iPhone News: Benchmark Test Shows Battery Age Affects Device's Performance
A GeekBench developer recently released a benchmark result affirming what many users noticed previously: iPhones with older batteries tend to have a slower CPU performance.
In a blog post, John Poole of GeekBench explained that to come up with a conclusion, he "plotted the kernel density of Geekbench 4 single-core scores for the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 7" that had varying iOS versions. To get the most accurate result, he excluded from the test all of the data that came from the devices while on low-power mode.
For the sake of the test, Poole used iPhone 6s and iPhone 7 units running on iOS 10.2.0, iOS 10.2.1, and iOS 11.2.0.
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According to the results, an iPhone 6s that ran on iOS 10.2.0 had a unimodal kernel density and peaked at the average benchmark score of 2,500. Meanwhile, the same device with iOS 10.2.1 and iOS 11.2.0 both showed a more varied result. This means that updates 10.2.1 and 11.2.0 could be causing the CPU speed throttling shown in Poole's experiment.
On the other hand, the iPhone 7 kernel density that Poole mapped out showed a throttling performance with iOS 11.2.0.
Following the test, Poole concluded that "the problem is widespread, and will only get worse" along with the aging of iPhone devices and their batteries.
The developer added: "Second, the problem is due, in part, to a change in iOS. The difference between 10.2.0 and 10.2.1 is too abrupt to be just a function of battery condition."
To further understand the result, iPhone users may recall that earlier this year, Apple faced a somewhat widespread issue on iPhone 6s where the phone suddenly turned itself off even if they were close to halfway the full charge percentage.
Before Poole released his findings, hundreds of Reddit users discussed the same issue after noticing a slowing down of their devices. One user recalled that Apple issued the iOS 10.2.1 with a patch addressing the problem on iPhone 6s units that caused the devices to randomly shut down.
While the iOS update seemed to address the said issue, the user noted: "Apparently, the way it did this is by dynamically changing the maximum clock speed relative to the voltage that the battery is outputting."
Some say that in a recent statement provided by Apple to The Verge, the company might have admitted to deliberately slowing down the performance on some iPhone models for the sake of a better battery experience.
Apple admitted that the aging of lithium-ion batteries can cause it to "become less capable" which caused devices to randomly shut down "to protect its electronic components."
The company further explained: "Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions."
The iPhone maker then admitted that the same changes have been applied to iPhone 7 units with the introduction of the iOS 11.2.0.
