That's true, but what we really need to know is what are the typical performance benchmarks that are required when launching a new software update? And does Apple change its internal performance requirements for older phones when new phones are released.
If internal documents from Apple showed that Dev's were allowed to release code that performed badly, but only at certain times of the release cycle, that news would be huge.
Comparing to Samsung is just a joke - how often do android users even get the choice to update, not to mention how Samsung releases may or may not match up with Google (Android) ones.
My 4 year old Samsung received an update to 7.0 last month, and a security patch the week after. I agree android patching is poor compared to apple, but a lot of fault lies with the phone companies refusing to pass updates onto the end user rather then the company making the phone.
You got an android update 13 months after it was released and a month before the next major update will be released by google? You're making my point for me.
Apple users don't have that problem, and they use the same phone companies.
If Samsung agrees to let the networks dictate when updates will be released, that is their fault.
Android releases are not generally available at a consistent time. Apple marches software release in lock-step with hardware release.
When you write an article citing a "study" based on a spike of Google searches, the Android based metrics will be more spread out because implementation of the new software is more spread out. A "study" should control for that sort of variance.
> Now, a Harvard University study has done what any person with Google Trends could do, and pointed out that Google searches for “iPhone slow” spiked multiple times, just before the release of a new iPhone each time.
I am skeptical that apple would be that shortsighted. If there was a smoking gun here, it would likely kill their smartphone business. I will share an anecdote that I hear at every release cycle for each new idevice:
Stepson: Hey, my phone is glitching and slow. I think I need a new phone.
Me: Really? let me take a look. <tap through a few apps and settings>. Hmm I dont see anything wrong, other than you are connected to the wifi network that is about 300 feet away from you.(My inlaws have a wide open wifi network in their house)
Stepson: oh, ok, but its still glitching. I need a new Phone!!!!!!!
Me: whenever you are ready to pay for it in cash since you still owe about 600 for that one...
Stepson: :(
<a few weeks later>
Stepson: hey I dropped my phone, I need a new one...
I am convinced that apple has built a time released lubricant into their phones that causes kids to drop them when the new models are released....
It says right in the article that the most likely cause is the way Apple only makes sure new OSes work well on the newest devices. I've found this to be anecdotally true myself.
Anecdotally I've found the opposite, within acceptable terms.
I have an original iPad mini running ios9 that honestly was better on 8 - but there is no maliciousness there: it's extremely old hardware that happens to have been supported for updates longer than it "should have" because it was in a new form factor (iPad 2 internals squished into a mini size)
There's more to the "study" than plotting google search traffic and iPhone release dates, right? While it's a compelling graph, do they take metrics from devices?
Personally, when someone releases a new version or model of something I have - car, computer, phone, etc - I notice all the flaws and problems with what I have. I assume it's me attempting to rationalize "you know, maybe I should look at that new one.."
The study examines search queries, rather than actually examining the hardware's performance. It is quite possible that this is a psychological effect, particularly since the (rumoured) release dates of new models are well known.
The study's methods are flawed, but I've had multiple experiences with iPhone users in bars asking me if I can do something about their recently updated iPhone being so sluggish (which they demonstrate to me, it's real), they all bitch about the inability to undo the update and how this is going to force them to replace what was a perfectly good phone.
It's too bad this study is useless since it just harms the very real upgrade treadmill case against apple.
I've wondered if the reasons why Apple changes their UX so much, in small and big ways, is so they the new phone becomes "your" phone. You're forced to learn new swipes, taps, etc. Overtime the muscle memory makes other (and older) phones feel awkward. Often it doesn't seem like Apple needs to do this, but it could explain why.
There isn't a gun, but there is smoke. I think the title is misleading for sure, but it seems reasonable that further testing could be done to prove this is accurate.
In fact, I'm hoping someone will followup with actual performance tests.
I was an engineer at Apple for a while and I never got the feeling that this was malicious behavior. New features and ever increasing codebase always makes things slow down, and speed of old devices was never the top priority; instead, new power hungry features were often released to take advantage of new hardware speeds, so it's not surprising to me that the biggest iOS slowdowns coincide with new hardware releases.
This clickbait article links to a dailymail article posted in July 2014 as the source, which links to a NYTimes article posted 2 days earlier in 07/2014 as the source.
The article in NYT is about a phd student from Harvard showing the correlation in Google Trends wrt "iPhone slow"keyword and concluding that the Google Trends show a correlation and cannot be concluded that "Apple slows down old iPhones..." as it is in the title.
After buying new Apple computers for 25 years and iPhones for 10 years now I can attest that they've done this.
My wife has recently been complaining that her iPhone 6 is getting slow and has with everyone she had before it.
I will give Apple credit for not obsoleting my `09 Mac Mini as fast as they did every Mac I purchased before it, but it's definitely on that path now because it won't run their latest OS.
Not sure if I'll buy a new one. The "Mini" is the only thing they have that I'd consider and if they don't keep one in the $500 range I'll build a Linux box and use it going forward from here.
Showing Google trends for a keyword is now considered a "study" ?
Personally I've noticed that my iPad slowed down after upgrading to iOS 10. I wasn't planning on upgrading but a restore forced me to. I believe it's because devs develop on latest devices and tend to ignore the older ones.
33 comments
[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 86.6 ms ] threadIf internal documents from Apple showed that Dev's were allowed to release code that performed badly, but only at certain times of the release cycle, that news would be huge.
Comparing to Samsung is just a joke - how often do android users even get the choice to update, not to mention how Samsung releases may or may not match up with Google (Android) ones.
Apple users don't have that problem, and they use the same phone companies.
If Samsung agrees to let the networks dictate when updates will be released, that is their fault.
Android releases are not generally available at a consistent time. Apple marches software release in lock-step with hardware release.
When you write an article citing a "study" based on a spike of Google searches, the Android based metrics will be more spread out because implementation of the new software is more spread out. A "study" should control for that sort of variance.
This isn't news.
This leads to security holes for sure, but my older Samsung devices running old Andriod versions are actually pretty snappy.
To bad there isn't a middle ground, but I guess that would be expensive to maintain old OS versions.
Stepson: Hey, my phone is glitching and slow. I think I need a new phone.
Me: Really? let me take a look. <tap through a few apps and settings>. Hmm I dont see anything wrong, other than you are connected to the wifi network that is about 300 feet away from you.(My inlaws have a wide open wifi network in their house)
Stepson: oh, ok, but its still glitching. I need a new Phone!!!!!!!
Me: whenever you are ready to pay for it in cash since you still owe about 600 for that one...
Stepson: :(
<a few weeks later>
Stepson: hey I dropped my phone, I need a new one...
I am convinced that apple has built a time released lubricant into their phones that causes kids to drop them when the new models are released....
I have an original iPad mini running ios9 that honestly was better on 8 - but there is no maliciousness there: it's extremely old hardware that happens to have been supported for updates longer than it "should have" because it was in a new form factor (iPad 2 internals squished into a mini size)
I highly doubt it. Even if this was confirmed by Apple itself, I don't think it would hurt them in sales at all.
Personally, when someone releases a new version or model of something I have - car, computer, phone, etc - I notice all the flaws and problems with what I have. I assume it's me attempting to rationalize "you know, maybe I should look at that new one.."
It's too bad this study is useless since it just harms the very real upgrade treadmill case against apple.
In fact, I'm hoping someone will followup with actual performance tests.
The article in NYT is about a phd student from Harvard showing the correlation in Google Trends wrt "iPhone slow"keyword and concluding that the Google Trends show a correlation and cannot be concluded that "Apple slows down old iPhones..." as it is in the title.
So much for a "Harvard Study".
My wife has recently been complaining that her iPhone 6 is getting slow and has with everyone she had before it.
I will give Apple credit for not obsoleting my `09 Mac Mini as fast as they did every Mac I purchased before it, but it's definitely on that path now because it won't run their latest OS.
Not sure if I'll buy a new one. The "Mini" is the only thing they have that I'd consider and if they don't keep one in the $500 range I'll build a Linux box and use it going forward from here.
Personally I've noticed that my iPad slowed down after upgrading to iOS 10. I wasn't planning on upgrading but a restore forced me to. I believe it's because devs develop on latest devices and tend to ignore the older ones.