Recently Apple was under the fire of allegations for slowing down the older devices which included even the iPhone 7. There were even lawsuits filed against Apple which ultimately made them to come out and place their opinion on this issue. Apple stated and accepted that they did slow down their older devices that were more than a year older. The main aim of doing so was to extend the battery life of these devices since the Li-ion batteries tend to exhibit a reduction in the battery life after extended usage and based on various conditions. Now, the question arises : Is it ethical for companies to make a reduction in performance of the device once it gets older ? Its mostly self explanatory depending on your priorities i.e battery life or performance.
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
Now, all this was done by keeping everyone in darkness. Some of the users took to Twitter and Reddit and posted proofs in the form of screenshots (which showed the clock speed) to convey the wrongdoing. There was not just one user but many. The purpose of stating it as a wrongdoing is mainly pertained to users who do not have a choice but to live with the underpowered devices and ultimately have to make a hard decision to upgrade. Although solution is to replace the battery which would eventually make the device perform like as it was bought initially. Now, what were the actual intentions of Apple ? No one knows as what they claimed was practically true however it leads to another question. What if the user prefers performance over battery life and why should they replace the batteries and incur additional costs? Well, only Apple can answer.
All this is related to Apple where many people get their products after a year of release and unfortunately sometimes after 4 years of release too.
Now, does the Lithium ion batteries show a reduction in performance overtime?
The answer is YES. If we go into the 'How' aspect then we would be entering into the chemistry world hence we will be just checking out facts.
The battery life is measured in terms of the charge and discharge cycles where one charge and discharge period is considering to be One Cycle. It has been observed that the battery capacity will reduce or rather degrade with time. Typically one may notice the reduction in battery life at around 1000 cycles or even more. If we do the math, on the basis of 1 cycle per day (i.e charging in the morning and discharge by night ) then the reduction is imminent in around 2.5-3 years of usage. Now, coming to Apple's controversy, the battery capacity in their devices is minimal especially considering their previous flagships like the iPhone 6 and 6S. Hence, in order to prolong the battery life in one cycle, the processor was throttled to lower clock values which in turn reduced the performance to a greater extent.
Now, when a user replaced the battery, the slow down in performance was restored to normal. The process of slowing down took place via a software update since as we all know that Apple supports their older devices too and a normal user would tend to update. Speaking of Android OEM's, most of the companies support their devices for only upto 2 years and precisely only their flagships. In a typical Android device, the battery capacity has always been more than the corresponding iPhone (considering 6,6S and 7). As the updates last for only 2 years, the higher capacity on these devices will not show signs of reduction in battery capacity unless you notice it closely although software updates may ruin the battery life without hindering the performance although that's just another case which we are not talking about it right now.
There are a few companies which do not provide updates to their devices after one year of its release hence, slowing down of the phone from their side is out of context.
Summing it up and coming to our title question, is it ethical for brands to do such a thing without letting anyone know about it? The answer is NO. We feel that that even if a brand does with the intention of extending the battery life, the user should get an option depending on their priorities. Its also a fact that doing anything in darkness has always been accompanied with wrong intentions which strikes a line at the loyalty factor that brands have towards their customers. Its usual for us to upgrade to a newer device once we start facing performance issues with them hence forcibly creating such conditions to compel users to upgrade is unethical and ultimately harmful for the brand's own reputation.
What would you choose if given a choice : Performance or Battery life. Do let us know in the comments below.
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