BY NATHAN JOHNS
Do you have an older iPhone like the iPhone 6 or 6s? Has your iPhone felt slow recently? Can’t through a full day on one charge anymore? You may think that it’s just a perceived slowdown, or that you’re just using your phone too much, but there may be more to it than you think.
Surely you’ve heard the news already, Apple has been intentionally slowing down phones with older batteries and the people are outraged. Arguments and accusations are flying back and forth with even class action lawsuits taking place. Apple has made an official statement regarding its decision and has even offered cheaper battery replacements to appease its customers. If you are having issues with your battery and don’t plan on upgrading anytime soon, I suggest taking advantage of that now. (If you have a 6s you may also be eligible for a free battery replacement.)
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All of this news came to light when John Poole, founder of Primate Labs, posted some interesting findings whilst researching benchmark speeds of some older devices running newer versions of iOS. He found that the distribution of benchmark scores over multiple devices to be multimodal, a distribution that does not normally occur in testing without the effects of outside forces. He concluded that the slowdowns were worse with more aged batteries, a fact that Apple confirms with their official statement: “About a year ago in iOS 10.2.1, we delivered a software update that improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone…”
So what does this means in terms of your phone’s performance? If you have an older iPhone, such as an iPhone 6, 6s, and in some cases even a 7, chances are you may experience slower speeds when using your phone. This isn’t to say that all older phones will be affected, only those with an aged, worn out battery. If you haven’t put much strain on your battery or you’ve recently had it replaced, then you most likely won’t be affected.
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Now, let’s talk about the reasoning behind these intentional slowdowns. Conspiracy theorists have long been suggesting the smartphone manufacturers have slowed down older models of their phones in an attempt to get them to buy newer models. A sort of planned obsolescence, if you will. Now that news that this is somewhat true has surfaced, consumers are taking this and running with it. There’s a lot more to this story though. Apple isn’t doing this to make your phone unusable, they’re actually trying to make it more usable.
“How can that be when they’re reducing the potential of the phone?” I can hear you asking. Well, it all has to do with batteries. Remember how Poole said the issues were more pronounced on older batteries? This is the whole reasoning behind the slowdowns.
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Current lithium-ion battery technology was not meant to last as long as you may think. The batteries in smartphones typically only last about 2-3 years before they have degraded in quality so much that they can no longer perform as they were originally intended. If the phone were to keep putting strain on the battery in this condition, it could cause the device to become unstable; causing sudden shutdowns, damage to internal components, or even putting further strain the battery which could cause it to fail catastrophically.
To combat this, however, Apple has allowed iOS to intelligently detect the health of your battery and deffer intensive tasks to prevent any further damage and sudden shutdowns. This, of course, comes with the downside of a slower phone, but in my opinion, this is better than a phone that does not work at all. Which would you rather?
Another argument I hear a lot is “If it’s Apple’s fault, then why are they making me pay to fix the problem?” Well, it’s not exactly Apple’s fault. As I stated previously, lithium-ion battery technology simply isn’t advanced enough to last long periods of time under continuous use. This would be like like blaming the manufacturer of your car when it starts losing traction because the tires are worn down. It isn’t the car manufacturer’s fault because you are putting natural wear on your tires by using them. In the same way, you are putting natural wear on your phone’s battery when you use it too. In turn, your entire phone will start suffering in performance too. You may not think you have to change the battery on your phone ever, but it is a component of the phone that degrades with use, just like the tires on your car.
So really, what’s all the fuss about? Apple is actually saving you from having to buy a new battery or a new phone. It seems that consumers are just taking this excuse to let out there bottled up aggression towards the seemingly totalitarian company. This isn’t to say that Apple took entirely the correct approach to this issue. Had Apple been more upfront about what exactly this change was and why it was necessary when they put it into effect, consumers might have been more receptive to the idea. Instead, they are suffering the consequences of being secretive and sly with their tactics.