Is Apple Slowing Down Older iPads As Well?

Recently, it was unearthed that older iPhones were being slowed down via OTA updates by Apple. As the story broke out a few days after the iPhone X went on sale, people started questioning Apple’s ethics and speculated that Apple does this to influence consumers into buying new iPhones. After a few days of conspiracy theories doing the rounds on the internet, Apple came out and admitted to the doings.

However, the reason Apple gave was different from what people on the internet were speculating. To tackle battery ageing in a more efficient way, what Apple is doing for older iPhones is it is capping the processor power to prolong the age of the battery. This is an attempt to make people’s phone work for longer with fewer issues, not to get them to switch away from it.

So, it is fair to assume that iPads will be dealt with the same strategy of slowing down the performance in order to increase battery life. Well, it isn’t. Apple is not capping the performance of the processors found iPads.

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The reason Apple went this route of slowing down iPhones was that of the battery. An ageing battery is less able to provide power quickly enough to the system that needs it. This was the main reason for random iPhone shutdowns which Apple addressed in its iOS 10.2.1 update. IN this update, the company introduced a feature to manage the instantaneous performance peaks, only when needed, to prevent an iPhone from unexpectedly shutting down.

Now, the reason this wasn’t introduced to iPads is twofold. Firstly, an iPad has a much larger battery capacity than an iPhone. For example, the iPhone 6, launched in 2014 has an 1810 mAh (6.9 Wh) battery while the iPad Air 2, launched the same year has a battery capacity of 7340 mAh (27.62 Wh). This means that an iPad battery is much better equipped to handle performance peaks.

Also, the average consumer uses iPads in a very different manner when compared to an iPhone. Since it usually is a secondary media consumption device, it is charged less often, which affects how the battery will age. For now, iPads are safe and protected from the slowing down software. However, in the coming years, iPads could also receive such software updates to prolong their battery lives.