Apple just gave owners of older iPhones a great reason not to upgrade
- iOS 12 will give older iPhones like the iPhone 6 a significant performance boost.
- That extra speed could give extra life to your older iPhone, giving you less reason to upgrade to a newer model.
- The performance boost comes from the smarter way that iOS 12 communicates with the iPhone chips.
Apple announced during its WWDC keynote on Monday that iOS 12 - the upcoming latest version of its mobile operating system - will give a performance boost to older iPhones, and it could be a great reason to keep your older iPhone instead of buying a newer model.
Apple senior vice president Craig Federighi claimed that iOS 12 will let the iPhone 6 Plus from 2014 - and presumably the smaller iPhone 6, as it has the same chip - open apps up to 40% faster than iOS 11. Federighi also claimed that the keyboard will appear up to 50% faster, and the camera app will open up to 70% faster when you slide from the bottom right of the lock screen.
These three things are pretty significant in terms of how people use iPhones, and it'll make older iPhones feel a lot snappier and faster than they are running on iOS 11 or other previous versions of iOS. In fact, older iPhones could get such a significant performance boost that Apple itself just gave owners of older iPhones a great reason to put off upgrading to a newer model. That is, if Federighi's claims are accurate, which still need to be tested. For example, I'd test if app performance is faster after I've opened the app.
Federighi said these were just some examples of how iOS 12 will improve performance on the iPhone 6 Plus and other older iPhones as far back as the iPhone 5S, suggesting that there are other areas where older iPhones will be faster, too.
The performance boost comes from the way iOS 12 communicates with the chip inside older iPhones. Federighi explained that iOS 12 will essentially tell your iPhone's chip to ramp up speed a lot faster to open an app compared to previous versions of iOS, which ramp up chip speed at a more gradual pace. iOS 12 will also tell your iPhone's chip to ramp down its speed more quickly when it's not needed to save battery life, too.
You might be looking to upgrade to a newer iPhone because your older model's battery is dying a lot faster than it should. But if that's the main thing that's making you consider a new iPhone, then you could save yourself a lot of money by getting its battery replaced at the Apple Store. If you have an iPhone 6 or later, Apple will replace your battery for $30 - that's $50 off the original $80 cost of battery replacements - through December 2018.
Otherwise, if you're tempted by the better cameras and extra features that newer iPhones come with, then you have a fully legitimate reason to upgrade. Still, you should make sure they're worth the cost of upgrading.