Apple is purposefully making older iPhones slower. (computer, disable, opera)

[Mr5150]

Originally Posted by Mr. Lee

Have you upgrade to the latest software, if not then don't, I wish I never did.

Totally up to date on iOS. Same with Mrs5150’s 6s. No issues or slowed performance. Her 6s is a year old, mine less than six months so our batteries are fine

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by Pruzhany

The smartphones are not getting slower. Newer is technology is running faster that comparatively makes the older phones look slower depending on the App being used.

Aside from the OG Droid, that's been my experience as well. It's not so much that the OG Droid actually ran slower either. It's just that it was slow as hell to begin with and then you threw in a lot of additional features added to Android rapidly and the runty 512 MB of storage pushing apps onto the microSD card... and it was just awful. It's not like it was good to begin with though. I mean, lots of cool features but it's the only Android device that I frequently wished I still had a Blackberry.

I went through rapid upgrades to the Nexus and then Nexus S. Nexus S I held onto for a quite a while. It wasn't that it slowed down, it's just that the LG G2 (three years later) was just a much better experience due to being faster. I went through three LG G3s, two defective and RMAed, third broke out of warranty. Went back to the LG G2 for a few months. Capacitor on the touch screen got crunched when I low sided on a motorcycle. Note 5 is now a bit over two years old. I have no issue with the speed but the battery and charging port are getting to be a bit problematic. I'll eventually either need to buy a new battery and replace the charging port or just replace it. I'm not terribly concerned though as even if the charging port, which is fairly loose and temperamental, does stop working there's always wireless charging. Even if I paid someone to do that, it would only be around $150 which is still cheaper... but then I like shiny new things more than I should. I'll cross that bridge when i get there.

We're at a point where faster doesn't really mean a big improvement any longer. Yes, the newest phones are faster than a Note 5 but that doesn't offer a huge improvement in user experience. Similarly, I used to stick to a two year cycle for building new gaming computers. Even though the money isn't a factor anymore, there's really no point to upgrading it even though it's four years old. Sure, a new computer would be faster... but unless you're trying to run 4K resolution for gaming or doing things that benefit from move to six core mainstream processors there isn't really a meaningful benefit to upgrading.

[Mr. Lee]

Phones with low internal GB memory will often slow down due to all the updates but I have never had a problem with my Asus that has 64 GB built in and neither should any of you if your android phone has adequate built in memory of 32 or 64. Apple is doing this on purpose, I have never to date heard of any android company doing the same but who knows.

Originally Posted by Malloric

Nobody.

They key thing is the phrasing which is, unfortunately, ambiguous. Apple did not say they were "smoothing out" performance on devices with older, degraded batteries. They said they were smoothing out performance on older phones. It's not clear whether replacing the old battery with a new battery gets rid the "smoothing" feature on older phones. Eg, does this new feature apply to all phones or just phones with degraded batteries. Just my two cents, but simply slowing down old phones would be a valid lawsuit. It's not like Apple doesn't know how many cycles the battery has gone through. Even if they cannot determine battery health directly, they should be able to simply look at the number of cycles and see when batteries start degrading. Even if there isn't something that starts the cycle count over when a battery is replaced, it should have been added. Smoothing performance on old phones with degraded batteries is reasonable. Just slowing down older phones when they could slow down phones based on battery health is less reasonable.

Actually, they did explain the reasoning in the paragraph before the one about smoothing out peaks.

Originally Posted by Apple

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.

Technically, what they're doing is sound and makes total sense. Android devices should have this same functionality as its an obvious benefit to the end user.

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by Mr. Lee

Phones with low internal GB memory will often slow down due to all the updates but I have never had a problem with my Asus that has 64 GB built in and neither should any of you if your android phone has adequate built in memory of 32 or 64. Apple is doing this on purpose, I have never to date heard of any android company doing the same but who knows.

I'm not aware of widespread issues of Android phones randomly shutting down due to poor design though either. Apple could just say tough luck if your old phone turns off randomly due to our poor design. It's old. Go replace the battery if you want it to stop turning off. It's a work around for a design flaw of phones that are out of warranty. On one hand, it's nice to see Apple even bothered. On the other hand, just simply slowing down all old phones to minimize a design flaw isn't a good solution. It should be based on battery health or at least number of cycles on the battery so people with old phones who replace their battery aren't having their phones slowed down for no reason.

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by JasonF

Actually, they did explain the reasoning in the paragraph before the one about smoothing out peaks.

That's not the ambiguity. Do old phones with new batteries get slowed down? There's no reason to slow down an old phone with a replacement battery. It's not causing stability issues.

Technically, what they're doing is sound and makes total sense. Android devices should have this same functionality as its an obvious benefit to the end user.

No, they shouldn't. I'm not aware of any widespread problems with Android phones with older batteries randomly turning off such that they would need to be slowed down to prevent them from randomly turning off and being unable to turn back on until plugged in. Vanilla Android already has battery saver which reduces performance to increase battery life. Pretty much all the UI overlays do as well, although implementation varies. TouchWiz I can switch between customized power modes with the touch of a button. I'd be quite annoyed if they came out with an update that said "hah, your phone is old... half resolution and 60% CPU for you. Go buy new phone."

[Mr. Lee]

Android devices that are not capable do not upgrade to newer software, why does Apple allow upgrading older phones to the newest software and then slow them down, obviously, to sell new phones. Iphone users are basically a cult and many I know have to have the latest phone as soon as it comes out. One friend recently upgraded to an X only to find out that it is much smaller than the 7 he had before and his X has some issues, Apple already replaced it once and the new phone also has the same issues.

Originally Posted by Malloric

That's not the ambiguity. Do old phones with new batteries get slowed down? There's no reason to slow down an old phone with a replacement battery. It's not causing stability issues.

They were pretty clear that it only throttles as needed. If you replace the battery, the throttling may no longer be necessary if the new battery is healthy, so performance would return to normal.

No, they shouldn't. I'm not aware of any widespread problems with Android phones with older batteries randomly turning off such that they would need to be slowed down to prevent them from randomly turning off and being unable to turn back on until plugged in. Vanilla Android already has battery saver which reduces performance to increase battery life. Pretty much all the UI overlays do as well, although implementation varies. TouchWiz I can switch between customized power modes with the touch of a button. I'd be quite annoyed if they came out with an update that said "hah, your phone is old... half resolution and 60% CPU for you. Go buy new phone."

There's no widespread problem with iOS devices either. There are, however, plenty of posts online about both Android and iOS devices with old batteries shutting off.

You might be annoyed with reduced performance, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you'd be more annoyed by your phone turning itself off every time a program pegs the CPU.

At the end of the day, the fact is that this is just good engineering. The communication could certainly have been better though.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by Malloric

I'm not aware of widespread issues of Android phones randomly shutting down due to poor design though either.

Do a web search for "Nexus 6P shutdown" for hundreds of complaints about random shutdowns in other forums and the manufacturer Huawei's inadequate response to it.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by JasonF

Android devices should have this same functionality as its an obvious benefit to the end user.

I really hate when people try and decide for me what is an obvious benefit.... This is something that should be an option, not done surreptitiously in the background.