When there is controversy, you will nearly always be able to find Apple’s name on it. From removing the headphone jack from its iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus to stamping an exorbitant $999 price tag on the iPhone X, the tech giant knows how to get its name in the spotlight and not in a good way.

Recently, the company admitted to slowing down your iPhone in the form of software updates, but it wanted its user base to believe that it had its best intentions in providing iPhone owners with the best possible experience. To find out what Apple has been up to, here is everything you need to know about the company slowing down your iPhone.

Apple’s Software Recognizes if the Battery in the iPhone Is Old or Not, Which Forces the CPU to Run at a ‘Lower Than Default’ Clock Speed

In case you wanted to know about Apple’s official statement, those details have been provided below:

“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.”

Previously, and iPhone 6s owner figured out that the phone was slowing down with a software update and by swapping out the old battery with a new one, the Reddit user once again ran a benchmark, which revealed that the iPhone was running at full speeds. Now things would have been much different for the user had these phones come with a plastic back, allowing for the replacement of the battery with a brand new one in an effortless manner, but this is an imperfect world and we cannot always have what we want. So what exactly is Apple doing here?

With these software updates, iOS is able to recognize how old the battery has been running inside the iPhone. Based on this information, it forces the CPU to run at a lower frequency so that it will prevent the device from intermittently shutting down since the default voltage of the processor will not allow the battery to keep up and power on the iPhone.

With the processor running at a lower clock speed, it will be running at a lower voltage, thereby putting less stress on the battery, allowing for a higher battery life for the user, but in exchange for a very noticeable performance drop. Obviously, Apple’s plan, regardless if it was for better or for worse, was not taken with welcoming arms, hence the lawsuit filed against the Cupertino giant.

Some users will obviously want their devices to run at full speeds and the fact that Apple did not take their consent on what the company was doing in black and white will definitely complicate matters.

What Can You do to Prevent the Slow Down of Your iPhone?

If you’re well versed with disassembling an iPhone to get access to the innards without breaking anything in between, you will most certainly void warranty, but you will still be able to replace the battery without any problems and revive the performance of the device. However, a compact device such as the iPhone will certainly have delicate ribbon cables that can be cut if you’re not careful, so there’s that obstacle.

The second option would be to cease software updates, although we have to warn you that you will randomly be bombarded with messages detailing that a compatible software update is available for your device. I strongly feel that Apple should come forward and charge a nominal fee for replacing the batteries of the iPhones who’s performance have been slowed down thanks to these updates.

Next time, Apple should also be more transparent towards its loyal consumer base on what it plans to do that could in some way be deleterious to the performance of the iPhone. Remember, the most expensive iPhone model costs $999 and that is no small amount for a device that will eventually be slowed down just to deliver an optimum battery life experience.

I sometimes try to avoid software updates because of that, but eventually many apps stop working and I just give in. iPhones are very expensive where I live, so I'd rather have it last for quite a longe time.