iOS 10.2.1 Fixes Most, But Not All, iPhone 6 Sudden Shutdowns

A couple of months back, owners of older iPhone models going as far back as the iPhone 6 have started reporting sudden inexplicable switching off of their phones. More than a minor inconvenience, users had to scramble to plug their iPhones in before they can switch them on again. Now Apple is proudly sharing that it has all but eradicated the issue through the iOS 10.2.1 update that is already installed on about half the affected devices.

Before the year ended, some owners of iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, and 6s Plus started reporting that their phones would suddenly shut down without any immediate cause. Apple would later acknowledge that the issue, which only affects a small number of devices according to the company, had something to do with the deteriorating batteries in these older models. In fact, it says that the mechanism that shuts the iPhone down is actually a feature designed to protect the user.

Apple never really went into specifics so we can really only rely on some conjecture. According to the company, these iPhones would immediately shutdown when it detects that the battery is delivering a voltage lower than what Apple safely allows. This can happen under certain conditions though it never really shared what those were. Given that the issue doesn't affect the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, it can perhaps be attributed to the older phones' degraded battery life. The problem, however, is that the batteries of these iPhones are just fine.

Apple says that the iOS 10.2.1 update has fixed that for majority of those affected by this issue. According to its own statistics, 80% of affected iPhone 6s devices and 70% of affected iPhone 6 phones are no longer experiencing the problem. To also help those still experiencing related problems, Apple has removed the need to plug in an iPhone in order to restart it in case of another battery-related shutdown.

VIA: TechCrunch