Apple said it made improvements in the iPhone 11 to help keep its performance high even as the battery gets old
- Apple's new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models have built-in power and battery management systems that will manage performance better than previous iPhones, the company said in a blog post.
- That means that even as its batteries inevitably degrade, the iPhone 11's performance should stay stronger than in previous models, for longer.
- In other words, it should take longer for iPhone 11 owners to notice a significant dip in performance as their device ages. That, in turn, means it should be more reasonable for users to hang on to their devices for longer.
- Apple is being transparent about its performance and power management systems after the infamous controversy in late 2017 over throttling
- It was discovered that iPhones were automatically throttling their performance when battery health degraded below a certain threshold. iPhones users didn't know that their iPhones were slowing down because of their degraded batteries, and many bought new iPhones instead of getting a cheaper battery replacement.
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Apple added "new built-in software and hardware" systems in the iPhone 11 that should let the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro phones perform better for longer than previous models, according to an Apple blog post.
"The system is more advanced than previous iPhone battery and power management systems," the company said, "and allows your iPhone to reduce performance impacts from battery aging."
In other words, even as your device gets older, the hit to its performance should be less than previous models at the same age. This means that an iPhone's useful lifespan, before users might notice a performance drop and buy a new device (or at least replace the battery), should be longer.
The new built-in systems are "automatic" and "always-on" to keep the iPhone 11 phones running at their best as their batteries degrade over time, the company said.
Not perfect
Still, even Apple admits that the new built-in systems aren't perfect.
"While performance impacts are reduced as much as possible, battery aging might still eventually lead to noticeable, possibly temporary, effects," Apple said. Some of those effects include " longer app launch times, lower frame rates, reduced wireless-data throughput, backlight dimming, or lower speaker volume."
To be sure, smartphone batteries degrade over time without exception.
Apple is being transparent about its the new built-in systems in the iPhone 11 after a late 2017 controversial discovery that iPhones would automatically throttle down their performance as their battery health degraded.
The discovery was the source of major controversy, as iPhone users weren't aware that the performance throttling was caused by poor battery health. Many claimed they would have replaced their batteries for significantly less cost than buying a new device when their iPhone's performance turned sluggish, had they known the cause was likely a deteriorated battery.
Apple subsequently offered an option in iOS 11.3 to manually stop an iPhone from throttling its performance, even if its battery health had degraded. It also offered a steep discount on iPhone battery replacements for a limited time.
Apple then ditched the manual performance throttling option as of the iOS 12.1 software update, and with the 2017 iPhone 8 and iPhone X generation, the 2018 iPhone XS generation, and now the iPhone 11 generation.
Seeing as the iPhone 11 phones were only released on Friday, we have no way of telling yet how well Apple's new built-in systems work to manage performance as the battery degrades.