal. So what? Laws are like pie crusts, made to be broken. There's a nifty little underground economy just waiting to pop up here like a meadow full of beautiful little mushrooms.

Jon_Locke eforce Dec 21, 2017 6:23 PM

My android phone became unusable because of this. Even as just a wifi device its all but unusable. It is a Motorola android razr.

Gap Admirer Jon_Locke Dec 21, 2017 6:27 PM

The Google stops updating products around three years old so that they crash and malfunction often. You have to root your "older" device and install the OS updates yourself. I'll be doing that with my Samsung Android tablet soon.

overbet Gap Admirer Dec 21, 2017 6:33 PM

Dont update. Updates are alomst never for users benefit. I dont want to lose jailbreak so I never update anyway.

Gap Admirer overbet Dec 21, 2017 7:14 PM

I'm have a dilemma. My Yahoo Mail app keeps hanging/crashing on my tablet with the old Android OS (KitKat, I believe?). I was hoping that a new version of the OS would help stop the crashes.

Nameshavebeench... eforce Dec 21, 2017 6:49 PM

Have suspected this for several years. Was jus discussing this issue with a buddy last week. Also have strong reason to suspect that the 'software updates' are also designed to screw with older phones.

RafterManFMJ Dec 21, 2017 6:20 PM

Karl Denniger caught them out on their games, and explains why; simply to have the phone last juuuuuuust long enough before the user gets pissed that it’s out of warranty.

friendly manitoba Dec 21, 2017 6:20 PM

the ipads are worse - slower than the aecond coming of christ ..

the n5s is ok - way better than the 4 4s - thou this one drops to the ground a lot

Joe Mama 3 Dec 21, 2017 6:21 PM

shoulda waited till after christmas for dis bombshell !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bay of Pigs Dec 21, 2017 6:21 PM

What a great way to destroy your reputation and credibility.

Nice work dumbshits.

slicktroutman Bay of Pigs Dec 21, 2017 7:34 PM

What do you expect from a bunch of libtards?

cherry picker Dec 21, 2017 6:22 PM

Why not make batteries replaceble and at a fair price, not quadruple what thrid party outlets sell them for.

LetThemEatRand cherry picker Dec 21, 2017 6:25 PM

Exactly. There are so many reasons not to buy iShit, but the reason given for throttling the phone in a vacuum sounds reasonable to me. The alternative is a crashing phone. I suppose they could at least give the consumer the option to slow or risk crashing, but then they would have to admit that their phones are basically designed to become obsolete in a few years. The iPhone is the modern day equivalent of a Chrysler Cordoba, without the rich Corenthian leather.

Lt. Frank Drebin LetThemEatRand Dec 21, 2017 7:08 PM

Corinth is known for its leather!

overbet cherry picker Dec 21, 2017 6:32 PM

I think you should know why

TalkToLind cherry picker Dec 21, 2017 6:39 PM

Because replaceable batteries are ANTI-SEMITIC! Plus they eat away at our profits.

nmewn Dec 21, 2017 6:37 PM

Now see, if this would have happened under the benevolent watchful eye of Obama's Net Neutrality diktat, heads would have rolled!

/////

Man, tough crowd tonight.

How bout if Trump appoints a Battery Czar? ;-)

Neochrome Dec 21, 2017 6:26 PM

Plausible deniability at work. Buy whole new phone we fucked up on purpose instead of replacing just the battery, if you feel like it.

coast1 Dec 21, 2017 6:29 PM

interesting as I read recent articles, I brought all this stuff up a decade ago. The day 911 is exposed will be the day I can die and die with a smile...and so sick and tired of chemtrails...gmo and vaccines come a close second. I can choose not to eat gmo or take vacccine, but stoip spraying the shit in the sky please...I will not ever support trump until he stops the chemtrails...period. and why the frick does alex jones use mainstream and government stats to promote trump when he said the mainstream and government stats were fraud when obama was president? I am so sick of most everyone.

LetThemEatRand coast1 Dec 21, 2017 6:35 PM

Here, here. I've seen so many "alternative news" types suddenly change their tune on everything from government stats to the stock market (e.g., the Fed pumped up the market during Obama but now Trump gets credit), that there's hardly anyone I can stand reading/listening to anymore. Same thing happened on the left when Obama won. Suddenly the wars and droning etc were okay. ZH is one of the last sites I can still enjoy reading these days.

coast1 LetThemEatRand Dec 21, 2017 6:40 PM

I am only here for people such as yourself that I can chat with...before I go insane :-)

SantaClaws Dec 21, 2017 6:29 PM

This makes no sense to me. I thought Apple sought to profit by making its batteries replaceable only by Apple and at high cost. Why didn't Apple simply program the phones to say that it was time to get a new [obscenely-priced] battery?

zpinch SantaClaws Dec 21, 2017 6:43 PM

its called 2clvrby1/2.exe

SantaClaws zpinch Dec 21, 2017 6:47 PM

Yes. Make the batteries so expensive and impractical to change that the customer will choose to get a new phone instead. Got it.

MusicIsYou Dec 21, 2017 6:30 PM

Dupes deserve however they get treated by today's wicked companies. More and more I buy used stuff and leave my phone at home.

TrustbutVerify Dec 21, 2017 6:31 PM

Why not just do without a smart phone? Learn to lead a more full life.

bardot63 TrustbutVerify Dec 21, 2017 6:42 PM

What you said. I have only a tracfone, $100 a year, and it stays in the car. And usually stays dead until I charge it up. And the only reason I have one is there aren't any phone booths anymore. If I need triple-A, I plug it in. I think it has 800 unread messages. I don't care.

They call them smart phones....not smart owners. Not smart users. Always wondered what happens when a device that will answer any question, make any calculation, point you to any direction, and remind you of every little thing you ever wanted to remember.....what happens when it starts lying to you? What if it's been lying to you all along? That's why the phones are smart, not the owners.

adr Dec 21, 2017 6:33 PM

I have a five year old Android phone, yeah the battery doesn't last as long as it once did, but the phone still performs as fast as it always did.

The entire battery can't supply the juice for the processor is total BS. If that was the case, the battery was never capable of running Apple's shit processor.

But that is what you get for buying an $80 phone that sells for $800.

MusicIsYou Dec 21, 2017 6:35 PM

When people don't give themselves altetnative ways to accomplish something, the corporations will take a big fcking shit on their customers. Cause the truth of the matter is businesses don't give a fck about customers.

Son of Captain Nemo Dec 21, 2017 6:34 PM

Apple inc just keeping your iPhone "safe" and "secure" from outdated hardware!

No associated "Net Neutrality" issues here folks... Run along!...

Zorba's idea Son of Captain Nemo Dec 21, 2017 7:09 PM

Is that straight from Cooks mouth...c'mon, add some verifiable link :/

Son of Captain Nemo Zorba's idea Dec 21, 2017 7:15 PM

I believe the definition is "extortion"... And "YES" when you have people like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVpSBUgbxBU) that got you to THIS PLACE...at the highest level(s) of your government that haven't been skinned and de-boned on a "spit" for the worst treason 16 years later...

The taxpayer is their "oyster"!

williambanzai7 Dec 21, 2017 6:35 PM

How does this impact the Falkland Islands?

nmewn williambanzai7 Dec 21, 2017 6:50 PM

LMMFAO!

ZeroPointNow williambanzai7 Dec 21, 2017 6:54 PM

The Falkland Islands' chief export is high quality wool. Throttled iPhones with shitty batteries will throw off less heat, thereby decreasing demand for high quality wool.

Falklands are fucked.

Dilluminati Dec 21, 2017 6:35 PM

Laughing apple snobs got ass-fucked by their brand worship.

nmewn Dilluminati Dec 21, 2017 6:55 PM

Just wait till the snobs find out what "advanced safety features" actually means in their 2018 Prius' ;-)

TalkToLind Dec 21, 2017 6:35 PM

And y'all goyim thought we created non-removeable batteries for your convenience, didn't you.

zpinch Dec 21, 2017 6:41 PM

this is benevolence of elites and soft tech; they dont even give you a battery haha, i dont see the problem; all the hand wringing is silly; if you own one, youre owned and clueless anyway...good outrage though for alex jones ratfuckt drudge paranoid abcmedia douchebag lunatics

Omega_Man Dec 21, 2017 6:40 PM

sue now

MarkGoldman Dec 21, 2017 6:44 PM

My Nexus P6 is slow as balls and keeps dying with battery left...hmmm

MusicIsYou Dec 21, 2017 6:45 PM

Everybody I know who owns an Iphone are pretty much dumb sonofabitches who have their heads in their asshoIes.

ReturnOfDaMac Dec 21, 2017 6:47 PM

Apple, FFS man!

starman Dec 21, 2017 6:48 PM

I had an IPhone once! Fckng joke!

FredFlintstone Dec 21, 2017 6:49 PM

Humiliation? This is criminal.

Peak Finance Dec 21, 2017 6:49 PM

Yea they pull the EXACT SAME SHIT with the fucking macs.

Have an older Mac (not REALLY old just a few years) and are FORCED to do an upgrade due to a bug or a critical software upgrade, and BOOM! 25% performance loss :(

Had this happen multiple times already.

- 1
- 2
- next ›
- last »

## User login

Username: *
Password: *

- Create new account
- Request new password

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.

- New Comments
12-21 19:34: My daughter got rid of her (alphasammae)
12-21 19:34: Try throttling back your (XBroker1)
12-21 19:34: The SF '67 Summer of Love has (south40_dreams)
12-21 19:34: France and Germany sure are (Aeonios)
12-21 19:34: What do you expect from a (slicktroutman)
12-21 19:34: That's how a school yard (JPMorgan)
12-21 19:34: 600 Billion dollars of crypto (Clock Crasher)
12-21 19:33: Melbourne is turning into (vonmisesrises)
12-21 19:33: There is no mathematical (Mr Toad)
12-21 19:33: The 'repairs and (Oath_Keeper)
- Today's Top Stories
316,333 - Illinois Lost 1 Resident Every 4.3 Minutes In 2017, Dropped To 6th Most Populous State
252,486 - Litecoin Founder Cashes Out, Sells Entire Stake After 9,300% Rally
228,792 - Is This Why Charlie Lee Sold His Litecoin?
203,856 - Why Wall Street Is Furious At The Trump Tax Plan
122,922 - Hillary In The Crosshairs As DOJ Prosecutors Begin Asking FBI Agents About Uranium One
115,521 - Ex-FBI Assistant Director: Patriots Within The FBI Will Soon Step Forward And Expose The "Cabal"
74,421 - "A Stunning Rebuke": 128 Nations Support UN Call For Trump To Withdraw Jerusalem Decision
72,116 - Bitcoin Dominatrix Makes $1 Million Pimping Out Clients In "Crypto Slave Farm"
71,963 - Long Island Iced Tea Soars 500% After Changing Its Name To Long Blockchain
53,250 - 'Pentagon Papers'-Leaker Warns, US Is "Close To Nuclear Armageddon"

- Contact Information

Tips: tips [ at ] zerohedge.com

General: info [ at ] zerohedge.com

Legal: legal [ at ] zerohedge.com

Advertising: ads [ at ] zerohedge.com

Abuse/Complaints: abuse [ at ] zerohedge.com

Advertise With Us

- Suggested Reading

Make sure to read our "How To [Read/Tip Off] Zero Hedge Without Attracting The Interest Of [Human Resources/The Treasury/Black Helicopters]" Guide

It would be very wise of you to study our disclaimer, our privacy policy and our (non)policy on conflicts / full disclosure. Here's our Cookie Policy.

How to report offensive comments

Notice on Racial Discrimination.

- RanSquawk News
12-21 19:18: US Senate begins vote on stopgap funding measure
12-21 19:18: HKMA is to monitor capital outflows after year-end effect, according...
12-21 19:18: UK Lloyds Business Barometer (Dec) 28 (Prev. 24)
12-21 19:18: US Senate receives enough votes to pass the stop gap measure to keep...
12-21 19:18: Asia stocks begin mostly positive after Christmas cheer returned on...
12-21 19:18: China Shandong is said to have stopped group tours to South Korea
12-21 19:18: German Foreign Affairs Minister Gabriel is said to warn of a minority...
12-21 19:18: PRE-MARKET JAPANESE AND SOUTH KOREAN STOCK NEWS: Hitachi High-...
- The Fly
12-21 19:18: Qualcomm gets self-driving car permit in California, CNBC reports
12-21 19:18: Senate has enough votes to pass emergency spending bill, CNBC says
12-21 19:18: Yamana Gold announces $162.5M sale of exploration properties
12-21 19:18: Agnico Eagle to acquire Canadian exploration assets of CMC
12-21 19:18: Celgene's Relevance study failure is irrelevant, says Jefferies
12-21 19:18: Quidel receives FDA clearance, CLIA waiver for Sofia 2 instrument
12-21 19:18: Quidel receives FDA clearance for Solana molecular assay
12-21 19:18: Piper cuts Celgene target to $100 on second Revlimid failure in...
- Street Insider
12-21 19:18: FDA Approves La Jolla Pharmaceutical's (LJPC) Giapreza for Dangerously Low Blood Pressure
12-21 19:18: After-Hours Stock Movers 12/21: (SGH) (LJPC) (CTAS) Higher; (AIR) (CELG) (WWE) Lower (more...)
12-21 19:18: WWE (WWE) Chairman and CEO Vincent K. McMahon Sells 3.34M Shares of Common Stock in Block Trade
12-21 19:18: Forward Pharma (FWP) Reports Filing of Final Brief in Appeal of U.S. Patent Interference to Federal Circuit
12-21 19:18: Resolute Forest Products (RFP) Reports Acquisition of Full Ownership of Donohue Malbaie for C$20M
12-21 19:18: Nike (NKE) CEO Says Test on Amazon (AMZN) Going Well, Pilot Will be Extended - Bloomberg
12-21 19:18: Boeing wins $1.23 billion U.S. Navy contract: Pentagon
12-21 19:18: Flowserve (FLS) Declares $0.19 Quarterly Dividend; 1.8% Yield