Sure, software and hardware come together. However the price of software should be factored in the price of the product itself (hardware + software). I am paying for both to own the product. If they issue a software update that makes better use of hardware, it means they failed to release good software to begin with (ofc perfect software doesn't exist). Now imagine if they found a way to increase battery life just with software, and asked you to pay for it.. kinda not fair right?
First, sorry as I misread your comment and was cold.
Indeed they're trying to milk the software side. But it's business as usual I believe. You paid for some specs, everything else is off contract. Unless they promised otherwise.
On the flip side, what if they have an idea to improve battery life through software, but it will require significant R&D. If everyone were like you and refuses to pay for any software updates whatsoever, they wouldn’t want to make the investment.
Normally a big improvement with additional costs would go into the next model. I think charging for a hardware replacement is acceptable.
A pure software update fixing an existing issue I would say no. Car companies have recalls all of the time paid for by the company when something doesn't work as expected.
A software recall should be treated the same as a hardware recall.
But that wasn't the point of the previous poster. We're not talking about an existing issue if the car performs according to the spec you bought with it. Then that's a performance upgrade.
The question is basically whether it's an issue or something that works as intended but could be better.
