For years, people have claimed that Apple has “planned obsolescence” and made jokes about how when their old iPhone is acting up right around the time that the new one is releasing. Apparently, these jokes aren’t so funny any more because Apple legitimately does slow down older phones.
The Verge goes into the specifics about HOW they measured the difference in older phones vs newer phones, and older phones vs older phones with replaced batteries – noting that replacing the battery DOES speed up your phone.
Their Reasoning
The logic behind slowing down older phones is pretty simple actually: batteries age poorly. As Apple’s OS improves it can require more energy – and the iPhone’s lithium batteries degrade over time.
Thus, without slowing down the phone’s performance, the phone could have random shut-downs as it tries too hard to pull the energy and the battery just shuts off.
So, they’re slowing our older phones (with older batteries) in their interest, kind of? Sort of. They didn’t tell the customers about what they were doing when they first implemented it, and it looks like they might only be owning up to it now that it’s been confirmed from multiple third parties.
What Do They Gain
While slowing down the phones to ensure that they don’t shut-down sounds like a good thing, Apple didn’t disclose it for this reason: if you replace your battery, your phone will speed back up again.
Apple didn’t want to talk about it because they want you to buy a new iPhone. They don’t want you considering repair over replace because they want you to get a new iPhone every couple years, it’s why they can have such high sales numbers every year.
Replace Your Battery!
If you have an iPhone 7 or older (that means a LOT of people) your iPhone may begin to slow down. If you want your iPhone to feel fast and new again, but don’t want to drop hundreds of dollars on a new phone, replace the battery.
Battery replacements are simple and easy, and start at $55 to get done at your local Computer Repair Doctor.