Right now users of Apple’s older iPhone models are experiencing throttling due to a software update that attempts to manage the power the phone uses and the battery. Basically as the battery degrades, power management becomes unstable and can lead to unexpected shutdowns, which is why Apple introduced the throttling feature in the first place.
So what does that mean for future iPhones? Do iPhone 8, 8 Plus, or iPhone X users need to worry about throttling in the future? Perhaps not because in a letter Apple sent to Senator John Thune, chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, they revealed that the newer iPhones (and presumably future iPhones) come with “hardware updates” that does away with the need for throttling.
The letter reads in part, “iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X models include hardware updates that allow a more advanced performance management system that more precisely allows iOS to anticipate and avoid an unexpected shutdown.” Apple does not dive into details as to what exactly these “hardware updates” constitute, but presumably it is something that they will be applying to future iPhones as well.
Right now Apple is facing a ton of probes by various government bodies and consumer watchdogs around the world. They are also dealing with a bunch of class-action lawsuits from disgruntled customers, so we can imagine that the whole “batterygate” scandal probably won’t be dying down anytime soon.