Think your older iPhone is slowing down? Here’s a fix — UPDATED

December 22, 2017

UPDATE: Dec. 22, 11:35 A.M. EST

According to TMZ, there has reportedly been a class action lawsuit filed against Apple, claiming their “tactic of slowing down older iPhone models causes users to suffer.”

Stefan Bogdanovich, who's filing the lawsuit, tells TMZ that Apple's decision “to slow the operation of older phones to save battery life was never requested or agreed upon,” claiming it lowers the values of older generation phones.

ORIGINAL STORY: Dec. 20, 5:55 P.M. EST

If you have an older iPhone and feel like your phone is slowing down, you're actually right. There's evidence surfacing that says Apple is “throttling processor speeds” for different devices, as The Verge explains, but there is a way to bump up the speed—and it's with a new battery.

In a statement to Tech Crunch, the tech giant did confirm that updates in iOS reduce speeds in older phones in order to preserve the life of batteries as they continue to degrade:

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.

Apple’s statement on iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE power management (the slowdown): pic.twitter.com/3RpE3fKCQc

— Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) December 20, 2017

So what's the problem? People will think they need to buy a new phone in order to up their phone's performance, rather than simply getting a new battery, which has been proven to work.

As Twitter user @sam_siruomu says: “My iPhone 6 was bought 3 years ago and recently got really slow. APP 'CPU DasherX' shows iPhone CPU is under clocked running at 600MHz. After a iPhone battery replacement. CPU speed resumed to factory setting 1400MHz.”

So it's true Apple intentionally slow down old iPhones. Proof: My iPhone 6 was bought 3years ago and recently got really slow. APP 'CPU DasherX' shows iPhone CPU is under clocked running at 600MHz. After a iPhone battery replacement. CPU speed resumed to factory setting 1400MHz. pic.twitter.com/pML3y0Jkp2

— Sam_Si (@sam_siruomu) December 20, 2017

What we've learned? Apple could help consumers understand the benefits of battery replacement after sharing major updates that'll affect the phone's performance and battery life.

But now you know a battery replacement just might do the trick.

Filed under:

apple,