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Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
35,647
52,436
In a van down by the river
Regarding planned obsolescence, here's my opinion:
Apple used to optimize iOS to the point that it runs so fast and smooth even on weak hardware (I.e: ios 6 on the iPhone 5 is the smoothest os on a smartphone ever, smoother than i6s on iOS 9 and i7 on iOS 10). That was the case until iOS 6.
When developing iOS 7, Apple introduced many new features and design changes and didn't have "time" to optimize it properly, since time and engineering effort is finite, that's why it slowed down older iPhone especially the i4.
But Apple got a little lazy over time.
It is not really "laziness" but they thought: why spend so much money on optimizing the software for such capable devices. So Apple is investing less and less in optimization. But thankfully hardware is evolving faster than the lack of software optimization, if you understand what I want to say, so ios 10 is running much faster on a 5-year-old iPhone 5 than iOS 7 was on a 4-year-old iPhone 4.
This is explained better in the same article under "ui performance" here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10685/the-iphone-7-and-iphone-7-plus-review/9
[doublepost=1491864125][/doublepost]
I really don't know
I just remembered that I heard about something similar so I googled it.
He got shot down and rightfully so. If you want a good legal laugh, read the filling.
 

Paddle1

macrumors 603
May 1, 2013
5,150
3,604
Regarding planned obsolescence, here's my opinion:
Apple used to optimize iOS to the point that it runs so fast and smooth even on weak hardware (I.e: ios 6 on the iPhone 5 is the smoothest os on a smartphone ever, smoother than i6s on iOS 9 and i7 on iOS 10). That was the case until iOS 6.
When developing iOS 7, Apple introduced many new features and design changes and didn't have "time" to optimize it properly, since time and engineering effort is finite, that's why it slowed down older iPhone especially the i4.
But Apple got a little lazy over time.
It is not really "laziness" but they thought: why spend so much money on optimizing the software for such capable devices. So Apple is investing less and less in optimization. But thankfully hardware is evolving faster than the lack of software optimization, if you understand what I want to say, so ios 10 is running much faster on a 5-year-old iPhone 5 than iOS 7 was on a 4-year-old iPhone 4.
This is explained better in the same article under "ui performance" here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10685/the-iphone-7-and-iphone-7-plus-review/9
[doublepost=1491864125][/doublepost]
I really don't know
I just remembered that I heard about something similar so I googled it.
Yeah that's what I think too, the devices up to the 4s required much more thorough optimization and lighter-weight code, the iPhone 5 / A6 chip and later are powerful enough to run the more complicated post iOS 6 code decently enough so they've mainy focused on taking advantage of the better hardware. iOS 7 dramatically impacted the 4 while the 5 ran it near flawlessly. Same with iOS 8 and the 4s and 5s. Meanwhile all iPhones run reasonably well on iOS 10.
 

bodonnell202

macrumors 68030
Jan 5, 2016
2,628
3,485
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Regarding planned obsolescence, here's my opinion:
Apple used to optimize iOS to the point that it runs so fast and smooth even on weak hardware (I.e: ios 6 on the iPhone 5 is the smoothest os on a smartphone ever, smoother than i6s on iOS 9 and i7 on iOS 10). That was the case until iOS 6.
When developing iOS 7, Apple introduced many new features and design changes and didn't have "time" to optimize it properly, since time and engineering effort is finite, that's why it slowed down older iPhone especially the i4.
But Apple got a little lazy over time.
It is not really "laziness" but they thought: why spend so much money on optimizing the software for such capable devices. So Apple is investing less and less in optimization. But thankfully hardware is evolving faster than the lack of software optimization, if you understand what I want to say, so ios 10 is running much faster on a 5-year-old iPhone 5 than iOS 7 was on a 4-year-old iPhone 4.
This is explained better in the same article under "ui performance" here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10685/the-iphone-7-and-iphone-7-plus-review/9
[doublepost=1491864125][/doublepost]
I really don't know
I just remembered that I heard about something similar so I googled it.
If iOS was so optimized up to and including iOS 6 then why did iOS 4 run so horribly on the iPhone 3G?
 

bodonnell202

macrumors 68030
Jan 5, 2016
2,628
3,485
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
This topic is so dumb
I agree. It is without a doubt that over the years some iOS devices were pushed to the limit of usability with iOS updates (iPhone 3G with iOS 4, iPhone 4 with iOS 7 and iPhone 4s with iOS 8 & 9 are notable examples) and because of that every few weeks people get out their tin foil hats and pitchforks and claim that Apple is intentionally crippling their devices. While I would agree that Apple maybe could have done a better job of stripping out features on the devices mentioned above to keep overall performance high but then the tinfoil crowd would have been touting that Apple was intentionally withholding features from their phones...
 
Last edited:

Kalloud

macrumors regular
Oct 23, 2016
145
91
If iOS was so optimized up to and including iOS 6 then why did iOS 4 run so horribly on the iPhone 3G?
Man! The iPhone 3G had a 412mHz CPU and 128mb ram, I think that's basically the same specs as the original iPhone.
Geekbench score is 140 single core.
That's about 300% slower than the iPhone 4 that launched with iOS 4.
Of course it will be slow!
 

bodonnell202

macrumors 68030
Jan 5, 2016
2,628
3,485
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Man! The iPhone 3G had a 412mHz CPU and 128mb ram, I think that's basically the same specs as the original iPhone.
Geekbench score is 140 single core.
That's about 300% slower than the iPhone 4 that launched with iOS 4.
Of course it will be slow!
Exactly! That's the point I was making. The post I was responding to asserted that Apple was better at optimizing code prior to iOS 7. I was merely pointing out that slow performance on older hardware happened before iOS 7...
 

Suckfest 9001

Suspended
May 31, 2015
1,748
2,482
Canada
You are fully aware this is intentional and not in the way you are thinking. When you click the screen to exit a folder, you are telling iOS to return to the previous page. When you click the button, iOS is then waiting to see if you are going to click it again to launch the multitasking tray. I have the delay on my Air 2, but its not even a split second. Its so little that you are trying to jump to conclusions about something that is so inaccurate. This has always been the case with my Air 2, going back to iOS 8 in which it shipped with.

There is no such thing as planned obsolescence in the Apple ecosystem. Its all conspiracy.
Finally, a voice of reason. OP saying he's a programmer made me spit out my coffee - a real programmer would make an effort to figure out why something behaves the way it does instead of just blindly getting mad at the company because he doesn't understand the functionality.

A slowdown at this point would be attributed to more testing with Apple's new filesystem (which is still in its infancy), and not just "hurr durr planned obsolescence bro"
 

dmnc

macrumors 6502
Sep 26, 2015
294
188
You can't argue with the proof of three phones...you should publish your results yourself!
 

Chazzle

macrumors 68020
Jul 17, 2015
2,043
2,154
Let's get past this silly assertation and the OP's "proof" of conspiracy. This has gone on long enough.
 

MrChurchyard

macrumors member
Sep 22, 2008
89
61
I'm a programmer and I recognize what they're doing (inserting pauses into the UI transitions). By doing this they make the phone feel a tiny bit slower without affecting any benchmarks that reviewers run (benchmarks don't interact with the UI).
The delay when you press the Home button isn't a limitation of the hardware, it's purely artificial, programmed into the software. I've noticed it many times over the years. Why don't reviewers talk about this?

You know what, there is artificial delay. And it’s not a conspiracy to make your phone feel slower.

There is a delay because the home button is overloaded with several actions and the OS needs to wait to see if a second (multitasking) or even third (usually accessibility) home button press is coming. If the OS would not wait, you literally could not perform double or triple home button taps. You know that you can even change how slow you can be to perform them in the Settings.

Honestly: Sigh.
 

BritishApple

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2016
269
334
Apple has been crippling older phones and tablets for years, anyone who doesn't believe this is absolutely fine to do so, but the evidence is in the fact that the assets used within the OS don't change, the images the processor and GPU need to throw around the screen don't change, and yet with each passing annual update the phone becomes slower and slower.

I had the misfortune of using a relatives iPhone 5c on 10.3 and my God it's awful. Delay between tapping an icon and it opening, delay when swiping to scroll and the scrolling starting, it's all there. Going back to my 7 was like injecting rocket fuel into my eye balls; speed!

I fail to believe that adding new "features" like fancy messages, transit to maps, etc affects performance of the ONE core element which does not change (from iOS 7 until now) and that is the assets for the UI. If those same icons, with the same drop shadows, and the same effects can be thrown around smoothly on iOS 7 then they should do so on iOS 10; there is no defence for it not being the case and the simple fact comes down to the one common denominator - Apple don't want you holding onto your phone for longer than two years, they want people on two year cycles, whether it's the 5 to 6 to 7 group or the 5s to 6s to 7s/8 (whatever it's going to be called).

And, finally, let's not forget the painful death of the iPhone 3G and iOS 4. No background wallpapers, no multi-tasking, just folders and the same UI assets as iOS 3 (with some mildly redesigned icons) and yet it crawled, it was unusable.

Don't believe me? Here's what Engadget had to say back in the day:

https://www.engadget.com/2010/07/22/ios-4-and-iphone-3g-is-a-match-made-in-whats-the-opposite-of/

As I said, choose not to believe it, but at the end of the day Apple isn't a smiley happy consumer focused start-up. It's a multi billion dollar business with a clinical CEO who cares about shareholders first and customers second; anyone who tells me the customer service experience in stores is superior or even on par to days gone by is kidding themselves on - unfriendly "geniuses", and the removal of Genius Bars from newly renovated stores and replaced with a "just sit up the back and someone will be with you" mentality, instantly come to mind.

I used to be such an Apple "fanboy" back in the day, I loved the company and has this ridiculous notion that the company cared about its users; and perhaps under Jobs it did (not making this a Jobs v Cook debate so you there, yes you at the back ... get back in your cage please).

Apple slow their devices down. That's my opinion. Don't agree that's cool, I can disagree with you thinking the exact opposite.
 

Mlrollin91

macrumors G5
Nov 20, 2008
14,172
10,187
Any time new features are added, it requires additional background resources. That's how software works. It's not a conspiracy. As hardware ages it cannot keep up with the demand of new features as it does not have the RAM and processor speed in the background at idle to keep up. As iOS gets bigger, more resources are used in the background. This reduces the amount of resources that are available for the device to use in the foreground when needed.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,156
I skimmed the thread so excuse me if this was already mentioned.

Delays when pressing the home button are required for iOS functionality. It needs to wait to determine whether you are going to double or triple click the button. If there was no delay you wouldn't be able to access multitasking or other accessibility options.

I don't have another device on an earlier version of iOS to test differences however I would suggest checking settings because this delay is adjustable.

Settings > General > Accessibility > Home Button > Click Speed. Default is the fastest, test out how slow it could be with "Slowest".
 

Chazzle

macrumors 68020
Jul 17, 2015
2,043
2,154
I skimmed the thread so excuse me if this was already mentioned.

Delays when pressing the home button are required for iOS functionality. It needs to wait to determine whether you are going to double or triple click the button. If there was no delay you wouldn't be able to access multitasking or other accessibility options.

I don't have another device on an earlier version of iOS to test differences however I would suggest checking settings because this delay is adjustable.

Settings > General > Accessibility > Home Button > Click Speed. Default is the fastest, test out how slow it could be with "Slowest".
Been kinda beaten into the OP's head I would think at this point, though he still doesn't seem to grasp it.
 

rocat1997

macrumors regular
Dec 18, 2012
114
4
Fort Worth
I have tried to induce the condition the op claims. My iPhone 6 Plus doesn't exhibit it. So, he is another conspiracy theorist that has no solid evidence. Solid evidence would be the written code. Since no one can produce that, this thread has no proof or validity. And who cares actually. People are too eat up with the speed. It's a phone. It's very fast and works way better than a windows pc.
 

SuperKerem

macrumors 6502a
Oct 29, 2012
863
260
It is true that iOS updates slow down older iPhones.

And I understand why "new features" could be to blame, but the thing is, what new features have been introduced between iOS 7 and iOS 9 that justifies the significant slowdown on the iPhone 4S?
The Wallet app? The new system font?

The iPhone 4S on iOS 9 is slower than the iPhone 4 on iOS 7.

 

skinned66

macrumors 65816
Feb 11, 2011
1,373
1,225
Ottawa, Canada
I see absolutely no difference between both methods on my TMSC 6S running the latest public beta. And just to make sure I don't I'm going to screen cap both and measure the difference.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
It is true that iOS updates slow down older iPhones.

And I understand why "new features" could be to blame, but the thing is, what new features have been introduced between iOS 7 and iOS 9 that justifies the significant slowdown on the iPhone 4S?
The Wallet app? The new system font?

The iPhone 4S on iOS 9 is slower than the iPhone 4 on iOS 7.

What about whole part about widgets being allowed, third party keyboards, app extensions and all of that which happened in iOS 8? Or all kinds of proactive pieces and further enchantments and improvements to allowing more from third party apps within iOS in iOS 9? People seem to often overlook the under-the-hood changes which are often part of updates and often enough have a good impact as far as on what they do or enable.
 
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SuperKerem

macrumors 6502a
Oct 29, 2012
863
260
What about whole part about widgets being allowed, third party keyboards, app extensions and all of that which happened in iOS 8? Or all kinds of proactive pieces and further enchantments and improvements to allowing more from third party apps within iOS in iOS 9? People seem to often overlook the under-the-hood changes which are often part of updates and often enough have a good impact as far as on what they do or enable.
Widgets in the Notification Center and third-party keyboards are rarely made use of by the average user, and in any case, provide no performance impact whether they are turned on or off. The slowdown is there even in stock iOS with the same default widgets and keyboard.

There will always be under-the-hood changes, but if those changes provide little to no benefit for the user, that could be perceived as "planned obsolescence" or "intentional crippling". Similarly, I'd argue that updating older devices with unoptimised code, knowing that it will slow them down, also has the same end result. "Planned obsolescence" doesn't necessarily have to be an intentional "delay" placed into the code.
 

I7guy

macrumors Nehalem
Nov 30, 2013
35,145
25,240
Gotta be in it to win it
It is true that iOS updates slow down older iPhones.

And I understand why "new features" could be to blame, but the thing is, what new features have been introduced between iOS 7 and iOS 9 that justifies the significant slowdown on the iPhone 4S?
The Wallet app? The new system font?

The iPhone 4S on iOS 9 is slower than the iPhone 4 on iOS 7.

Did the guy run a geekbench? Or try heavily JavaScript loaded sites in safari on both? "Slow" has multiple definitions. As well the recognition that iOS 9 has hundreds of updates from iOS 7.
 

bodonnell202

macrumors 68030
Jan 5, 2016
2,628
3,485
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
It is true that iOS updates slow down older iPhones.

And I understand why "new features" could be to blame, but the thing is, what new features have been introduced between iOS 7 and iOS 9 that justifies the significant slowdown on the iPhone 4S?
The Wallet app? The new system font?

The iPhone 4S on iOS 9 is slower than the iPhone 4 on iOS 7.

That's an easy one
iOS 8:
QuickType - the contextual predictive typing feature which predicted your next word. I think the A5 wasn't quite up to the task and turning this off removed most of the keyboard lag on the 4s
Continuity - the handoff feature that was always running behind the scenes (another feature using CPU cycles)

iOS 9:
Proactivity - The operating system is more contextually aware of information (such as time and location), and can provide the user with information ahead of time. For searching, the proactive intelligence can display instant results in a widget-like format, including weather, sports, news, and more. (Yet another feature using CPU cycles)

Sure iOS 7 and iOS 9 may look the same on the surface, but it's the under the hood changes that really made the difference.
 

SuperKerem

macrumors 6502a
Oct 29, 2012
863
260
That's an easy one
iOS 8:
QuickType - the contextual predictive typing feature which predicted your next word. I think the A5 wasn't quite up to the task and turning this off removed most of the keyboard lag on the 4s
Continuity - the handoff feature that was always running behind the scenes (another feature using CPU cycles)

iOS 9:
Proactivity - The operating system is more contextually aware of information (such as time and location), and can provide the user with information ahead of time. For searching, the proactive intelligence can display instant results in a widget-like format, including weather, sports, news, and more. (Yet another feature using CPU cycles)

Sure iOS 7 and iOS 9 may look the same on the surface, but it's the under the hood changes that really made the difference.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think QuickType and increased location tracking (assuming they actually have an impact, because they can be turned off and the device is still just as slow) justify an updated iPhone 4s becoming slower than an iPhone 4 on iOS 7. And I also don't think the average user sees this performance hit as justified, either.

Pretty much what I said before, there will always be under-the-hood changes, but if those changes provide little to no benefit for the user, that could still be perceived as "planned obsolescence" or "intentional crippling".
 
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