Apple admits it slows down older iPhones

The power capping is implemented to improve battery life
Slowed down: Apple confirms why iPhone 6 handsets are running more slowly
Justin Sullivan/Getty
Ben Travis21 December 2017

Apple has revealed new information about slow performance on older iPhone models.

If you’ve ever found your smartphone running at a crawl after a few years of use, it’s not just you – Apple has confirmed it is slowing down some older iPhones.

But despite theories that slowing performance is a ploy to get customers to upgrade to a new handset, there’s more to it than that.

It seems slow performance is linked to the life cycle of the iPhone battery, and the speed of the handset is decreased to ensure that it doesn’t suddenly turn off.

Apple Christmas advert 2017

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

“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.”

For those with a slower, older iPhone, there is a fix – replacing the battery.

One Twitter user shared their experience, revealing that the CPU frequency of their iPhone 6 more than doubled from 600 MHz to 1400 MHz after installing a new battery.

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