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A controversial phone throttling feature is coming to your 2017 iPhone

Considering the controversy in 2017, it would have been nice to see more transparency from Apple on this.

Iphone white
Image: Unsplash

Remember last year when older iPhones were being slowed down and how Apple explained that it was a feature to keep the phones from shutting down during heavy processing loads? Remember how Apple told lawmakers that newer phones, like the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X wouldn’t be affected by such – ahem – features?

Well, turns out that isn’t exactly true, but Apple is making sure to cover all its bases this time. Now, with the release of iOS 12.1, Apple quietly updated one of its support pages to reflect that these same slowdowns could affect newer iPhones, as well.

The support page

First reported by The Verge, the original support page (before iOS 12.1) stated that iPhones starting with the iPhone 8 “use a more advanced hardware and software design that provides a more accurate estimation of both power needs and the battery’s power capability to maximize overall system performance.”

Basically, this is saying that your fancier, newer iPhone should be able to handle the change in battery health without messing with your performance.

Now, however, Apple has updated that support page to say the following (emphasis ours):

Additionally, users can see if the performance management feature that dynamically manages maximum performance to prevent unexpected shutdowns is on and can choose to turn it off … This feature applies to iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus. Starting with iOS 12.1, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X include this feature, but performance management may be less noticeable due to their more advanced hardware and software design.

What does this mean for iPhone 8 and iPhone X users?

Luckily, even with this change of wording that basically covers Apple’s butt in case another lawsuit forms, the end user probably will not be affected (or notice) the changes. At least, not for a while. If it does begin to mess with the functions of the phone, at least Apple made battery replacements cheaper.

If you want to check the health of your battery, you can do that by heading to Settings -> Battery -> Battery Health.

What do you think of the news? Do you feel that Apple is still trying to force users to upgrade their phone? Let us know in the comments.

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Former KnowTechie editor.

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