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Your iPhone Battery and Apple’s “Slowdown”

By Disc Depot In Repair Process

Introduction

You may well have heard the news story about Apple “slowing down” older iPhones via iOS updates. This attracted some criticism and scepticism, not least because they hadn’t been clear about the fact they’d done this, nor offered users the choice. (Several legal actions are currently in progress).

Whatever you think, we’ve decided to briefly explain the background to the story and what you can do about it. (As of January 2018, the issue currently relates to the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7 and 7 Plus).

 

The Problem- and What Apple Did About It

It turns out that Apple has been applying this feature since the start of 2017, though it was only noticed towards the end of the year, around the same time the feature was added to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

Apple’s explanation is (if you believe it) quite reasonable. Battery performance degrades over time, and in addition to loss of capacity, they’re also less able to reliably deliver the higher levels of power needed when the CPU or GPU are running at full speed. If the voltage drops too far under the strain, your phone is likely to crash randomly.

Their solution was- quite simply- to avoid situations where these processors were running at full speed by spreading out workload to avoid “spikes” of high activity (in addition to minimising power consumption elsewhere). They measure the current condition of the battery and only apply the feature when needed.

The effects of this power management are more likely to be visible when the battery is in poorer condition; e.g. loss of responsiveness and smoothness, backlight, volume level, etc.

Replacing the battery does- we can confirm- result in iOS restoring the phone to full speed operation.

 

Having the Battery Replaced

Can Apple Do It?

Whatever you think of the above, it’s only a workaround for a failing battery- the only way to fix things completely is to have a new battery fitted.

Apple can do this for you- and charge accordingly (unless you have one of a limited number of iPhones with a known problem that qualify for free repair). Unfortunately, in addition to the weeks you usually have to wait for a repair appointment from Apple, in this case they’ve run out of batteries completely and won’t have enough in stock to carry out further replacements until March or April.

Perhaps they were caught out by increased demand after the story leaked, but others have suggested it’s an intentional delaying tactic to buy them time until the next iOS update- which offers user control over this- comes out in February. Or perhaps others will have their battery replaced by third party companies instead, or forget about it altogether.

The fact is, Apple has never really encouraged you to have your phone serviced– they tend to prefer pushing out of warranty replacements (which are very profitable). The alternative- that the user buys a new iPhone instead is also a win for them…!

 

Get Your Battery Replaced Sooner

If you don’t want to wait that long, bring your iPhone to us at our Dundee or St Andrews store- or send it in via mail. Generally, we can have the replacement battery fitted the same day! (We usually have batteries for most common iPhone models in stock- no waiting for the part to arrive!)

Mac Repair is a part of Disc Depot, and we’ve been around since 2001. In fact, we’ve been involved in iPhone repair almost since they first came out! On top of this, we’re the company many other local repair businesses turn to when they find themselves with a problem that requires more skill and experience!

Whether you live in Dundee or St Andrews, or anywhere in Angus and Fife, we’re conveniently located. You can find our contact and shop location details here, and remember that we accept iPhones for battery replacement from throughout the UK and most of Western Europe. Ask us for further details!