iPhone iPhone 6 battery at 93% - why did I get throttled?

[Montrath]

Hi, new to the forum, though I have been, addictively, checking MacRumors daily for many years.

So my "maximum capacity" reads as 93%, I never changed my iPhone 6 battery. It also states my battery is "supporting normal peak performance."

My phone is now significantly faster.

Apple's reasoning seems dishonest. It's the kind of behavior that would make me switch to another brand, but I am too invested in their ecosystem.

This whole thing is messed up.

My question is, why did Apple throttle me in the previous iOS 11 build? Anyone else on the same boat?

 

[ddrulez]

Because your phone was shutting down once. Maybe it's was very cold outside and it rebooted?

 

[keysofanxiety]

Or perhaps the latest iOS update improves performance, as it historically has done, and that’s why it seems faster?

 

[Montrath]

Because your phone was shutting down once. Maybe it's was very cold outside and it rebooted?

I forgot to mention, my iPhone has never rebooted.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

How is it dishonest if you haven’t experienced throttling and they improve their software so your phone performs better? You should be happy, iphone 6 and especially the 6+ are underpowered and even when not throttled offer less than stellar performance..

 

[Montrath]

How is it dishonest if you haven’t experienced throttling and they improve their software so your phone performs better? You should be happy, iphone 6 and especially the 6+ are underpowered and even when not throttled offer less than stellar performance..

I am not sure I follow your comment. As I indicated, I did get throttled and would have remained unnecessarily throttled had the news not broke about Apple doing so to older phones. Which forced their hand into removing the throttling in 11.3.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

I am not sure I follow your comment. As I indicated, I did get throttled and would have remained unnecessarily throttled had the news not broke about Apple doing so to older phones. Which forced their hand into removing the throttling in 11.3.

How did you verify the throttling? My iPhone 6S shows 93% capacity and has never experienced throttling. I verified it at many different battery percentages using geekbench 4. Apple only added an option to turn the throttling off, they didn’t change the power management so if you were throttling before you’ll still be throttled now. Ios 11.3 may have had performance improvements but the power management hasn’t changed

 

[pgoelz]

Also don't forget that a reduction in overall capacity is only one way for a battery to degrade. The internal resistance can also rise without a corresponding reduction in capacity. The higher internal resistance can cause the voltage to drop under heavy load and perhaps trigger throttling (as it should).

This is a very common ageing / failure scenario for lithium batteries like the ones I use in RC model aircraft, which are very similar to the ones in our phones.

Paul

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Also don't forget that a reduction in overall capacity is only one way for a battery to degrade. The internal resistance can also rise without a corresponding reduction in capacity. The higher internal resistance can cause the voltage to drop under heavy load and perhaps trigger throttling (as it should).

This is a very common ageing / failure scenario for lithium batteries like the ones I use in RC model aircraft, which are very similar to the ones in our phones.

Paul

Excellent point. I plan on getting my battery replaced regardless of it performing normally. It’s two years old and I’m sure it will be susceptible to what your describing sooner or later

 

[Domog34]

I have an Iphone 6 that I’ve just updated from ios 10.3.3 to ios 11.3. On ios 10.3.3 the geekbench scores never exceeded the 1300 - 1350 (single core) score. After the update the scores were consistently above 1500 (single core). So the throtling was disabled. My maximum battery capacity is 92% according to the battery health (beta) section, however I experienced an unexpected shutdown today and the system notified me that the throtling was activated, after which the geekbench scores were back to around 1300. So even though the battery capacity is at 92% it does not mean that the battery is in good enough shape to prevent shutdowns.

 

[AeroZ]

What I've experienced with 11.3 is that there's no power management at all. If you don't have throttling enabled then the CPU is constantly running at max frequency.

 

[Montrath]

I have an Iphone 6 that I’ve just updated from ios 10.3.3 to ios 11.3. On ios 10.3.3 the geekbench scores never exceeded the 1300 - 1350 (single core) score. After the update the scores were consistently above 1500 (single core). So the throtling was disabled. My maximum battery capacity is 92% according to the battery health (beta) section, however I experienced an unexpected shutdown today and the system notified me that the throtling was activated, after which the geekbench scores were back to around 1300. So even though the battery capacity is at 92% it does not mean that the battery is in good enough shape to prevent shutdowns.

That's helpful. Thank you!

 

[simonsi]

My question is, why did Apple throttle me in the previous iOS 11 build? Anyone else on the same boat?

I don't believe they throttle you in the previous build, 11.3 is significantly faster than 11.2.6 - even on my never-throttled 7 and iPad Mini2.

 

[az431]

I have an Iphone 6 that I’ve just updated from ios 10.3.3 to ios 11.3. On ios 10.3.3 the geekbench scores never exceeded the 1300 - 1350 (single core) score. After the update the scores were consistently above 1500 (single core). So the throtling was disabled. My maximum battery capacity is 92% according to the battery health (beta) section, however I experienced an unexpected shutdown today and the system notified me that the throtling was activated, after which the geekbench scores were back to around 1300. So even though the battery capacity is at 92% it does not mean that the battery is in good enough shape to prevent shutdowns.

The logical fallacy in your argument is that you assume because the Geekbench score is higher then the phone was throttled in earlier iOS versions. That's like saying that because some doctors are college graduates, then all college graduates are doctors.

Yes, some phone that have higher benchmark scores may have been throttled, but not all higher benchmark scores are the result of earlier throttling.

 

[simonsi]

So even though the battery capacity is at 92% it does not mean that the battery is in good enough shape to prevent shutdowns.

No it wouldn't, the shutdown is caused by the required power draw being greater than the battery could supply, that isn't related to battery capacity - which is all the 92% relates to.