Apple has confirmed the suspicions of many iPhone users and now reveals that it deliberately slows down some models of the iPhone as they age.
It has been long suspected that Apple slows down older iPhone’s which in turn may encourage people to upgrade. Apple have now said that it does slow down some models as they age, but only because iPhone’s battery performance diminishes over time. This practice is said to prolong the life of an iPhone.
A user on Reddit shared some performance tests that suggested their iPhone 6S had sped up once a new battery had been fitted.
“I used my brother’s iPhone 6 Plus, and his was faster than mine? This is when I knew something was wrong,” wrote TeckFire.
On top of this, Geekbench website analysed a number of iPhones running different iOS versions and found some of them appeared to have been deliberately slowed down.
Apples statement was as follows:
“Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, [when they] have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components,” the company said.
“Last year, we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions.
“We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future.
“Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers.”
