Effects of fast charging

[mountainman]

I agree with all three of these observations and don't know the answer to whether or not fast charging is actually worse or if staying at 100 is always worse, that's a study that to my knowledge hasn't been publicly published. Here's the thing though - on the 100% vs 80,40 whatever - my typical advice to people is, "try to do shallow discharges if you can, but if it's not practical, it is better to charge it to 100% and then go than it is to let it die from not enough juice. By a lot. Even if that means leaving it on the charger overnight".

To be honest, when I saw the battery capacity of that iPhone I gave away was at 92% capacity, well, I was expecting it to be higher. I have no idea what a typical battery capacity is after x years, so I have nothing to compare it to. Maybe I'll check those older devices I have just for fun.

So I'll admit that maybe there is something bad with keeping it at 100%. That is 8% loss on a 2750mah battery keeping it (mostly) plugged in and fully charged for 1.5 years. So if I had kept that use case going, at 3 years it would be at 84% capacity. It would still be usable but range anxiety may be a factor.

Note 3 and S5 we just wouldn't care and buy a $20 replacement. I don't think we will ever get that again. I don't keep devices for 4 or 5 years, but I know some people do, so it is important to prolong it as long as you can.

For sure fully discharging and recharging like you said is the big killer.

 

[Dngrsone]

PROBLEM - Over 13 million S7 edges are in the hands of customers. The box comes with a quick charger only. So either Samsung is knowingly bundling an accessory that wears out the device faster, ensuring the owner will then upgrade every year to the new shiny thing, or it is safe to use. Which is it?

Ever hear the term "planned obsolescence"?

You are talking about a phone company which sells devices with a target lifespan of about two years. They don't upgrade the firmware more than once or twice per model, they don't recall a badly-made device unless it is literally exploding in people's hands, and they aren't even making them with user-replaceable batteries anymore.

A faster charge is a selling point, never mind that it will shorten the lifespan of the battery from say four years to two-and-a-half; the phone will be replaced in less time than that.

 

[Aquila]

I would argue those decisions could be in response to public practice rather than driving it. If you knoe consumers average an upgrade ever 25-30 months, supporting devices for 24-36 seems obvious, though some companies choose to support for 18 months. Devices would be designed to have acceptable performance for a similar period. And obviously a manufacturer would have no interest in trying to make the consumers keep a device longer, they'd want to promote patterns more reminiscent of apples annual upgrade.

 

[Dngrsone]

I agree: the pace of innovation coupled with the two-year contract that most providers liked (until recently) pretty much drove the target lifespan.

 

[Almeuit]

I will put it this way... One of our mods had his battery replaced the other day on his 6P and in the battery shop they had a poster on the wall that was realistic in the sense of common use but at the same time still standing by the "Keeping it at 100% / discharging is bad" facts.

The poster said..

"While charging to 100% overnight is not the best practice... It is still better than a full discharge".