iPhone slowing down? A simple service may be all that’s needed

There has been speculation for years that Apple has been deliberately slowing down older iPhones when new versions of iOS ship. The conspiracy theorists maintain it’s to get us all to upgrade our phones. Apple announced yesterday that it does indeed have algorithms that affect a phone’s speed according to the capability of its battery.
Lithium Ion batteries diminish over time so there are only a certain number of charging cycles a battery can take before its performance starts to fade quite dramatically. We now know that when your battery fades, you’ll lose speed. Then, either you need a new phone, or you need a service.
An iPhone service costs £30 and a new Apple battery around £70. For £100-ish your phone gets much-extended battery life, increased battery power and speed.
Coincidentally, a week ago, I was faced with the new phone or service dilemma. I chatted to our engineers and they advised a service and new battery, so I booked my phone in.
The procedure took about 30 minutes and I have to tell you, it’s like having a new phone.
Firstly, the battery lasts all day. I hadn’t realized quite how anxious I had become about my battery life. I’d taken to carrying two external batteries and was constantly on the lookout for power points, even to the extent of going for a coffee at Starbucks to get a quick 20-minute charge. Having a battery that doesn’t suddenly discharge doesn’t sound like a massive lifestyle boost, but believe me, it is.
Secondly, and I couldn’t possibly work out how this had happened until Apple’s revelation yesterday, my phone seemed to be working faster. I now understand that the algorithm knows my battery can handle the load of increased speed and has delivered it. Or at least I think it has. Either way, it’s not my imagination… the phone is faster. I reckon a simple service has extended the life of my phone by at least a year and at that price, I wish I’d done it sooner.
Apple’s clever little algorithm has done its job and with my new battery, I have a faster phone. It seems all you need is a simple service to make your phone go faster. So why all the fuss?