Yes, Apple Slows Down Older iPhones on Purpose. Now What? (Premium)

Everyone who has ever owned an iPhone knows that it gets slower when a new version of iOS—and a new iPhone—is released. But this week, we learned why. No, Apple isn’t designing new versions of iOS in a way that makes your phone slower, in the hopes of subtly nudging you to upgrade. But they are, in fact, making your iPhone slower. And they are doing so on purpose.

This raises some obvious questions. Why is Apple doing this? What can you, as an iPhone user, do about it? And … is this OK? Is Apple’s behavior in some way justifiable … or even commendable?

First, a bit of background.

Last month, The New York Times—oh, how the mighty have fallen—published a wrong-headed article called A New Phone Comes Out. Yours Slows Down. A Conspiracy? No. Just seeing that headline made me recoil: As noted above, yes, iPhones do routinely slow down once a new version of iOS is released alongside one or more new iPhones. There is no argument against this fact: It happens every year. Without question.

I’ve experienced this phenomenon with every single iPhone I’ve ever owned, as far as I can recall. And I’ve owned at least 9 of them, according to a quick count, not including the new iPhone X. But this isn’t me using anecdotal data. Just ask iPhone user. We’ve all experienced it.

(By the way, this absolutely happens to Android as well. In fact, Android seems to suffer from a “performance rot” problem that is very similar to that of older versions of Windows.)

So what did The New York Times have to say about what it called these “perceived slowdowns”? That “it’s a myth.” And that the reasons slowdowns really happen is that you’ve been adding too many apps to your phone over the previous year. A version of performance rot, basically. Apple is given a pass for not testing new versions of iOS that are loaded down with apps.

As proof, the author actually quotes two people from Microsoft—because who knows more about what Apple may or may not do with iOS every year—and states, simply, that “tech companies are not intentionally neutering your devices.”

Bullshit. And now we have some proof.

This past week, a Reddit contributor benchmarked his iPhone 6S—a phone that was released two years ago—and even older iPhone 6 Plus to determine why iOS 11 was running so slowly. And he was able to prove that Apple does, in fact, throttle performance of older iPhones on newer iOS versions. But not in the way you might expect.

“I did some research, and decided to replace my battery,” he explained. Wear level was somewhere around 20% on my old battery. I did a Geekbench score, and found I was getting 1466 Single and 2512 Multi. This did not change wether I had low power mode on or off. After changing my battery, I did another test to check if it was just a placebo. Nope. 2526 Single and 4456 Multi. From what I can tell, Apple slows down phones when their battery gets too low, so you can still have a full days charge. This also means your phone might be very slow for no discernible reason.”

Put simply, as your iPhone ages, the battery becomes less efficient. So Apple is choosing to artificially keep the battery at roughly the same daily duration—calling iPhone battery life “all-day” is ludicrous, but whatever—over time. But in doing this, in harms the performance of the device. In other words, over time, your iPhone gets slower and slower.

Here’s the incredible bit. Apple has admitted that it is doing this.

“Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices,” an Apple statement notes. “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,” the statement continues. “We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future.”

OK, it’s a fact now. (Sorry, New York Times.) So what can we do about this?

Well, you could buy a new iPhone. And given Apple’s customer base, I suspect that that is what many do: Apple and its carrier partners have made it very easy to get a new iPhone every year. Witness the successful iPhone Upgrade Program.

Obviously, that’s not a great choice for everyone. The more frugal among us could choose to withstand the performance drop over some period of time—1 to 2 years, perhaps—while monitoring the performance using Geekbench or another benchmarking app. And when the performance drops below a particular threshold—20 percent, perhaps—they could pay Apple or a third party to replace the battery.

Yes, both solutions require you to pay up. That’s the Apple model when it comes to fixing problems, folks.

But replacing the battery is a lot less expensive than buying a new (or even a used) iPhone: As that Reddit poster notes, Apple charged him just $79 for the battery and it came with a one-year warranty. That’s the equivalent of less than two months of typical new iPhone payments. And third party shops will charge even less: $30 to $40 in some cases.

So. How do we feel about this? We know why Apple is harming the performance of iPhones over time. But is this the right approach.

The answer, obviously, is no. And this is an excellent example of Apple parentalism and paternalism, the corporation’s inate, Jobsian belief that only it knows best for its customers. Only Apple can decide what to do with older iPhones as they age. And it has decided that battery life is more important than performance.

Were Apple any other company—and I mean that semi-literally—the decision would be a lot more customer-centric. But it would also be more confusing to people and would require some thought: There would be a switch or dial or whatever in Settings to let us decide. There would be monitoring tools built-into the OS. We could, perhaps, choose performance over battery in certain conditions, or when running certain apps, like games. Perhaps it could even suggest a battery replacement over time.

Apple doesn’t do that, of course. It knows best. And these measures I’ve described might instill a belief in the user that their device has some flaw. That it isn’t perfect.

Well, it’s not perfect. And neither is Apple. Hopefully, the outrage over this issue will change a few minds in a company that is drifting further and further from the monastic ideals of Steve Jobs every day. And it can simply evolve. Not just into a different company, but into a better company.