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Comment by zx8080 | Hacker News Reader

> Apple cause batterygate with good intentions but sneakily.

Sure, the Apple's intentional performance degradation of older iPhones was caused by only good intentions, not a form of planned obsolescence in any way. How could it be?

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If you ever had to use an iPhone that would just shut off randomly with like 30% battery "remaining", you'd probably be singing a different tune and appreciative your device became somewhat more usable with the changes.

I'd expect the battery charge estimation to be recalibrated to account for the reduced capacity, not the hardware being deliberately hobbled to hide it.

But it’s not a matter of total charge, but output, hence it shutting down even though there’s plenty of stored energy in the battery.

I heard the old batteries, when giving high current would depress voltage long enought to trigger the shutdown, plausibly long enough to mess up the processor if it didn't shut down, but could genuinely give a lower current for a long time, such that rounding the charge down to zero would be harmful. It's easy to argue it's better to keep the phone slower then just shut it down when it can't reliably go fast.

Aging or damaged batteries can have dramatic'ly different output curves than the system expects. What looks like x% to the system can be at the edge of a cliff on the curve, causing sudden shutdowns or power loss.

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