Tyler Barney, a 17 year old, has exposed Apple for deliberately slowing down older iPhones which could cost the tech-giant billions in lawsuits.
Barney, who is currently a high school student in the United States has discovered reduced performance in almost every old Apple device which he said has to do with the phone’s lithium-ion batteries when his iPhone 6s ‘became buggy’.
“It was a big mess all the time. Even typing was painful. Seconds passed between keystrokes,” he said in a press release sent to outlets recently.
The Tennessean said that while he waited on the new updated operating system to be released by Apple, he tried his brother’s older model iPhone 6. The older phone was noticeably worse than the iPhone 6s.
He then decided to look into why that was happening and found a suggestion that he replace his old battery with a new one. When he did the phone sped up instantly.
Barney told the Daily Mail is said to have found that Apple was ‘throttling’ its iPhones to preserve the lithium batteries and stop them shutting down as batteries age and become less effective.
He took to the board website Reddit to share his discoveries and his post went viral leading to Apple admitting of ‘throttling phones to extend their life and stop them shutting down as batteries become less effective.
Apple is an addictive brand and their products are famously known for their durability compared to their competitors and their sales have been recorded highest recently, however this definitely will shake them a little.
This discovery has triggered lawsuits from angry customers all over the world and will probable cost Apple a chunk of their billions of dollars in legal fees.
The company swiftly issued an unprecedented apology by publishing a letter admitting that they know that their users feel that Apple has let them down and they are willing to fix this mess. They also revealed that they are slashing the price of a replacement battery. by $50 – from $79 to $29, for everyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs replacing, starting in late January and available worldwide through to December 2018.
Management of the company said they have a goal to create products that their customers love and hence making iPhones last as long as possible will always be an important part, this was following their apology.
In 2018 the company is going issue an iOS software update with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance.
Does this mean their competitors will benefit from this matter, improve their brands and take some of Apple’s users? And does this mean decrease in sales for Apple?
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6 comments
It was not necessarily the teen who exposed Apple but a culmination of events, either way Apple is in a mess here apparently lawyers in California have filed a class action law suit against the company saying it was a consential issue depriving users full life of the device which is in breach of the terms and conditions Apple make you agree to meaning that if the case is won all iPhone 6,6s,7 and SE owners in the US will have their phones replaced!!!
What an expensive bug for such an expensive phone! Never been a fan of closed systems and this revelation is just the beginning of more scandals, bad publicity, brand degradation etc etc…the snobby Apple users will have a great time hitting back.
Techzim techzim. I don’t think you get how technology works, or rather how software updating works.
Funny, considering you published a story about WhatsApp phones that wont be supported in 2018. Reasons are the same. Minimum requirements.
Now before I go on, this boy exposed nothing because iOS is closed source, so no one except Apple knows what really happens under the hood. But I have my $0.02 as a developer.
As newer hardware is released, it becomes faster. This means new software is targeted at this new hardware. The older, slower hardware suffers. It cant keep up with new software. Business factors then come into play – to support old hardware or not..
Now, I am just going to pretend you didnt write that statement about OLD PHONE BATTERIES THAT CANT HOLD THE SAME CHARGE OR OUTPUT THE SAME POWER AS NEWER BATTERIES.
I’ll ignore it because TechZim is such a top-notch tech hub and thats the thinking I’d expect from my 89y.o. grandma who doesnt know a thing about tech.
Problem is they never told anyone that was the problem with battery, yes we know new software slows down gadgets but in this case it was deliberate and they didn’t tell the end user they can just replace the battery. They probably won’t win the lawsuit because some people actually have recorded conversation with Apple where they encouraged people to get a new gadget instead of a battery replacement. Zimbabweans have a problem of trying to be intelligent when in actually facts they lack knowledge.
Sorry to say this, but you actually don’t get it! You chose your own stray topic and went off with it.
context analysis and understanding is always a necessary precursor to a better judgement. some people they are just fame seekers, malcontents who masquerade to know everything yet they are jus tinkling cymbal. instead of giving a constructive criticism they just read for the sake of arguing,to find mistakes and bad things.Away with such fellows for they are nothing bt just enemies of productivity.