You mean updates that intentionally slow your device so that you will want to buy the new model?

They had a choice between slowing the device or providing a substandard user experience when the old battery couldn't keep up and the phone shut down. I think there are plenty of reasons to criticize Apple but I have no idea why people have latched onto this obviously false narrative.

Or they could have recalled faulty devices, you know. To fix them and provide the experience they promised originally.

That’s called replacing your battery. All phone batteries degrade and start underperforming over the years. What Apple did only affects those people with years old underperforming batteries.

Did not that happen about 2 years after phones were released first? 2 years sounds like a very small amount of time to me.

Batteries begin to degrade the moment you start to use them. All phones do this. Apple does not have some sort of magical technology to stop it from happening. No one does.

I wouldn’t expect a device that’s likely being drained and recharged daily to retain full capacity after two years. To suggest that shows a lack of understanding in the basic physics of a battery.

No company, Samsung, Google, etc. will “recall” your phone for normal wear and tear items like a battery. If that’s what you’re expecting, you’re going to be very disappointed.

I never claimed anything like. You demonstrate dirty sophistry there.

The issue is not that battery degrades, it is that their phones could not handle it and shut off when charge still remained. 2 years is a very little time. None of the devices with batteries I had exhibited that behavior. And I have devices that are over 5 years old in regular use.

> Or they could have recalled faulty devices, you know. To fix them and provide the experience they promised originally.

It’s not faulty devices, and a quick google search will show you that cell phone batteries have a lifespan of 2-3 years in average.

> It’s not faulty devices, and a quick google search will show you that cell phone batteries have a lifespan of 2-3 years in average.

Please, try reading this again

> The issue is not that battery degrades, it is that their phones could not handle it and shut off when charge still remained.

The capacity of the battery was the issue, unless you’re talking about a different issue. Older batteries were unable to meet the power demands.

I'll take updates that slow my phone as long as I'm also getting security updates. I don't like have my banking app cut off because I no longer get Android updates.

This is a nice headline, but doesn't match reality. I really hate how much of an Apple fanboy I'm coming off in this thread, but if you're just going to spout straight lies, it's hard to ignore.

It's true that overtime iOS has become way more bloated, but they have released major updates which actually sped up older devices because they were focused on bug fixes and improvements, rather than something that's flashy and looks good in a commercial.

Is it a useful tactic to sell more phones? Absolutely. It also means that iOS completely destroys Android's statistics on % of users who run the latest version of their OS.

He is referring to the degrading battery fallout in 2016: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/11/apple-settles-wi...

Yeah, good point, if I remember they did give you the option to override the battery safety feature and preserve your clock speed. Still, I think it is fair to say that iOS did over time start to feel more sluggish as they were adding more ambitious features which an aging chip couldn't handle.

It was certainly after the backlash, perhaps even after they lost the lawsuit.

oh damn, that's worse than i thought it was.

You forgot three very important points:

- Privacy. Apple didn't built their business on milking people's data unlike google and so many others.

- Security. Among many other factors the walled garden does provide a higher degree of security compared to Android.

- Performance. Not only iPhones completely destroy Android in terms of performance and optimisation but the fact they are so performant make them great long term purchases. Still rocking my iPhone X from 5 years ago and it's still buttery smooth.

Kids aren't stupid, they want something that works and is as fast as they are.

> - Privacy. Apple didn't built their business on milking people's data unlike google and so many others.

Is this still true? :(

Unless you have something to suggest otherwise, yes it is true.

GP didn't mention those because they are all points in favor of Android.

Privacy: Android lets you install apps without telling anyone. iOS requires you to tell Apple. God forbid you want to use an app you build yourself because then you also have to give Apple your banking details. Android lets you get your location from the GPS sensor without telling anyone. If you want to get your location at all on iOS, you must also send your location to Apple. Android lets you use fully offline maps and have that handle map links. All map links on iOS must be opened by Apple Maps, telling Apple what you're looking at. I could go on and on.

Security: Android updates the browser and other system apps without rebooting the phone. iOS requires a reboot, meaning updates are batched before delivery and then applied more slowly. Android app stores have superior security, with F-Droid having reproducible builds and the Play Store running apps in VMs to do dynamic analysis. The App Store had to rely on external researchers to find Xcodeghost apps to take down, not even having basic static analysis do it themselves. The exploit market has responded by pricing iOS vulnerabilities lower than Android vulnerabilities. Despite what Apple tells you, the walled garden is for Apple's profits, not your security.

Performance: Despite Apple's hardware lead, the software is so unoptimized that it's not unusual to see iPhones lose to Android devices in app opening speed tests. A few years ago, iPhones were so slow that they would lose to previous generation budget phones on those tests.

> - Security. Among many other factors the walled garden does provide a higher degree of security compared to Android.

Depends on the specific perspective.

I think the effort that has gone into securing Linux globally has and will continue to yield better results than Apple can achieve on their own with an opaque stack. Exploit prices also seem to correlate to some extent.

But I also do think it's better in terms of average end-user.

> long term support - can expect a new device to get 5-6 years of Apple Updates

It’s actually even better than that. The iPhone 5s is still receiving security updates (albeit to iOS 12) 9 years later.