Apple has issued an apology to its cusromers, following its admission that it intentionally slows down some iPhone models.
The Cupertino-based company had issued a statement last week, following the publication of data from benchmarking tool Geekbench that appeared to show that some iOS updates deliberately throttled the performance of some Apple hardware.
Geekbench developer John Poole mapped out the performance of iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 units over time.
According to the data, both smartphones suffer a dip in performance following the upgrade to iOS 10.2.1 and 11.2.0.
Apple today issued an apology and provided some more context to explain its reasoning behind these performance dips.
The written statement says, “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.”
In a nutshell, while Apple has admitted that it does slowdown the CPU in some of its older hardware, this decision was not made to push its users to upgrade to a new iPhone.
There have long been rumours of Apple intentionally slowing older smartphones with each subsequent software update in order to push users to buy the latest model. This phenomenon is known as planned obsolescence.
Writing on its website, Apple says “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 apologise.”
The US technology company directly addresses planned obsolescence in its statement, adding: “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.”
The apology was accompanied by the announcement the company will reduce the cost of out-of-warranty battery replacements.
Battery replacement in an Apple Store will drop by £54 — from £79 to £25 — for anyone with an iPhone 6 or newer whose battery needs to be replaced.
The new pricing will be introduced from late January and will be available worldwide until December 2018.
Apple has also announced that it will issue an iOS software update next year that allows users more visibility into the health of their iPhone battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance.
The company concludes, “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.”
Daily Express :: Life and Style Feed
