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Over at Vice/Motherboard is an article on the expected lifetime of apple phones, based on the proceedings in a class action lawsuit over problems with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices.
When it released its iPhone 7 Environmental Report a year ago, Apple wrote that it "conservatively assumes a three-year period for power use by first owners," which is "based on historical customer use data for similar products."
Greg Joswiak, Apple's VP of iOS, iPad, and iPhone Marketing, told Buzzfeed last month that iPhones are "the highest quality and most durable devices. We do this because it's better for the customer, for the iPhone, and for the planet."
But in court, Apple argues that it is only responsible for ensuring the iPhone lasts one year, the default warranty you get when you buy an iPhone.
The case in question is related to problems with the touch screen, as the soldering connections to the controller IC fail. However this failure only occurs after months of normal usage.
In that court case, currently being litigated in California, the plaintiffs attempted to argue that "consumers reasonably expect that smartphones will remain operable for at least two years when not subject to abuse or neglect because the overwhelming majority of smartphone users are required to sign service contracts with cellular carriers for two year periods."
Apple's motion to dismiss in that case noted that the plaintiffs' phones broke more than a year after they were purchased, which is after the warranty expired. If your phone breaks after the warranty is up, well, you're out of luck, Apple argues.
Arturo González, the lawyer representing Apple in the case, wrote in the motion [...] that it is "not appropriate for courts to rewrite the express terms of a warranty simply because of a consumer's unilateral expectations about a product."
More background on the case from last October in Fortune
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Wednesday September 13 2017, @04:03PM (8 children)
Well this should tell you a lot about exactly what kind of company Apple is: one that doesn't stand behind their products, and lies about their quality, promising you one thing and then when you have a problem telling you to fuck off because the warranty is only 1 year, even though they conspired with cellular carriers to convince you to sign up for a 2-year contract on the device.
But the Apple lovers will never learn, and will happily keep buying this crap no matter how much they get screwed. I know someone like this; had an iPhone 6 that didn't last the full 2 years her contract was for, got a broken screen, but she kept using it. I tried to convince her to get an inexpensive or used Android phone, and switch to a much-cheaper MVNO from her high-priced Verizon plan, but she just had to have an apple. One day the phone finally dies, so desperate, she goes to the carrier's store and signs up for a brand-new iPhone 7 (since they didn't have any older models) at full price. Now keep in mind, this is a single mother who seems to be struggling to make ends meet (she's frequently complaining about money issues any time I'm around). $700+ for a phone and $100+ per month for service is a significant part of her budget.
Honestly, it's amazing how this company has gotten to where people will abandon all financial sense so they can have their products, when comparable or better products are available for a fraction of the price, and there's simply no good reason anyone *needs* them. If it was like this in the automobile industry, we'd see lower middle-class people literally starving themselves and not paying rent just so they could have the very latest Jaguar or BMW (complete with regular factory service and monthly dealership check-ups). Somehow, most people are OK with forgoing the BMW if they really can't afford it, and buying a Toyota instead, or even a Ford. But suggest to someone that they should consider a low-priced Samsung or Huawei or whatever (you can get a Samsung a couple generations old for dirt cheap now) on a no-contract service instead of the high-priced full-service carrier plans and they'll act like you're treating them like dirt-poor people.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday September 13 2017, @05:36PM (1 child)
About the subject line . . .
I would observe that the child can beg on the street for food. But good luck begging for an iPhone.
(ducks, hides under desk)
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday September 13 2017, @05:54PM
Why not both? There's good money to made in child pimping.
(Score: 2) by aclarke on Wednesday September 13 2017, @07:01PM (2 children)
Oh for goodness sakes! What in the .. wh sl I can't even.
This is really easy. Apple DESIGNS and MANUFACTURES their phones to last more than a year. They WARRANTY their phones for a year.
Was that hard? No, that wasn't hard.
Find me a company that warranties their product for a year, and designs it to last six months, and I'll show you a company on it's way out of business.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Lester on Wednesday September 13 2017, @09:47PM (1 child)
Are you sure? Do you know what Planned obsolescence [wikipedia.org] is?
(Score: 2) by aclarke on Thursday September 14 2017, @12:57AM
Of course I know what planned obsolescence is. Do you, though? Kinda the whole point of the article is that phones are in general lasting LONGER than the warranty period. Calling something planned obsolescence because the new ones are shiny and ooh I want one is a bit of a stretch. That's out-of-control materialism, not planned obsolescence. The quote from TFS is Apple phones are "the highest quality and most durable devices. We do this because it's better for the customer, for the iPhone, and for the planet." Again, the opposite of planned obsolescence.
Supporting anecdote: I have a first generation iPad, 5.5 years old. It still works more or less as well as it did when new. I just pulled it out tonight so my daughter could read a Kindle book on it. Where's the "planned obsolescence"?
Have you looked at the major mobile phone hardware and OS makers and studied how long each of them generally support a hardware design with software updates? Of all the legitimate arguments one could have against Apple, planned obsolescence is an odd one to choose.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by davester666 on Thursday September 14 2017, @06:28AM (2 children)
Perhaps you could start listing the Android manufacturers that:
1) have warranty's longer than a year
2) support their devices with OS updates as long as Apple does (for example, I have an iPhone 5S, released in 2013, that I just updated to iOS 11)
"got a broken screen" is bullshit. "X broke the screen" would be accurate. And broken screens are not an Apple-specific problem, or even mostly an Apple problem, AND CAN BE REPAIRED. You do not have to throw the phone away, you can get just the screen replaced for a fairly low fee.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday September 14 2017, @01:19PM (1 child)
I should have expected an Apple sycophant to reply....
Perhaps you could start listing the Android manufacturers that:
1) have warranty's longer than a year
2) support their devices with OS updates as long as Apple does (for example, I have an iPhone 5S, released in 2013, that I just updated to iOS 11)
First, my 3-year-old Samsung is still getting updates. But the comparison is invalid: I can buy a very nice Android phone for $150 or less now (new, even less used). An Apple phone now costs $999. For the price of one iPhone, I can easily afford to buy a new Android phone every year, or whenever one breaks, and still come out way ahead.
As for iOS updates, those are bullshit. I'm constantly reading complaints by older iPhone users about how the OS gets updated and now their phone is slow as molasses. Having a 5-year-old iPhone with the latest iOS isn't very helpful when it's so slow you can't use it effectively.
You do not have to throw the phone away, you can get just the screen replaced for a fairly low fee.
Not on iPhones you don't; the parts are controlled by Apple and are very expensive, and you have to go to an Apple store to do it because of their control of the parts. For the price of the repair, you can buy a brand-new Android phone that'll likely be faster than a non-new iPhone that's been slowed down with a new iOS version.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Thursday September 14 2017, @05:44PM
Talk about an invalid comparison, namely the price of a high-end Apple phone vs a old, used Android phone.
Yes, you can buy a cheap Android phone every year. But a $150 Android phone every year means that $150 is full retail and that will be one crappy phone, compared to the $999 iPhone. It won't need a Android update to go slow.
And does new iOS update make older phones feel like they are slower? Yes, because the phone is DOING MORE. And, you have the choice of doing the upgrade or not. With Android, you don't have that choice. Samsung decides the phone doesn't get an update, it doesn't get an update. If you buy a $999 Samsung, it is more likely to get the update than those $150 throwaway phones.
And I guess all those stores in malls and elsewhere (which, btw, aren't Apple owned/operated/sanctioned), which I have used to replace one iPhone screen personally, don't exist and didn't fix my screen.