Apple Does Slow iPhone Speeds, But For Battery Reasons (Not Sales)

Apple has confirmed it: The company will tiresome your iPhone down over time.

Information technology'southward been deliberately cranking downward the CPU speeds to address problems that crop upwards from a device's aging bombardment, Apple tree said on Wednesday.

A lithium-ion battery tin can struggle to meet the superlative energy demands equally information technology degrades over time, contains a low accuse or endures cold atmospheric condition. When this happens, the iPhone tin can crash, potentially dissentious the components inside, Apple said.

To offset the issue, the company last year introduced a software feature that scales downwardly the CPU processing, but only when needed. Information technology showtime applied the fix with the iPhone half dozen, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE devices. Even so, Apple tree has now extended the CPU-capping feature to iPhone vii devices with iOS 11.2.

"Our goal is to evangelize the best experience for customers, which includes overall operation and prolonging the life of their devices," it said.

Wed's statement may explicate why some iPhone owners believe that their devices wearisome down whenever Apple tree releases a new model. (Other experts have attributed the sluggish speeds to iOS software updates.)

However, Apple tree's statement comes in response to contempo claims that replacing the battery in old iPhones will restore the CPU speeds. Last week, one Reddit user noticed an old iPhone 6s showed improved operation when the battery was swapped for a new one.

"From what I can tell, Apple tree slows downward phones when their battery gets too low, then you can still have a full days accuse," the Reddit user wrote."

Another mail from Primate Labs, the company behind benchmarking software Geekbench, agreed and said iPhones run into a software-induced functioning dip once the bombardment ages beyond a certain point.

Apple hasn't offered details behind when the CPU throttling exactly kicks in. The visitor'due south full argument is below:

Apple Statement on CPU Issue