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Apple Doesn't Deliberately Slow Down Older Devices According To Benchmark Analysis (macrumors.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the long-running-speculation dept.

According to software company Futuremark, Apple doesn't intentionally slow down older iPhones when it releases new software updates as a way to encourage its customers to buy new devices. MacRumors reports: Starting in 2016, Futuremark collected over 100,000 benchmark results for seven different iPhone models across three versions of iOS, using that data to create performance comparison charts to determine whether there have been performance drops in iOS 9, iOS 10, and iOS 11. The first device tested was the iPhone 5s, as it's the oldest device capable of running iOS 11. iPhone 5s, released in 2013, was the first iPhone to get a 64-bit A7 chip, and iOS 11 is limited to 64-bit devices. Futuremark used the 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme Graphics test and calculated all benchmark scores from the iPhone 5s across a given month to make its comparison. The higher the bar, the better the performance, and based on the testing, GPU performance on the iPhone 5s has remained constant from iOS 9 to iOS 11 with just minor variations that Futuremark says "fall well within normal levels." iPhone 5s CPU performance over time was measured using the 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme Physics test, and again, results were largely consistent. CPU performance across those three devices has dropped slightly, something Futuremark attributes to "minor iOS updates or other factors."

5 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. They just don't optimise newer software for older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    hardware.

    Same difference at the end of the day.

  2. Sofa King Stupid by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nobody claimed that they were inserting nops. The claim is that they load the phone up with stuff the old specs can't handle, and then actual application performance (not CPU benchmarks!) suffers.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:Sofa King Stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Apple doesn't intentionally slow down older iPhones

      Fascinating. They came to this conclusion by using a mind-reading device on Apple executives and engineers?

      Every single OS release is slower, to the point of being unusable, on older hardware. And yet there are no apparent benefits to upgrading. For example, scrolling a simple text list is slower -- it's just text list items on a plain white background and that's slower. To add insult to injury, you can't downgrade back to the old OS. Therefore, you have to throw that phone away and buy a new one.

      All this could be avoided if apps would run on a wide variety of of OSes (eg. appFoo would work on iOS5 thru iOS10). But no, apple's app store requires developers to use a certain Xcode version, which requires them to them to use a certain macOS version, which requires them to own a certain expensive and recent MacBook. Once the app is uploaded to the app store, users have to buy new expensive phones, not because the app needs the new hardware, but because the OS will be cripplingly slow on old hardware. Go ahead and tell me, this is not intentional.

  3. Add features, and what happens.... by Targon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It makes sense that as features are added, it will require more CPU and/or GPU to handle it. The only exceptions are when the features are not active, which CAN be the case for some things, but not for all. The real question should be why you don't see more of a performance decrease on older devices, unless there just isn't much that has been added to the newer versions.

    As I said, there CAN be exceptions, but the more things that are actually active, the more CPU/GPU you SHOULD expect will be needed to handle those things.

  4. My advice by MemoryDragon · · Score: 1, Insightful

    from a usability standpoint is to avoid any IOS upgrade after the second year. I have seen it with three devices that the usability severely suffered with the third upgrade to a point that you did not want to use that device anymore. Intentional, I dont know but apparently it happened with all three devices with the third os upgrade they got. I came to the conclusion not to buy IOs devices anymore. The problem is the situation is not better on the Android side. The device manufacturers leave you hanging entirely after the second year but at least the devices are still usable then.
    This is an entirely hellish situation from a security standpoint of course.