Is it true that Apple is slowing down older iPhones to boost sales of new ones?

There is a widespread belief among smartphone owners that Apple deliberately slows down older iPhones, forcing owners to buy new ones. We decided to check whether there were grounds for such suspicions.

For the first time, the issue of slowing down iPhones was raised by one of the Reddit users (the post has now been deleted, but there is archival version), who noticed that his smartphone began to work slower. He ran several tests before and after replacing the battery and concluded that Apple is artificially slowing down the phone's performance as the battery wears out. His post attracted a huge number of comments from other owners who encountered the same problem. One Twitter user also measured the performance of the phone's processor with an old battery (three years from the date of purchase) and after replacing it, and, judging by its data, the difference was more than double.

John Poole, founder of software development company Primate Labs, conducted study and measured the performance of iPhone 6S and 7 with different versions of iOS. He also concluded that Apple had software limited the performance of its phones. He noted that since the smartphone does not warn users that the battery will slow down due to wear and tear, they may be under the impression that the problem is not with the battery, but with the phone itself. Accordingly, instead of replacing the battery (which costs much less), people will buy new iPhones.

In 2017, users from USA submitted to court on Apple, claiming that the company is deliberately “slowing down” older iPhone models to force users to change batteries or buy new phones. By alone Of the claims filed (but not satisfied), the company demanded as much as $999 billion. Later, the Americans were joined by French users (and in France, since 2015, there has been a law that prohibits intentionally degrading the properties of devices over time). The problem was so widespread that it received a separate name - Batterygate.

In 2020 Apple agreed pay outraged American clients $25 in compensation (total amount of payments - $310 million plus legal costs). This amount practically covers the replacement of the battery. In addition, the company obliged pay a $113 million fine to the United States because, according to opinion authorities, Apple could not help but understand that its actions would force millions of users to buy a new device, and made a profit from this. Apple had to pay fines and its French clients. 

Journalists some specialized publications We reached out to Apple for comment on this issue and were sent the same text stating that the company's goal was not profit at all: “Our goal is to ensure that customers get the best experience, including the overall performance and lifespan of the device. The ability of lithium-ion batteries to deliver peak performance in cold weather when the battery charge is low or when the battery is worn out is reduced, which can cause the device to unexpectedly shut down to protect its electronic components from damage.”

After this, Apple published clarification and on the official website. The company's specialists said that iOS actually has a built-in software limitation that allows old iPhones with worn-out batteries to maintain functionality. The system analyzes the battery condition, external conditions and the current load on the system. If the phone cannot cope, performance decreases: applications take longer to load, the display brightness decreases, and in case of severe overload, the flash may not work when taking photographs. Apple says this is to prevent the iPhone from suddenly shutting down due to overload, and not to force the user to buy new models or change the battery.

Despite multimillion-dollar fines and compensation, the company never admitted its guilt, although apologized to users for the inconvenience. Additionally, as an apology, Apple is temporarily reduced battery replacement cost from $79 to $29. As part of this program, about 11 million customers turned to the company for battery replacement (which is about ten times more than usual). Additionally, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated, that because of this, sales of new iPhone models have dropped somewhat. So whether Apple wanted it or not, apparently the slowdown of phones still pushed users to buy new devices. When iPhone owners learned that they could maintain high performance simply by changing the battery, they became less likely to buy new phones.

However, at the end of 2020, questions arose again for the company. This time Apple filed a lawsuit Organization of European Consumers, more precisely, its representative offices in Portugal, Spain and Belgium. They demanded €60 compensation for each victim of the “planned obsolescence” of iPhones. There is no decision on these claims yet.

According to report Repair Association, Apple, like some other technology companies, specifically designs its devices to be difficult and expensive to repair. And this encourages users not to replace phone batteries, but simply buy new models.

Thus, Apple itself admitted that it deliberately “slowed down” iPhones, but, according to it, the goal was not at all to force customers to change phone models more often, but only to protect against sudden shutdown due to overload. At the same time, the courts and some company experts do not believe it and argue that Apple’s actions were aimed specifically at unfairly increasing profits. 

Mostly true

What do our verdicts mean?

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