Samsung and Apple fined in Italy for "planned obsolescence."

[PraetorianGuard14]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/oct/24/apple-samsung-fined-for-slowing-down-phones

Wonder if this will have any impact moving forward? I think we all knew this, so this isn't anything new, but still, it's interesting.

 

[evohicks]

Samsung/Apple fined

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45963943

This is something people have been talking about for years!

 

[Mooncatt]

Re: Samsung and Apple fined in Italy for "planned obsolescence."

If this becomes a trend, that's bad news for everyone. Remember how Microsoft had an antitrust lawsuit against it for having the audacity to give away their internet browser for free? Suddenly they became much more reserved and less innovative.

Arguably, any update to a phone will slow performance. Even security updates possibly could. Updates always include extra features, meaning more of a demand for system resources. So taking that article at its word, any update would be a violation. If this becomes the norm, you can kiss many (most?) System Updates goodbye. Or at the very least, not be anything worth writing home about.

In a twist of irony, I wouldn't be surprised to see that situation also come under fire for purposely withholding updates in an effort to get customers to buy new phones earlier than normal. Dang if you do, dang if you don't. The "Competition Authority" and similar agencies in other countries is something I wish would go away.

 

[Toto39]

Re: Samsung/Apple fined

Reality is that most phones will slow down after major OS updates. The same is true in the PC world. People just need to realize that if you want your device to stay the same, then never update it.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Very interesting that its the Galaxy Note 4,as the Snapdragon variants were dying in numbers. My Note 4 Snapdragon is dead, however the Exynos Note 4 does not seem affected.