Just got an iphone 7. How long before Apple gimps it?

moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
3,095
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My wife surprised me with a new iPhone 7. They are almost as good as the iPhone 8 so she saved a few bucks and grabbed a couple of them. I Love the phone but have some concerns about Apple's willingness to trade in my user experience for an improved bottom line . I have always been skeptical of those constant "ios updates" and their ever increasing CPU requirements forcing people to buy faster phones in order to maintain the same user experience.
Since the battery shens came to light with Apple straight up slowing down people's CPU's as a "favor" to the customer, I am now in full blown cynical mode. Here's my whole thing:
Apple claims they slow your phone down after a certain number of charge cycles. How many cycles? More importantly, what does the phone consider a "charge cycle"? Every time you plug something into the damn phone does that count as a "cycle"? I've never seen this disclosed, and if it has been it wasn't public enough because I haven't seen this information. I'm sure if I REALLY dig deep enough I could come up with it somehow. Instead of all that, Apple should have included a damn piece of paper in the box warning me about battery degradation and its precise effect on my phone's performance over time.
So, what's the deal? I know Apple is planning to gimp the daylights out of my new phone but I would just like to know how long I have before it goes to hell. Any thoughts?
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
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I just traded my 7+ to an X a couple weeks ago and my 7+ worked as well as the day I got it, if not better due to updates. So...I think you'll be fine.
 
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ZGR

Platinum Member
Oct 26, 2012
2,052
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I am tech support for my parent's iPhones. They are super fast and anything newer than the 6S has excellent performance.... Except for battery life.

Your battery is gimped. It is bad.

Fortunately it is 'good enough' for most users and you can get a battery case.

I think you can replace your battery by Dec. 31st for $30, so do that as well.
 
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teejee

Senior member
Jul 4, 2013
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IOS 11.3 will show battery health status and also if performance is reduced due to bad health.
Beta is available for 11.3
 

Commodus

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2004
9,206
6,799
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Relax -- it sounds like you're acting on a lot of speculation rather than concrete info.

To add to what teejee said: a "cycle" is a full use of the phone from full to empty. Apple won't slow your phone down after an arbitrary number of cycles (and again, iOS 11.3 will let you disable this). Rather, it's looking at battery health. I understand it considers a battery healthy if it retains over 80 percent of its capacity. How long it lasts depends on how hard you thrash it, in other words.

For reference, I've had an iPhone 7 since launch and the battery's still fine. Admittedly it spends most of the day charging, but I do use it quite a bit when I'm out.
 

cfenton

Senior member
Jul 27, 2015
277
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If you're concerned about updates slowing down your phone, then just don't update it. Apps usually only require an iOS version from a few years ago, so you can go a long time before you start losing functionality. Of course, that's probably a bad idea from a security perspective.
 

IGBT

Lifer
Jul 16, 2001
17,945
122
106
The phone guy out a costco tells me people with older iphones want to punch him in the nose due to apples gimpwear updates.
 

Commodus

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2004
9,206
6,799
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The phone guy out a costco tells me people with older iphones want to punch him in the nose due to apples gimpwear updates.

Never mind that Android vendors abandon OS updates after two years, and you still tend to see slowdowns with some of those...
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
21,899
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Never mind that Android vendors abandon OS updates after two years, and you still tend to see slowdowns with some of those...
S6 is getting oreo. 3 years old. Also, with Android most flagships can run custom roms.
 

Commodus

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2004
9,206
6,799
136
S6 is getting oreo. 3 years old. Also, with Android most flagships can run custom roms.

Well, that's good... curious to know how well it runs, but it's there! I should say it's generally true that Android vendors tend to cut off support after around 2 years. My biggest beef is that budget Android phones sometimes get the short end of the stick with one big update, if that.
 

v-600

Senior member
Nov 1, 2010
488
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When I saw the title for this thread my mind read it as
Just got an iphone 7. How long before Anandtech reviews it?