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

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

It’s been deliberately cranking down the CPU speeds to address problems that crop up from a device’s aging battery, Apple said on Wednesday.

A lithium-ion battery can struggle to meet the peak energy demands as it degrades over time, contains a low charge or endures cold weather. When this happens, the iPhone can crash, potentially damaging the components inside, Apple said.

To offset the issue, the company last year introduced a software feature that scales down the CPU processing, but only when needed. It first applied the fix with the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE devices. However, Apple has now extended the CPU-capping feature to iPhone 7 devices with iOS 11.2.

“Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices,” it said.

Wednesday’s statement may explain why some iPhone owners believe that their devices slow down whenever Apple releases a new model$999.00 at Verizon Wireless. (Other experts have attributed the sluggish speeds to iOS software updates.)

However, Apple’s statement comes in response to recent 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 performance when the battery was swapped for a new one.

“From what I can tell, Apple slows down phones when their battery gets too low, so you can still have a full days charge,” the Reddit user wrote.”

Another post from Primate Labs, the company behind benchmarking software Geekbench, agreed and said iPhones see a software-induced performance dip once the battery ages beyond a certain point.

Apple hasn’t offered details behind when the CPU throttling exactly kicks in. The company’s full statement is below