After an iPhone 6s user found some accurate but very concerning results about bringing back the performance of the device just by swapping out the battery, Geekbench founder John Poole carried his own set of tests. Poole found out that the battery and software updates were both to blame for the egregious slowdown of the iPhone models. Both findings must have caught Apple’s eye and the tech giant has introduced a statement on why it did what it did.

Apple States That it Slowed Performance to Prolong the Life of Its Mobile Phones – Plans to do the Same With Future iPhone Models

In the latest report from TechCrunch, Matthew Panzarino shares an official statement from Apple, where the company attempts to explain why it decided to slow down the performance of the iPhone.

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

What this means is that with future software updates, the company will continue to cripple the performance of future phones, and this is not going to be limited to the iPhone 7. The iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X have been registered by Geekbench in being the fastest smartphones right now for benchmarking tests but that might be a thing of the past once users start to download and install future software updates on them.

One remedy could be that the user could simply choose to ignore these updates, but that could mean they would lose out on key features that could potentially enhance their iOS experience. Furthermore, sooner or later they would have to update their devices since app support will also count.

Another option would be to swap the battery of the iPhone with a brand new one, but that honestly sounds a lot simpler than it looks. If you have not yet noticed, Apple’s iPhones do not come with removable batteries and getting on the inside is an arduous task on its own.

Since the latest iPhone family has a glass and aluminum shell, one wrong move and you might crack the fragile parts of the device. Additionally, heading over to Apple for a repair or replacement is something that you might not want to entertain, considering the costs and all.

Panzarino does provide some insights as to what Apple should do moving forward. Perhaps the Cupertino tech firm might take consideration to what he has to say.

"Apple should examine whether the gap between when the algorithm starts smoothing out the peaks of performance and when they’re notified that their performance is taking a hit due to battery age is too large. If a person is noticing (and it seems they are given the discussion threads and social activity on this) that their phone is running slower then they need to know why.

The point at which iOS will tell you that your battery has gone to hell is currently very, very conservative. Perhaps this can be set to be more aggressive. Then, of course, users will complain that Apple is cash grabbing on battery replacements but humans will remain humans.

It’s clear that people just didn’t understand that protecting an iPhone with an older battery was going to directly affect performance. Perhaps this is a failing of Apple messaging or a failure of myself (and other journalists) in not explaining it as clearly as possible."