Image credit – iFixit
There is a popular conspiracy theory floating about that Apple slows down older iPhones whenever a new model comes out in order to “motivate” customers to upgrade. Recent benchmarks have suggested that this is not the case, but without doubt older iPhone users can probably start to feel the lag.
Of course this could be attributed to a bunch of different factors, like software, damaged components, and so on, but a recent thread on Reddit (via 9to5Mac) has suggested that there could be a relatively simple fix: replace the battery on your phone. This apparently will result in markedly improved performance at a much lower cost than buying a new phone.
So why is this, you ask? The theory is that this is based on battery issues that iPhone 6s was experiencing, in which there were random shutdowns. The software update released to fixed that apparently dynamically changed the iPhone’s clock speed and made it relative to the voltage that the battery was outputting, thus ensuring that it can’t draw too much power, which leads to it shutting down.
What this means is that as time goes on and the more your battery degrades, the software will keep dynamically altering your clock speeds to match those of your battery, so the worse it gets, the slower your phone gets. For those who want to check if this is real, Redditor Adolf-Intel has suggested that users download the CpuDasherX app to check their clock speeds to see if it matches (or at least comes close) to what the benchmarks are saying.
Ultimately if you’re looking to save money on a new iPhone but hate the fact that your phone feels so laggy, it is possible that changing its battery will solve that problem. It’s not a guarantee that it will, but the evidence does seem to point towards that, so rather than spend close to a $1,000 on a new iPhone, maybe this could be worth exploring first.
Filed in . Read more about iPhone.