logoalt Hacker News

flipnotykyesterday at 8:24 PM1 replyview on HN

Not arguing with your point about Google, but isn't Apple very often accused of forced obsolescence through updates to their phones? Is there any truth to the accusations of "running slower and dying faster" after a new model releases?


Replies

pseudosavanttoday at 5:45 PM

Nothing at all like what Google has done for the Pixel 4a and 6a. They intentionally make the battery life so short after 400 charge cycles (maybe a year's worth of charging?) that it only lasts a few hours. They'll replace the battery only "in eligible locations and while battery supplies last."

For Apple, each iOS release is more demanding than the last. Then compound that with batteries produce less current as they age. So, the CPU can't run quite as fast because it can't draw as high of current for older batteries. The alternative is to let the CPU try to ramp to max and cause the CPU to error/crash. It was mostly a messaging failure, and the battery health info/settings got significantly improved because of it.

Here is Google's page on it: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/16340779