Over the years as the sales of Apple products have boomed the trillion-dollar firm has also been accused of major charges by its users.
One of them is - “Apple intentionally slows down its older devices thus, provoking and forcing users to upgrade to their new devices”.
So, with the recent launches of the iPhone 13 and rumors of the iPhone SE 3 around the corner, we felt this was a great time to test the legitimacy of this accusation.
So, put on your learnings caps and enjoy what we have found out.
Does Apple slow down old iPhones?
Well, to begin with, there is no direct answer to this question. So, we have divided our answers into 2 segments to make it easy for our viewers to understand.
1. The degradation of the Battery.
As we all know Apple uses lithium-ion batteries to power up their devices.
These batteries usually contain an ore of Lithium, and any of these three elements...namely- Nickel, Cobalt, or Manganese. These batteries are designed in such a way that can store an insane amount of charge in them which helps them power up a complex smartphone like the iPhone.
But, there’s a catch to it.
Lithium-ion batteries, like any other batteries, use the basic principle for charging. It has an anode and a cathode. During the charging phase, electrical currents are often transmitted through the anode to cathode and vice-versa thus, helping them charge or power up a device. When you keep charging these batteries for an extended period them they tend to lose their efficiency. And it is nearly impossible to upgrade batteries like we upgrade our chargers.
So, in this way, Apple passively slows down an iPhone.
2. The annual software updates
Apple launches a new OS for its iPhone every year, and for a good reason.
As you know iOS too is subjected to virus threats and often comes with many bugs thus, constant updates are the only way Apple can ensure their devices are safe.
But, with every iOS update, the power consumption of each app also increases. For starters, iOs 10.1 might use 2% of your iPhone’s battery to power up the weather app but, as soon as you upgrade to iOS 10.2 the power usage of the weather app will go up to 3,4 or even 5%. Thus, with every subsequent software update, Apple indirectly sucks up the strength of its iPhones batteries.
A battery can be installed by a user from time to time but, it will just not give you the feel of a device that is straight out of the box.
The Verdict
The world was shocked when Apple publicly accepted that it does slow down a few previous models of iPhones in 2017. But, through deep research of this statement, we have come to the conclusion that Apple is directly not capable of slowing down your iPhone.
As we all know iOS is a powerful OS that requires constant updates to perform at an optimum level. Thus, whether you like it or now you might never be able to preserve the mint condition status of your iPhone no matter how scarcely you use it.
Winding Up
So now you have successfully unraveled the mystery of iPhones slowing down. But, this can be prevented to a certain extent by using the “Low Power Mode” on iPhones.
And that’s a wrap-up for today. Hope you liked the article, we will be back soon with more interesting topics. Until then Stay Tuned. Good Day!
