The delay in typing in messages, or the lag in loading my mail on my iPhone, has been explained. Apple has confirmed that it does deliberately slow down the operation of older iPhones, and says it is doing so to avoid the devices from shutting down because of aging batteries.
Apple says it’s doing this to protect your phone. As the lithium ion batteries in the phone age, they can’t handle processing demands at the same capacity, which causes the phone to shut down unexpectedly. It released an update to stop those unexpected shutdowns, which also means that the phones work a little more slowly.
But the revelation — or confession — that Apple is purposefully decreasing phone speed fed into a conspiracy theory that’s been circulating for awhile on “planned obsolescence.” After new products are released, the theory goes, Apple purposefully messes with your iPhone, frustrating you and forcing you to shell out money to upgrade.
The data on Apple slowing down older iPhones doesn’t necessarily mean the conspiracy theory is true. A relatively recent change to its operating system prompted the slowdowns. But the system update demonstrates why the conspiracy theory keeps circulating: It took an independent investigation by an expert and a viral Reddit post to get Apple to admit what had happened.
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