If you’ve owned an Apple iPhone you’ll know that it has a tendency to fall apart after 18 months.

Apple recently confirmed many people’s worst suspicions about their handsets, following an investigation by a number of Reddit users.

The users alleged that devices undergo a sudden drop in performance as the upgrade release window approaches.

So it’s true Apple intentionally slow down old iPhones. Proof: My iPhone 6 was bought 3years ago and recently got really slow. APP ‘CPU DasherX’ shows iPhone CPU is under clocked running at 600MHz. After a iPhone battery replacement. CPU speed resumed to factory setting 1400MHz. pic.twitter.com/pML3y0Jkp2

— Sam_Si (@sam_siruomu) December 20, 2017

Essentially the software limits the power draw of the phone’s processor in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns and extend the life of the ageing battery.

Apple said in a statement to BuzzFeed News and TechCrunch:

Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components.

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. We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future.

You can buy a new battery for around £60 out of warranty through Apple (a not insignificant sum), or for less with a third party provider.

This will make it run faster and give it a few more years of life again.

As the below chart by Statista on Google search trends shows, this tends to coincide with new releases.

Source: indy100.com