Myth or reality: apple slows down your old iphone so you can buy a new one

A recent study from Harvard University indicates that the arrival of a new iPhone model has negative consequences on the operation of previous models. While somewhat older, the studio reappeared in recent days, coinciding with the launch of the new iPhone 8 and iPhone X, but it looks just as unconvincing as it initially seemed.

The 2014 study begins with research conducted through Google Trends to identify what happens to iPhone mobiles. It all starts with the search "iPhone slow", a search that people would do when their mobiles are slow.

Do old iPhones slow down when Apple releases new models?

As can be seen below, this search had several important spikes that appeared before the launch of each new iPhone model.

The study was conducted by student Laura Trucco, who compared the results with searches for "Samsung Galaxy slow, " referring to the iPhone's main rival. However, it was determined that the search peaks did not appear in the case of the launch of new smartphones in the Samsung Galaxy series.

It all got a little more serious with a New York Times article, according to which Apple could optimize its new operating systems to work flawlessly only on the new models of its phones.

Certainly, there are these trends in Google that suggest that iPhone mobiles slow down after receiving an update. With all this, you have to look at things with a bit of skepticism since this research is only based on Google Trends searches, and not on a coherent analysis.

The alleged slowdown of old iPhone models versus new ones could actually be due to the fact that an old mobile phone could be overtaken by the latest operating system.

In fact, this perception is also accentuated for another reason, according to the NYTimes article:

"People suddenly feel that their phones are slower. This does not demonstrate that iPhones are slower. It is as if someone would tell you that a sound is heard in your office. You never heard it before, until they told you. But now you can't stop hearing it. ”

Therefore, if you move away from the subject a little and analyze the context, you can even realize why people feel that their mobiles are slower. Once with the arrival of a new iPhone, there is also a new iOS. This does not happen on Android because in this case, Samsung mobiles usually receive updates later.

Until the contrary proof, we will continue to see the matter as a distorted perception of reality, and even more, we believe that it is a simple conspiracy theory about how the Apple corporation wants to squeeze as much money as possible from its users.