The thing that changed is that Google started pitching, and pricing, the Pixel phones as premium phones. At least with the Nexus line they were more modestly priced. So the lack of long term updates was still an issue, but more people were willing to swallow it given the price differential vs. the iPhone.
Exactly. Google played the "pay Apple prices for an Apple experience" tactic and already reneged. They're in a tough spot because I won't trust them again with anything not priced to be replaced in three years. So when you get to the question of wanting a device that lasts longer, the answer seems to be Apple.
I had one of the affected phones and concur that it was shitty of them to try and sneak that by people, but "throttled the peak CPU boost" is a long way from "bricked"
Upside of the settlement was I got a battery replacement for $30 (performed same day in store) and coming up on 6 years since release the original iPhone SE is still running the latest version of iOS.
Also a happy OG SE user who got one of the cheap battery replacements. Replaced again a couple years later with an iFixit battery for ~$30, still using it to this day. Holding out for a worthy upgrade path...
Honestly I think this is the real issue: batteries barely last three years and when they start to go things go strange and people blame the phone rather than replace the battery. I expect somewhere inside Google they grok that supporting a phone beyond three years becomes the root cause problem being dying batteries.
Which is about the same thing for an iPhone? Apple stores don't magically replace batteries in seconds. On my iPhone 6s, I had both a bad battery, and a defective display - took 7 hours to get my phone back after scheduling an appointment at the Apple Store.
I wonder how much of this could be extended by phones just auto-limiting charging to 90% (current phones already time charging so when left on overnight it only reaches 100% when you wake up) most of the time, since that seems to increase battery longevity by a lot.
