Apple Outlines iPhone Battery Aging Problem, Performance Issues


In cases that require more extreme forms of this power management, the user may notice following effects:

iPhone Slowdown Effects

  • Longer app launch times
  • Lower frame rates while scrolling
  • Backlight dimming (which can be overridden in Control Center)
  • Lower speaker volume up to -3dB
  • Gradual frame rate reductions in some apps

During the most extreme cases, the camera flash will be disabled as visible in the camera UI
Apps refreshing in background may require reloading upon launch
However, many key features are not affected even by the slowdown of the iPhone:

Features Not Affected By Slowdown

  • Cellular call quality and networking throughput performance
  • Captured photo and video quality
  • GPS performance
  • Location accuracy
  • Sensors like gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer
  • Apple Pay

As you can see, if iPhone’s battery has degraded which certainly does happen over time, most of the iPhone’s features including app launching, scrolling, frame rate, and background app refresh will suffer in performance.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind if Apple ever did this to my iPhone. I just hate the fact that they didn’t inform users about this since the beginning. Apple should have been clear about the power management feature from the start, so users would have known that they don’t need to upgrade their phone and just need to get the battery replaced.