Are you one of those people who feel that Apple is deliberately slowing down your current iPhone through software updates to make you buy their latest iPhones.This isn’t the first time Apple is in news for a controversy. A recent study conducted by Futuremark proved that there were no signs of conspiracy. After a story went viral claiming that Apple is intentionally slowing down older iPhones to push their users to buy their latest models, based on the number of Google searches for “iPhone slow” increasing after the release of new models every year, Future mark conducted a research based on the performance data it collected since 2016.
Futuremark, a benchmarking company has conducted more than 100,000 benchmarking tests from iPhone 5s to latest iPhone 7. They took an average of the performance of both the graphics chip (GPU) and the processor (CPU) every month from April 2016 to September 2017 with different versions of Apple’s operating system from iOS 9 to iOS 11.
Futuremark stated, that “iPhone 5S GPU performance has remained consistent from iOS 9 to iOS 11, with only minor variations that fall well within normal levels.”
When it comes to iPhone 6s and iPhone 7, the graphs were almost similar.
Futuremark said, “The graphs for CPU performance show a very slight drop in performance over time – possibly due to minor iOS updates or other factors – but a user would be unlikely to notice this small difference in everyday use.”
Futuremark concluded by saying that”Our benchmarking data shows that, rather than intentionally degrading the performance of older models, Apple actually does a good job of supporting it’s older devices with regular updates that maintain a consistent level of performance across iOS versions.”
The reason for the increase in “iPhone slow” search can be due to an update that might add new features which consume more resources or need more processing power. And there are apps that are developed for the latest iPhone models which might not run smoothly on older models as they do in new devices. Conversely, the apps designed for an older version of iOS might not be adapted to the optimizations done in the latest version. Finally, there will always be a psychological impact on the users whenever a new iPhone is released, making them feel that there is a newer and improved model available, which can make the users own device seem outdated.
Do you feel your iPhone is getting slow? Share your views in the comments below!
