Apple admits it's slowing down old iPhones » YugaTech

Apple admits it’s slowing down old iPhones

Apple has admitted that they are slowing down old iPhones with low battery charge or old batteries to prevent it from suddenly shutting off.

The throttling issue was raised on Reddit when a user noticed that his iPhone 6S has been very slow with low Geekbench scores, even after updating the software multiple times. However, the performance went back to normal after replacing the battery with a new one. This discovery has produced multiple theories as to why Apple is throttling their iPhones.

Apple has then issued a statement to clarify the issue and explained that iOS is doing it to prevent iPhones with low battery charge from unexpectedly shutting down during peak demands to protect its components. The same goes for iPhones with old batteries that can no longer perform well. Below is Apple’s full explanation as provided to Business Insider:

“Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, 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.

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.”

Based on Apple’s explanation, the throttling is more like a safety feature that will be implemented in more of their devices in the future.

According to Apple’s website, the iPhone’s battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles. So if you feel like your old iPhone is being sluggish, then you might want to consider replacing the battery first instead of buying a new iPhone.

source: Business Insider

Vaughn Chua

Vaughn is your go-to person when it comes to comparing gadgets especially smartphones. He's also a gamer by heart and the "Hackerman" of the team.

9 Comments

deuts says:

7 years ago

This does not apply to my iPhone 5S, right? So how come it’s so slow? LOL
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123456 says:

7 years ago

Click bait. It’s more of Apple is doing something so that you can use your old iPhones longer. Your title seem to suggest that Apple is slowing down your phone to force you to buy a new one.
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Jude says:

7 years ago

Just curious. I dont have any iphone, only android. I sometimes let my phone to die down before i charge it. Its my practice since the start of cellphones in our country. Since i’ve been doing this for >20years, none of my previous phones broke. And now, apple said it wanted to protect its components, aside from battery. Question is, what components are they protecting from sudden shut down? What are its effects for continual self shut down?
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Kemie says:

7 years ago

They just reworded “planned obsolescene” as if it is an iOS safety feature.
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Jude says:

7 years ago

Hula ko lang, hindi bumebenta mga bat nila kaya ganun. Kasi oras na nagpalit ka daw ng bat, bibilis uli phone mo.
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Annon says:

7 years ago

They are doing that simply to say that the new iphone is __% faster than the previous iphone. So the. People will try to compare the newer “faster” iphone to the old “throttled” iphone.
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