Recently, some researchers accused Apple Inc. of deliberately restricting the operation speed of the old iPhone on the internet and forced users to buy the latest version, arousing the sympathy of netizens. On December 20, local time, Apple released an official statement acknowledging the limitation Old iPhone processor performance.
Immediately, Apple's behavior of restricting the performance of older phones was criticized by users, and more NGO Anti-Apple Alliance released a statement on Dec. 23 condemning Apple's plan to scrap it and appealed to consumers to boycott Apple products and services until Apple on the matter give a reasonable explanation, to apologize to consumers and to stop the practice.
Apple admits restricting the performance of older phones
According to media reports, a new study claims that cell phone operation will be limited once the cell phone's battery ages, not the first time Apple has faced such allegations, which some see as compelling users to buy the latest version iPhone means.
John Pole, a developer at GeekBench, found that when a user's iPhone 6 shuts down when the battery reaches half-charge, an update prompt appears to solve the 'sudden shutdown' issue that will result in a decrease in cell phone performance. The blog says: "It's a common problem that iPhone slows down, and if the culprit of performance degradation is the 'sudden shutdown' update, then the user will get a slow response phone without any notice. '' Often at its best performance, low battery power can sacrifice some of the features to switch to long standby, and this update will create a third state.
Pole believes the update gives users confidence that their handsets are slowing down, so instead of buying a new iPhone, instead of actually replacing the aging battery, he added: 'This could lead to' planned phasing out '. To do so, Apple can encourage customers to buy the latest version of iPhone, which also stimulates consumer demand for the product, people buy again and again Apple's products.
In response to these allegations, Apple responded that it did indeed limit the performance of older models, but emphasized that this feature exists to prevent the older models from shutting down unexpectedly, thereby extending the useful life of older machines, This feature was officially introduced in 2016 on the iPhone6, 6s and iPhoneSE, and now extends to the iPhone 7. Apple said the future will be extended to this feature up more models up.
Apple claims that the measure will generally be used in the release of more than a year models.
Refers to re-implementation of 'plan scrapped' means
In fact, a new Apple phone, the old performance decline has long been said.
According to website statistics in 2015, there has been a cyclical eruption of the frequency of searching for the 'iPhone Variables' in the world through Google after the launch of the iPhone for generations since 2008. As soon as a new cell phone goes on sale, people will feel themselves The old iPhone in the hand is not so good.
In response, the anti-Apple coalition, a non-governmental organization, said it would undoubtedly be theft if technological means were used to limit the performance of older devices that would otherwise maintain higher performance, forcing consumers to abandon the old devices and buy new ones. And this kind of behavior occurs in the high-tech companies who have always advocated innovation, more serious than the theft.
The group also alleges that the once-popular "industrial scrapping" evil of the industrial age had once again risen in the new technological age and took place at Apple, the world's leading technology company, Benefit is not a new tool, but with the support of the current internet technology, it has evolved into a situation where the behavior is controlled online and efficiently using the operating systems it controls, which the old industrial tycoons did not do Things have spread far after all, after all.
The Anti-Apple Alliance also appealed to the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce to investigate Apple to find out whether there is any abuse of dominance or infringement of the rights and interests of consumers in the iOS system. For example, it should require that Apple open source iOS systems in mainland China. In addition, Ministry of Industry and Consumer Association should also conduct an investigation of Apple Inc., to verify the situation to carry out the hearing, and make the appropriate penalties.
The Anti-Apple Alliance claims to be an informal organization spontaneously established by the private sector. Most of its members are former Apple users who switch to other products due to various aspects of Apple products and services.
There should be rules governing commercial interests
Sun Yan Biao, president of the first mobile phone industry research institute in an interview with "Securities Daily" reporter believes that the problem facing Apple is that all mobile phone manufacturers and even IT vendors have not encountered the problem. The operating system forward compatibility issues, the current No manufacturers to solve well.When Apple's product life cycle has been excellent to up to 36 months or even up to 48 months, as a technology leader, Apple has a responsibility to remind users that their mobile phone models are not suitable for upgrading the system .
In fact, each phone has a serial number, the phone is old or new, Apple can know which phones should be upgraded, which phones are not suitable for upgrading, Apple should be warned when upgrading, technically This is not difficult to achieve, which is what Apple should do in the future.
And now the key reason for not doing so, Sun Yan Biao pointed out that it is still a commercial interest. 'Should formulate the corresponding rules, or is not bound by the business community.'
It has been reported that some users have sued Apple Inc. in California because they believe Apple has affected the performance of the device without the consent of the user and they hope the lawsuit will uphold the interests of all those holding the old handset in the iPhone 8. These Users said: 'We never asked Apple to slow down the old cell phone speed to save power, and did not require Apple to introduce similar features.'
In addition, Illinois users have also sued Apple, they think Apple deliberately retain the power management features to persuade people to buy newer equipment.
For Sun Yan Biao, both the emergence of China's anti-Apple Alliance and the prosecution in the United States are the prelude to the new rules of the game.