Is it true that Apple slows old iPhones to stimulate new sales?

Among the owners of smartphones, it is common that Apple specially slows down old iPhones, forcing the owners to buy new ones. We decided to check if there are grounds for such suspicions.

For the first time, one of the users Reddit raised the issue of slowing down iPhones (now the post has already been deleted, but there is Archive Version), who noticed that his smartphone began to work more slowly. He spent several tests before and after replacing the battery and came to the conclusion that Apple artificially slows down the performance of the phone as the battery is worn out. His post was collected by a huge number of comments from other owners who were faced with the same problem. One of Twitter users also measured The performance of the phone processor with an old battery (three years from the moment of purchase) and after its replacement, and, judging by his data, the difference was more than doubled.

John Pool, founder of the Primate Labs software development company, conducted study And measured the performance of the iPhone 6s and 7 with different versions of iOS. He also came to the conclusion that Apple programmatically limited the performance of his phones. He noted that, since the smartphone does not warn users that, due to the wear of the battery, he will work more slowly, they may have the impression that the problem is not with the battery, but with the phone itself. Accordingly, instead of replacing the battery (which is much cheaper), people will buy new iPhones.

In 2017, users from USA Siled in court On Apple, claiming that the company specially “slows down” the old models of iPhones to force users to change batteries or buy new phones. By One Of the laws filed (but not satisfied), the company demanded as many as $ 999 billion. Later, the Americans joined the Americans and French Users (and in France since 2015, a law has been in force, which prohibits intentionally worsening the properties of devices over time). The problem was so massive that it received a separate name - Batterigate.

In 2020 Apple agreed Pay $ 25 compensation to outraged American clients (the total amount of payments is $ 310 million plus legal costs). This amount practically covers the replacement of the battery. In addition, the company Obligated pay $ 113 million a fine in favor of the United States, since by opinion The authorities, Apple could not help but understand what would force millions of users with its actions to buy a new device, and deduced the profit from this. Apple had to pay fines and my French customers. 

Journalists some specialized publications We turned to Apple for a comment on this subject, and they sent them the same text that the company's goal was not at all: “Our goal is to make customers get the best impressions, including from the overall performance and life of the device. The ability of lithium-ion batteries to provide peak performance in the cold with low battery charge or when the battery is worn out, which can lead to an unexpected shutdown of the device to protect its electronic components from damage. ”

After that, Apple published Explanation And on the official website. The company's specialists said that iOS really built a software limit that allows old iPhones with worn -out batteries to maintain performance. The system analyzes the state of the battery, external conditions and the current load on the system. If the phone does not cope, the performance is reduced: the applications are loaded longer, the brightness of the display decreases, in the case of a strong overload, the flash may not work when photographing. Apple claims that this is done so that the iPhone does not suddenly disconnect due to overload, and not in order to force the user to buy new models or change the battery.

Despite the multimillion -dollar fines and compensation, the company did not plead guilty, although I apologized Before users for inconvenience. In addition, as an aph aplice temporarily reduced The cost of replacing the battery from $ 79 to $ 29. As part of this program, about 11 million customers contacted the company to replace the battery (which is about ten times more than usual). In addition, Apple General Director Tim Cook declaredthat because of this, the sales of new iPhone models were somewhat sank. So they wanted it in Apple or not, but, apparently, the slowdown of the phones still pushed users to buy new devices. When the owners of the iPhones found out that it was possible to maintain high performance, simply changing the battery, they began to buy new phones less often.

Nevertheless, at the end of 2020, questions arose again to the company. This time, Apple filed a lawsuit Organization of European consumersMore precisely, her representative offices in Portugal, Spain and Belgium. They demanded for € 60 compensation to each of the iPhones that suffered from the “planned obsolescence”. So far, there are no solutions for these claims.

According to report Repair Association, Apple, like some other technological companies, specifically designs the design of its devices in such a way that they are difficult and expensive to repair. And this encourages users not to replace the batteries of phones, but simply to buy new models.

Thus, Apple itself admitted that the iPhones deliberately “slowed down”, but, according to her, the goal was not at all to force customers to change the models of telephones more often, but only in protecting from a sudden shutdown due to overload. At the same time, the courts and some experts of the company do not believe and claim that Apple’s actions were aimed precisely at an unfair increase in profit. 

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What do our verdicts mean?

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