Two more phone makers have begun twisting the knife into Apple, by confirming that they don’t slow down performance of older handsets.
For the past few weeks, Apple has been at the centre of an ongoing debacle around the performance of older smartphones – specifically, iPhones. After much pressure, the company eventually admitted to reducing the processing power of old iPhone models in order to improve battery life. This has sparked fury across the internet and beyond, with some customers feeling as though they’d been sold a lie.
Unsurprisingly, Apple rivals have been quick to capitalise on the furore. The latest are Samsung and LG, two of Apple’s biggest competitors, who have issued statements confirming that they don’t slow down ageing smartphone models.
In a statement sent to PhoneArena, a Samsung Mobile representative said: “Product quality has been and will always be Samsung Mobile’s top priority. We ensure extended battery life of Samsung mobile devices through multi-layer safety measures, which include software algorithms that govern the battery charging current and charging duration.”
The statement went on: “We do not reduce CPU performance through software updates over the lifecycles of the phone.”
A separate statement from LG on the matter read: “Never have, never will! We care what our customers think.”
These comments come just days after two other Apple rivals – Motorola and HTC – issued their own guidance on how they don’t slow their older phone models down.
Speaking to the Verge, and HTC spokesperson said that slowing older phones down “is not something we do”. Meanwhile, a representative from Motorola said: “We do not throttle CPU performance based on older batteries.”
It’s worth noting that although Apple’s decision to slow phones may seem like a cheap way to get you to upgrade, that’s not an entirely fair assessment.
Most smartphones use lithium ion batteries, which have a limited lifespan and will degrade over time. For instance, after 500 charging cycles, you’d expect to get around 80% charging capacity compared to a new cell.
In order to combat this battery degradation, Apple has been using software updates to reduce the CPU performance on select iPhone models to help boost battery life.
The company has since apologised for the decision, and is now cutting battery replacement costs (which would fix performance issues) from $79 to just $29 for older out-of-warranty devices.
Related: Best Android phones
What do you think of the whole phone-slowing fiasco? Let us know via Facebook or tweet us @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
