GeekBench Results Suggest Apple Intentionally Slowing Down An Older iPhone When Battery Condition Decreases

Geekbench founder, John Poole, published an article describing his findings after he diving deeper into the relationship between iPhone perf...

Geekbench founder, John Poole, published an article describing his findings after he diving deeper into the relationship between iPhone performance and battery age. He plotted the kernel density of Geekbench 4 scores for iPhone 6s models running iOS 10.2, iOS 10.2.1, as well as iOS 11.2, visualizing an apparent link between lower performance and degraded battery health.

The charts in the below shows that on iOS 10.2, the vast majority of iPhone 6s devices benchmarked similarly in performance. However, Poole explains that the distribution of iPhone 6s scores for iOS 10.2.1 appears multimodal, with one of large peak around the average and several smaller peaks around lower scores. Meaning after iOS 10.2.1 was released last January, the performance of a percentage of iPhone 6s devices began to suffer. 

Poole concludes that the performance issues will increase over time and are caused by both battery age and changes to iOS. All this means that Apple intentionally slowing down an older iPhone to maximize power efficiency and stability when battery capacity has degraded, as speculated, seemingly without publicly acknowledging so.

First, it appears the problem is widespread, and will only get worse as phones (and their batteries) continue to age. See, for example, the difference between the distribution of iPhone 6s scores between 10.2.1 and 11.2.0.

Second, the problem is due, in part, to a change in iOS. The difference between 10.2.0 and 10.2.1 is too abrupt to be just a function of battery condition. I believe (as do others) that Apple introduced a change to limit performance when battery condition decreases past a certain point.

It's also important to remember that all lithium-ion batteries naturally lose some of their ability to hold a charge over the course of a few years. Given the iPhone 6s was released in September 2015, the device has been available long enough for some users to consider replacing their battery regardless.

Via MacRumors And 9to5Mac, Image Credit CNET And 95